bikemonkey
I live for the CABE
A Bertoni recently showed up on CL for sale in SC and I had to refresh my memory on the brand. All I could recall at first was aluminum frames that made big ripples in the industry back in the early 1980s. I ran across this lengthy and excellent article (linked below) on the history of France's Vitus 979 tubing. It also includes an excellent foray into the history of aluminum bicycles which I think may be of interest to folks here as well.
Regarding Bertoni - here is an excerpt from the article, "Bertoni was a brand, built as the name suggests, around Italian made lightweights, of one of the great American cycle entrepreneurs, Ben Lawee (1926-2002). Lawee created also the Italvega and Univega brands for the U.S. market built around foreign imported machines of his own design and specification....He later became the U.S. distributor for Motobecane during the “Bike Boom” in America in the 1970s and played a major role in the specifications of the brand for the U.S. market, including the early adoption of quality Japanese components."
Like some other CABERs, I was working in bike shops in the '80s and this was a revolutionary time that was witnessed as the industry changed quickly and significantly in many ways, and Lawee was a key player.
"Light and Legendary Vitus 979" by Peter C. Kohlor from his "On the Drops - Racing & Lightweight Cycle Articles"
Regarding Bertoni - here is an excerpt from the article, "Bertoni was a brand, built as the name suggests, around Italian made lightweights, of one of the great American cycle entrepreneurs, Ben Lawee (1926-2002). Lawee created also the Italvega and Univega brands for the U.S. market built around foreign imported machines of his own design and specification....He later became the U.S. distributor for Motobecane during the “Bike Boom” in America in the 1970s and played a major role in the specifications of the brand for the U.S. market, including the early adoption of quality Japanese components."
Like some other CABERs, I was working in bike shops in the '80s and this was a revolutionary time that was witnessed as the industry changed quickly and significantly in many ways, and Lawee was a key player.
"Light and Legendary Vitus 979" by Peter C. Kohlor from his "On the Drops - Racing & Lightweight Cycle Articles"
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