For over a year I had wanted to visit Tiziano Zullo in his workshop in Castelnuovo del Garda (on the southern shores of Lake Garda). We had been in email communication for some time but this was our first chance to meet up. Zullo was a name I had been aware of for some time as a quality Italian steel builder still building his own frames and not contracting out which, as we have learnt, is very common.

Tiziano Zullo and his wife Elena (who speaks perfect English, fortunately for us) run a small shop through which they sell their frames to local cyclists. The workshop is to the rear of the shop and it is here where Tiziano and his colleague spends most of his time. In it’s heyday Zullo was producing up to 4000 frames a year and for a few years in the 90’s provided the Dutch TVM team with bikes which were ridden in all the Grand Tours and major Classics of the day. Nowadays production runs at a couple of hundred hand-crafted steel framesets a year. Tiziano builds using both Deddaccia and Columbus tubing (depending on the model). The range includes both contemporary tig-welded steel models such as the Inqubo (Dedacia 16.5) and the Vergine (Columbus XCR) alongside retro-styled lugged models and even a Tour ‘91 replica model, a homage to the Zullo supplied TVM team of the era.
It was easy to agree with Tiziano and Elena to represent their brand in the UK, frames are being built for us right now and will soon be in the shop. The reaction of the journalists with us to the news suggested we had made the right decision.

The early spring trip to visit Dario Pegoretti has become a Mosquito tradition over the last few years, this trip marking our 5th visit to Dario’s Caldonazzo workshop. However this year was a bit different as we also visited the Columbus factory and Tiziano Zullo in his workshop on the edge of Lake Garda.

The Columbus facility sits in an industrial landscape in the Milanese suburbs and is home to not only Columbus tube engineering but also warehousing and R&D for Cinelli. To learn more about Columbus and its’owner Anton Columbo take a look at the the latest issue (17) of Rouleur where you will find a great article and interview by Editor Guy Andrews.
We were shown round the factory by Lodovico (Special Projects Manager!) - lots of shiny tubing, impressive machinery - the usual bike factory stuff. It was interesting to hear how closely Columbus work with Dario Pegoretti on developing tubing, the man is held in great respect.

After the factroy stuf, time for a bike ride. We had brought along a number of journalists and Lodovico kindly supplied us all with carbon Cinelli’s for a quick spin around the local lanes. Very pleasant it was too, early spring sunshine and gentle banter (for the first half hour, after that things got a bit more serious…..).