Battaglin Portofino:

When Giovanni Battaglin won the Giro-Vuelta double in 1981, he and his teammates rode for 48 days and 7.491 km on steel bikes that weighed more than 8 kgs (17.6 pounds, at that time actually really respectable) and had only 6 gears. It was the only year in history when the Vuelta had no rest days and the Giro started 3 days after the Spanish Grand-Tour finished.  From 1999 the Giro d’Italia course was never longer than 3.600 km – more than 200 km shorter than the 1981 edition.  The same goes for the Vuelta: from 2001 the race route was always shorter than the 1981 edition. How could the riders in the 80s go further than today’s athletes, who ride lighter bikes equipped with better technology?

There might be several explanations for this. But as Giovanni Battaglin often says, those riders could tackle harder competitions because they felt good on their bikes. The level of comfort offered by the lugged steel bikes made in the 80s allowed them to undertake the brutal efforts of those cycling odysseys. Lugs increase the joint area, allowing stresses to distribute over a wider surface and therefore damping vibrations better. In the 80s, lugged construction was the best way to build a race machine. Every bike in the pro peloton was made from skinny tubes and lugs.

Then with larger tubes and new materials, steel lugs quickly disappeared from the market. But even when he gave in to what seemed inevitable and moved from steel to different materials, there was one thing that Giovanni Battaglin couldn’t forget: the smooth feel of those bikes he rode as a pro. No carbon bike could even get close to it. So, when he went back to making steel bikes with Officina Battaglin, a dream took shape in his mind. He wanted to create a new frame that could offer the comfort of the bikes he rode in his racing career. But with the responsiveness and the aesthetics of modern steel frames.

From 2015 he and his son Alex worked for 2 years to develop a special design that no builder had ever done. In 2017, a new frame was born:  For more information about the Battaglin Portofino, or if you would like to begin the process of ordering a frame, you can contact Officina Battaglin direct at: https://officinabattaglin.com/ or the Battaglin experts of Lakeside Bicycles by phone (W-F 10-7, Sat 10-6, or Sun 12-5) at 503-699-8665 or email at Info@Lakeside-Bikes.com

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Officina Battaglin Portofino 2022 No. 42 of 50!

A custom steel road bike custom-made to the owner’s specifications and expertly assembled with some of the best components on the market.