De Rosa 2020

[flying]

I am not clear on the connection (or lack thereof?) of De Rosa with BIXXIS. Isn't the latter owned by a De Rosa brother? Are they connected or is it my usual countrymen bickering in the family? Can anyone shed light on this?

https://bixxis.com/en/doriano-de-rosa-story/

Ugo DeRosa's son Doriano DeRosa started Bixxis in 2015 with his daughter Martina

[Powerful Pete]

Thanks Flying, that explains it all.

[Lafolie]

LOL

[kgt]

Merak in silver

[cunn1n9]

Merak in silver

Now that is spectacular


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wheelsONfire]

[kgt]

De Rosa Merak is way nicer

[flying]

De Rosa Merak is way nicer

I would have to say ....
Two frames from makers of previously great frames that are equally uninspired

Really tasteless but they are not alone...pretty much every other manufacturer this year is doing the
same thing. 2020 will be remembered for this uninspired copycat shape/layout

[mag]

I agree, but you need to consider few things...
- these frames are designed with UCI technical regulations in mind, theferore these regulations impose some strict design limitations
- dropped seatstays are cheap & easy way to improve the overall aerodynamics, therefore most frame makers went this way
- these days, only full aero frames tend to show some difference in their appearance, mainly due to their still somehow varying tube shapes; semi-aero frames such as those shown above just converge to very similar designs which provide similar levels of compromise between the aero properties and the weight
- decent paint job may save things quite considerably, it's basically our only hope these days

I'm hoping for the UCI relxing their technical regulations much more, this may open things up a little bit more.

[flying]

I agree, but you need to consider few things...
- these frames are designed with UCI technical regulations in mind,

Point taken but.........
In the 35 years I have followed frames have always been designed with UCI regs in mind..

Yet there was at one time a passion in frame building. A mark of individuality per frame maker showing
that framebuilders own fingerprint & passion for cycling in the design

These days? "Mostly" Plain vanilla follow the marketing herd mentality...a shame really IMHO

[MontpierBike]

... and 35 years ago all the top quality racing frames kind of looked alike, so much so that the name on the downtube could be substituted for another. The focus on the frame builder's design expertise (in terms of geometry, fit-to-purpose and rider) and their shop manufacturing skills (lug design/preparation, brazing skills, etc.) and most importantly (ahem) ride quality.

Now geometry spec's are no longer treated like the formula for Coca-Cola and the many of the frames are being churned out by the same Taiwanese factories (so often the name on the downtube is not the actual manufacturer, even if it does "look" different); so the focus is on .... label font (?)

And quick observation from a just joined 'newbie': it's really striking how the 'idealized' photos of bikes from these product launches and on company websites have little in common with the way many of the posters on this forum seem to have actually set up their bikes in terms of differential between seat height/handlebar height and stem length.

Yeah, I know there's some really fit/flexible riders out there with a passion for horizontal top tubes as well as cool looking proprietary front end integrated components -- but based on forum photos they seem to be often accompanied in the real world with ridiculous amounts of spacers and/or short, approaching vertical after-market stems (?)

Pretty scary to imagine what some of these folks actually look like on their bikes let alone ability to descend without killing themselves.

Personally, have to think (hope) that any bike with Ugo's last name would ride great and IMO these DeRosa's look much nicer than some of the really garish aesthetics from a few years back. But despite being fairly fit and flexible (for a boomer), appreciate Ernesto offers bit higher stack geometry option for his C64 (and apparently still manufactured in Italy?)

[flying]

... and 35 years ago all the top quality racing frames kind of looked alike, so much so that the name on the downtube could be substituted for another.

I did not think they could be substituted for each other ......

We could easily tell a Bottecchia from a Colnago
We loved pouring over the bikes ....
Romingers Straight fork leg Colnagos, or Bianchis
PDM's Concorde, Pina's were works of art period.
Even Kelly on the Vitus or
TVT early carbon offerings so easily recognized...
Yes a bike with Ugo's last name may ride well if Cristiano is like his father & not just a businessman

The point is These dropped seat stay carbon cookie cutter bikes all look alike & lack any real fingerprint from the builder
These yes as you said could probably be passed off as each other by changing decals & that is kind of sad

All of the above just IMO of course but it is just my opinion there are still some nice bike frames being built

[gurk700]

LOL the new logo is a million times better

[Stendhal]

... and 35 years ago all the top quality racing frames kind of looked alike, so much so that the name on the downtube could be substituted for another.

I did not think they could be substituted for each other ......

We could easily tell a Bottecchia from a Colnago
We loved pouring over the bikes ....
Romingers Straight fork leg Colnagos, or Bianchis
PDM's Concorde, Pina's were works of art period.
Even Kelly on the Vitus or
TVT early carbon offerings so easily recognized...
Yes a bike with Ugo's last name may ride well if Cristiano is like his father & not just a businessman

The point is These dropped seat stay carbon cookie cutter bikes all look alike & lack any real fingerprint from the builder
These yes as you said could probably be passed off as each other by changing decals & that is kind of sad

All of the above just IMO of course but it is just my opinion there are still some nice bike frames being built

I agree there is a lot of convergence, but due to the UCI rules and probably engineering (and marketing ... Colnago, for example, has to have an aero bike in their product line to compete with other companies). I'd say there's actually more variation and individual company pride today than compared to 35 years ago. MontpierBike is right; bike frames were so similar as between pro name brand companies that you couldn't be sure whether the company whose name was on the bike even made it. There was entire sub-sector of the industry in which custom frame builders such as Dario Pagoretti or Cyfac actually built the bikes with more established companies' logos. For example, Laurent Fignon's "Raleigh" was a Cyfac; Andy Hampsten's "Huffy" was made by John Slawta (Land Shark). If "Pinas" were works of art, many were Dario Pegoretti's art, not Giovanni Pinarello's art. When Ugo de Rosa was a master craftsman (he was), he didn't always put his company's name on the bike; per the DeRosa site, "in the Giro d'Italia '74 on a hundred riders, eighty ride on frames built by De Sosa (although not always marked with the heart)." When manufacturers started to differentiate their frames more by shaping carbon, this segment of the industry faded. Cyfac, Land Shark, Pegoretti (RIP), Sarto sell under their own names (although I'd bet that Sarto still makes bikes for other companies, smaller Italian ones though not the brands used on tour).

[wheelsONfire]

I think https://francobicycles.com/pages/latigo-rs1-d
are made by Sarto.