Ambrosio: the brand that made italian cycling history

The Ambrosio trademark was officially registered in 1923, by brothers Giovanni and Giuseppe Ambrosio, although the company's activities began a few years earlier in Turin.

They started out by producing steel handlebars, stems and rims, although the latter was not initially an important part of the business.

But the brothers persevered, and they were the only Italian company to offer alloy handlebars and stems during this period.

Some daring French companies, however, also began producing aluminum components to satisfy the avant-garde tastes of cycle tourers. And slowly, the racers came round too.

Eventually, after rival Cino Cinelli converted to aluminum in the early 1960s, Ambrosio's vision prevailed: steel handlebars and stems quickly became obsolete.

Another major goal of the Ambrosio's was to produce aluminium bicycle rims, the company's flagship products in those growth years. On rims, even a small weight reduction meant a big gain in efficiency.

But building lightweight and efficient alloy wheels is not easy, since they are subject to particularly strong impacts: they must possess special elastic properties to avoid deformation.

In this respect, the first alloy models fared poorly, losing out to the more rigid steel versions. Aluminum also had to compete with another material used at the time to make rims: wood.

Although wooden wheels tended to warp in wet conditions and break on extreme impacts, racers loved the lightness and comfort they offered.

Suffice to say in 1938 Gino Bartali won the Tour de France on a bike with wooden wheels.

Together with Campagnolo, Ambrosio helped strengthen Italy's postwar reputation as a supplier of top quality bicycle components. Demand for Ambrosio products grew so strongly that the company's workforce increased to over one hundred employees by 1950.

When Giuseppe Ambrosio died three years later, he was rightly hailed by the Italian press as a pioneer of domestic industry.

But Ambrosio's story does not end there. The Marzorati family, owners of Marzorati Cerchi, acquired the prestigious brand, believing in its importance, and relaunched it towards success in 1961.

Until then, the Marzorati family had never produced competition rims, but the acquisition of Ambrosio changed everything and pushed the company to design innovative new products and make a triumphant return to the world of professional racing. The use of the best technologies available on the market made Ambrisio products reliable, high-performance and of the highest quality.

Other important breakthroughs have been the redesign of stainless steel ceramic bearings.

At Cicli Corsa, we have always been great fans and restorers of vintage bicycles. Today we have many customers who request a new Colnago Master or Arabesque, Cinelli Supercorsa or De Rosa Neo Classico frame, and the desire is always to build bicycles with a classic look, but with modern technology. And for this, Ambrosio is our go-to brand.

Ambrosio is our first choice for making custom built vintage wheels and the Nemesis tubular rim is undoubtedly the favorite among enthusiasts. For those looking for a more practical clincher rim, we offer the Excellight model, which is very light and has a ground brake track. The Nemesis, Excellight and Excellence models are all available in our store. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you're interested in a custom wheel build for any type of discipline, we can help!

Cicli Corsa is a proud retail partner of Ambrosio rims.

Please reach out to us with any questions you may have regarding Ambrosio products and for a free quotation.