De Rosa

Company founder Ugo De Rosa was born on January 27, 1934, in Milan, Italy. Before becoming a noted bicycle frame builder, he was also an amateur racer.

De Rosa's passion for racing led him to study mechanics and engineering at a technical college, and in 1953 he opened his first shop and commenced the manufacture of racing bicycles. In 1958 he was asked by the famous cyclist Raphaël Géminiani to build him a bike for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Following on from this initial interest, De Rosa bikes became a fixture in the professional peloton of the 1960s. The Faema team was the first team to ride De Rosa frames. Other De Rosa teams of the decade included Tbac (1964) and Max Majer (1967).

In 1969 De Rosa was approached by Gianni Motta, who wanted to engage De Rosa as his frame builder and mechanic. De Rosa accepted and became the bicycle supplier to Motta's team as well. It was during this period that one of the greatest stars of cycling was rising - Eddy Merckx. DeRosa built some frames for Merckx around this time, but it was not until 1973 that their relationship was formalized and De Rosa became the official frame builder and mechanic for the Molteni team which Merckx captained. Merckx and his teammates won nearly all the major European races including the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, Milan–San Remo and the World Championship. This partnership with Molteni remained in effect until Merckx's retirement in 1978. In 1981 De Rosa worked as technical consultant to Merckx, who began his own bicycle manufacturing company.

In 1974 Francesco Moser engaged De Rosa for his Filotex team, and went on to win the World Championship. Later, in 1982 De Rosa sponsored the Sammontana team led by Moreno Argentin and Giovanbattista Baronchelli. From 1985 to 1989 De Rosa worked with the Ariostea team - a small start-up team which would later become dominant in European racing.