De Rosa

De Rosa is the family brand of Ugo De Rosa. De Rosa's company became famous in the late 1960s and 1970s for the production of road racing bicycles. Company founder Ugo De Rosa was born on 27 January 1934 in Milan, Italy. Before becoming a well-known bicycle frame builder, he was also an amateur racer. De Rosa's passion for racing led him to study mechanics and engineering at a technical institute, and in 1953 he opened his first shop and began producing racing bicycles. In 1958 he was asked by famous cyclist Raphaël Géminiani to build him a bike for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Following this initial interest, De Rosa bikes quickly became a staple in the professional peloton of the 1960s. Team Faema became the first team to use De Rosa frames. In 1969 De Rosa came into the good graces of Gianni Motta who hired De Rosa as a frame builder and mechanic. De Rosa accepted the challenge and became the supplier of bicycles to his team. In this period one of the biggest stars of cycling was being born: Eddy Merckx. DeRosa built some experimental frames for Merckx, and in 1973 De Rosa became the official frame builder and mechanic for the Molteni team of which Merckx was captain. Merckx and his teammates won almost every major European race including the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo and the World Championships. This partnership with Molteni remained in place until Merckx retired in 1978. In 1981 De Rosa worked as a technical advisor to Merckx, who founded his own bicycle manufacturing company. In 1974 Francesco Moser hired De Rosa for his Filotex team and went on to win the world championship. Later, in 1982 De Rosa sponsored the Sammontana team led by Moreno Argentin and Giovanbattista Baronchelli. From 1985 to 1989 De Rosa worked with the Ariostea team - a small team that would later become dominant in European racing. Demand for De Rosa's bikes from new markets skyrocketed in the 1980s, especially in the United States, Russia, Japan, Belgium and Germany. Later, his three sons joined the company, with Danilo and Doriano assisting with production management, and Cristiano handling the commercial side. In 1990, Ugo De Rosa began researching and developing titanium tubes, culminating in a new model, the De Rosa Titanio, used by the Gewiss-Ballan team in 1994. Aluminium and carbon fibre frames were added to the product line in 1996 and 2000 respectively. In 2005 De Rosa launched its Corum frame, a lightweight steel frame built using contemporary frame construction techniques. After a decade on the sidelines, De Rosa returned for the 2018 UCI season with Spanish team Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. Returning to the WorldTour in 2020, De Rosa became official bike supplier to Team Cofidis. The racing DNA is confirmed in 2021 with a stage win at the Giro d'Italia 2021 for Lafay. Discover the range of bikes of the heart on bike-room