De Rosa: From Cusano Milanino to Eddy Merckx

De Rosa company was established in Milan in 1953, in an energic city, full of ideas and animated by the desire of ransom of the postwar period. Its founder Ugo De Rosa begins his career in the world of professional cyclism as mechanic, but he soon starts working within the production of frames. His bikes are “geometrically innovative” and riders aim at cycling with them. From Cusano Milanino (that still is the home of the brand), De Rosa frames cross first the national borders and then the European ones. Between the 60s and the 80s lot of professional cyclist demand to use the frames with the red hearts during their competitions. It’s the 1973 when De Rosa becomes the Molteni official bikes supplier, the team where the legendary Eddy Mercks runs and he personally chooses Ugo De Rosa as his personal mechanic. The personal relationship with Eddy Mercks will be of a crucial importance for Ugo and for the future of De Rosa company, since the study of the performance and the precision of both lead to improvement that had been unknown until then. A few years later, Ugo De Rosa builds the bikes for Francesco Moser (that would win three Paris- Roubaix with those bikes). The ongoing study of the materials, the passion for bikes and the love for cycling are transmitted to his siblings that continue the activity undertaken from the dad, always aiming at the excellence. The production in titanium rapidly join the one in steel and is, still today, the metal that perfectly represents the frame production of De Rosa. During the 90s, the care in the details and the hunt for perfection are enhanced by the hunt for performance and lightness. Aluminium makes its entrance in the production, rapidly followed by the material that would mark the epochal changement in the production: carbon. It’s in fact with this new material that De Rosa experiment more and will be used for most of the topof-the-range products. From the KING to SK, born from the collaboration with Pininfarina, to the last model Protos, these bikes best represent what De Rosa can offer to the riders of the teams that decide to join the Red Heart. 4 materials, 3 professional teams and a pursuit of the absolute: these are the keys that guide the brand born more than 66 years ago.