Pinarello: A Manufacturer Built on the Golden Era of Italian Cycling

Ask any hardcore road cyclist what bike they would own if their budgets weren’t a limitation, he would possibly say either a Colnago or a Pinarello. There’s a good reason for that.

The Pinarello brand began as the vision of Giovanni Pinarello, a rejected pro rider who would eventually build bikes during Italy’s golden era of cycling. Here is that story and a brief history of a brand that is still making great bikes today.

Pinarello: A Brief History of Cycling Passion

Giovanni Pinarello was an amateur bike racer who turned pro in the late 1940s. While he had some success, his career ended in 1951 when he finished last in the Giro d’Italia and received the Maglia Nera. He was let go from his contract with a 100,000 Lire severance payment, which he used to found his bike brand.

He built bikes for local teams but his success was slow. But in the 1960s, he connected with the cyclist Miguel Indurain and his Reynolds team who would go on to many great victories. Indurain won “Five Tours de France, two Giri d’Italia, two Giro-Tour doubles, the Hour Record,…the World Time Trial Championships in 1995 and the Olympic TT at Atlanta ’96.”

Pinarello would continue that success into the 80s, 90s, and 2000s with other pro tour teams and riders, such as Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel. Today, in the 2020s and beyond, Pinarello continues to work with champion riders and teams like Chris Froome and his Sky team and now the Ineos Grenadiers.

The Pinarello Brand Today

Pinarello entered the cycling world by exclusively building road bikes for pro teams. While that journey for the company continues, they have evolved alongside the sport of cycling and branched out to various cycling categories.

To stay current with other bicycle builders, Pinarello now not only builds high-end carbon road bikes, but it also builds gravel bikes, mountain bikes, e-bikes, and casual but comfortable bikes. However, they do stay true to their origins and heritage by basing each build on their road bike geometry.

Last Thoughts

Pinarello is an iconic Italian cycling brand and one of the first bicycle manufacturers to build its bike frames from carbon fiber. To stay relevant in the cycling world after 73 years in the business is no small feat.

But the fact that pro riders continue to win grand tours atop a Pinarello only adds more gravitas to the brand. Unfortunately, this level of quality and cycling excellence is not available to everyone, especially at $4,000 or more for a complete build.

If you’re lucky, you might find a Pinarello from 5 or 10 years ago at a semi-reasonable price. If you do and you’re in the market for a new bike, grab it, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.