Olympia

"1893 in Milan, was the year when Carlo Borghi founded Olympia in Porta Romana, Italy. Initially, it wasn’t just bikes, but also motorbikes, followed by Borghi’s passion and energy dedicated to cycling. Wearing the Olympia shirts, white with a black stripe, Enrico Mollo, reached second place in the Giro d’Italia (1940) and Pietro Chiappini wins the Milan-Turin race (1941) Olympia Bikes are one of Italy’s leading flagship bicycle brands and are also one of the oldest in the world. Founded in 1893, Since it's inception the brand has carved a name for itself as an elite brand which has continued to invest in research and development, pushing the boundaries of bicycle design, manufacture and aesthetics. Olympia is world renowned for their technology and manufacturing techniques, in particular, Olympia was the first company to introduce Hydroforming to bicycle frame manufacture, and was one of the first to introduce ‘Nano Carbon technology’ to increase the structural performance of their frames. ""In 1959, the firm was bought by two bicycle makers, the brothers Antonio and Pasquale Fontana, to compliment their other, less performing brands. These included Winter, Willes and San Remo. Olympia offered them an opportunity to compete with the best bikes on the market. Frame builder Augusto Daniele built their Competizione model, which was equipped with the top Campagnolo components. The frame had carefully filed lugs, excellent torch work, short, upright geometry and a variety of bottom bracket cut-outs. Visually, it was known by its long chromed, concave seat stay caps. The three top models (Comp, Special Piuma & Sprint Junior) had an unusual, fragile pearly radiant finish. Unlike modern finishes, it used natural pearl extract, as found in nail polish, instead of metal or mica flakes. These bikes were antique white through the early 70s, then other base colors were used under the pearl (yellow, copper, blue and possibly others)."" The bicycle was an instant hit, and by 1970s, the olympia factory produced about 20,000 bikes/year. More recently, Olympia was taken over by Vittorio & Paolo, the sons of Antonio & Pasquale. They have kept up with the times and now manufacture highly competitive CF bikes, as well as equip and sponsor road racing and mountain bike teams."" Today Olympia operates from their ultra-modern headquarters in Piove di Sacco (Veneto). With various state of the art facilities employing a skilled workforce of engineers, designers and bicycle enthusiasts. OLYMPIA CORE VALUES Very few bike makers can boast of being around for 125 years, At the heart of Olympia's success is its continued interest in investing in advanced technology of frames and constantly innovative, ingenious solutions on offer to the public. The brand is flanked by the prestigious brands Frera and Scapin. Olympia gives value to the past while looking to the future. Their Bike range offers the best of technological solutions available today, featuring the unmistakable Olympia design. performance in all conditions and with ever more integration."