A hundred years on, the Italian dove and the winged C are still evolving.
Suvi Loponen, Michela Pedranti
If you ride a steel bike, there’s a reasonable chance you’re already familiar with the little dove logo that belongs to the renowned Italian tube and component maker Columbus. This company, which has been running for over 100 years, sits under the very same roof as the Italian bike brand, Cinelli.
For decades, the two companies were run by the same person, Antonio Colombo, as part of the wider Gruppo Srl that was formed in 1997 and also included another Italian brand, 3T. A couple of decades later, in 2006, the group was narrowed down to just the two brands and 3T was sold to a Dutch entrepreneur.
With the renewed focus, the company continued to run under Colombo’s leadership until 2021, when US-based Asobi Ventures bought majority control of the group, followed by a full acquisition a year later.
This Behind the Curtain is a look at how these companies – one a century old and the other 75 years old – still continue to make products that entice cyclists all around the world. We’ll start at Columbus, where the tubes take shape, and then move through to the Cinelli side, where some of that tubing is turned into frames, alongside much more modern carbon fibre creations.
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