Steven Maasland previously posted this in June 2003: "Benotto has a web site at http://www.benotto.com.mx it doesn't say anything about their history, but I have an Italian book that describes how they started in Turin in 1931. One of the family members moved to Mexico City in the 70's and production was started up there. From the information that I have seen their top bikes were still built in Italy for a few years after the start-up in Mexico. Once the quality was at least as good in Mexico as it was in Italy, they moved all production to Mexico. They sponsored pro teams almost continuously from the 40's onwards and therefore are probably one of the most long-standing pro bike suppliers."
Angel Garcia Verona, IT
Along the same lines, I was watching last night the opening scene of A Sunday In Hell, which shows a team mechanic preping a champagne color Benotto for Moser or one of his teammates. The bike is all Campy, but there is not a clear view of the RD. It looks to be either an NR or a 1st generation SR. Does anyone know which? A Sunday In Hell is, I believe, the 1976 edition of Paris-Roubaix. Would the Benotto team bikes in that year have been made in Italy or Mexico?
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
devotion finesse <devotion_finesse@hotmail.com> wrote:
I am watching Jorgen Leth's film "The Impossible Hour", which documents Dan ish racer Ole Ritter's 1974 attempts to regain the hour record from Merckx in 1974. Ritter (and his teammate/training partner/future hour record holder Frances co Moser) are shown training in Mexico City in Benotto team kits and riding on Benotto bikes. I am wondering what year Benotto relocated from Italy to Mexico, and whethe r or not there is any connection to the time spent training there in prepar ation for The Hour. Did Ritter ride Benotto bikes because they were local? Or did Senor Benotto fall in love with Mexico while his team was training there? Or are these t hings completely unrelated? At any point, was there Benotto production in both Italy or Mexico? Or was the entire company "relocated" all at once? I always assumed that the Mexican Benottos were simply outsourced. Was thi s not the case?
Matthew Bowne
Again, trying to connect the dots in...
Brooklyn, New York