First of all many thanks to those members of the List who have contacted me direct and welcomed me to the List> I will both certainly try to contribute to the general stock of knowledge and also to reply individually to specific enquiries. However, although I might still be fairly adept with and oxy-acetylene torch in my hand I rapidly degenerate into Neanderthal Man when it comes to picking up that plastic "mouse". I have a wealth of info over here including photos, catalogues etc but I still have to master the dreaded digital camera and scanner, so it may be some time yet before I can produce pictures for anyone. The house in France that I am renovating is to be christened (although the French generally dont like house-names! ) Festina Lentewhich I believe means "Make Haste Slowly" I'm surprised Alf Hetchin never thought up that one.
To focus on the thread.. the Sannino company have been about for some long time now, in Milan, producing emminently reliable and rideable road frames. The choice of finish was always Ferrari Red enamel.. no other. The original decals remained unchanged over the decades. I haven't been in touch with them since the MIlan Show in about 1996 or 97 when they continued to produce the same quality frames in all the new tubes that Columbus could put on their benches. My last one was a Columbus EL Extralight. Super people to deal with and super frames. Their real claim to fame as builders was that they were one of the first Italian companies to build for the dynamic peloton of Russian amateurs in the 60/70s, before the "reds" discovered Ernesto's products. They vied with builders such as Raymond Fletcher of Ste. Fletcher-Ducret in Paris for the Russian frame orders.
As far as I can remember this Russian adffection for Sannino's products was immortalised in the American film "American Flyers" (still on the shelves at Amazon), in which a determined Kevin Costner graduated from his Schwinn 12-geared coasting bike to become an early-day Armstrong. I remember, I think, one scene where Costner breaks away only to be caught up by a member of the Russian team, resplendent in Cinelli hairnet, sporting a "go faster goatee beard" and riding a red Sannino.
I suspect that like many smaller Italian builders such as Freschi, Sannino have found it difficult to counter the invasion of aluminium frames from the far-east, Why the move to Germany? Who knows, but Dancelli did it some long years ago.
Norris Lockley