Re: [CR]Re: Cinelli Production

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2004)

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Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 21:03:40 -0700
To: oroboyz@aol.com, cinelliguy@earthlink.net, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Cinelli Production


The interview by David Herlihy

http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/oralhistory/Cinelli%20interview.html

states (my addition in parentheses):

"First, he had no desire to claim a significant share of the market for racing frames. Such a position would pit him against his major clients in the parts business. [Cinelli's main business was as a bicycle component distributor.] In fact, Cino was determined not to jeopardize his role as an honest broker to the Italian cycle industry. The few frames he did produce were generally sold to the huge American market, where the competitive effect was miniscule."

It appears the interview was based on Cinelli's recollections at the time Herlihy visited him in Italy in 1986. So maybe Cinelli focused his sales on the "non-traditional" markets like the UK, U.S. and Germany...

Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 140 Lakeside Ave #C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.bikequarterly.com

At 11:58 PM -0400 5/9/07, oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
>Jan: I think Cinellis were pretty hot stuff in the cycling world...
>In the UK, Ron Kitching was the importer/distruibutor and he was
>arguably one of the most energetic and advertising savvy promoters
>in that market. The Cinelli bikes and components were given elite
>status in his catalogs...
>
>
>Dale Brown
>Greensboro, North Carolina USA
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: heine94@earthlink.net
>To: oroboyz@aol.com; cinelliguy@earthlink.net; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Sent: Wed, 9 May 2007 11:38 PM
>Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Cinelli Production
>
>At 9:04 PM -0400 5/9/07,
><javascript:parent.ComposeTo("oroboyz%40aol.com",
>"");>oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
>> <<
>> Anyway I was thinking 10 percent?>>
>>
>>
>>Wow, that would be amazing for a little bike shop 1/2 way round
>>the >world, in a broader cultural climate that could care less
>>about >bicycles, and Cinelli being so amazingly world-famous...
>
>Cupertino was small, but they moved a lot of bikes. Ernest Csuka
>estimates that they and a few other North American shops sold almost
>350 Singers in the 1970s, which is more than 10% of the total
>production from 1939-2007!* All that in a few bike boom years. (Of
>course, those were frames only, which took much less time to make
>than the bikes Singer sold in France.)
>
>Another question is how famous Cinelli really was around the
>world... I know in Germany, where I grew up, they were considered
>the Holy Grail by many, and the same applies here in the U.S., of
>course. But in France, everybody knows Colnago, but Cinelli is
>relatively unknown. What about Italy, Britain, etc.?
>
>Note: I am not saying that Cinelli is not world-famous, but simply
>asking the question.
>
>Jan Heine
>Editor
>Bicycle Quarterly
>140 Lakeside Ave #C
>Seattle WA 98122
><http://www.bikequarterly.com>www.bikequarterly.com
>
>* The current total of Singer production is 3382. There were some
>"off-the-books" bikes during the war, so the actual number probably
>is about 100-150 higher.
>
>
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