Ugo De Rosa was born on the 27th of January 1934 in Milan, Italy. He
attended primary school, middle school and a technical school where he
followed a mechanical and engineering curriculum. He developed a passion
for bicycle racing as a young boy, a passion which remains with him to
this day. It first led him to take up the sport of racing in which he
advanced through several ranks at the amateur level. But he also became
very interested the science of the bicycle itself, and this proved to
be the area where DeRosa would make his mark on the cycling world.

His first job was in the work shop of an uncle where he repaired and
assembled bicycles. In the early fifties Ugo De Rosa opened his first
shop and dedicated himself to the manufacture of racing bicycles. He
understood what it took to build a true racing bicycle and his
reputation began to spread among the amateur racers in Milan. By 1958
the word of De Rosa's frames had reached the professional peleton. While
attending a race at the Vigorelli velodrome in Milan De Rosa was
approached by a famous cyclist of the day, Raphael Geminiani. He asked
De Rosa to build him a bike for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. De Rosa
responded immediately to Geminiani's request, for he knew that making
this champion's bikes would certify his craftsmanship and launch him
into the world of professional cycling.

The sixties saw De Rosa bikes become a fixture in the professional
peleton. The powerful Faema squad was the first team to ride De Rosas to
the forefront with great champions like Soler and Suarez of Spain. Along
with Belgian Rik van Loy they won a majority of the races they entered.
Other De Rosa teams of the decade included Tbac (1964) and Max Majer (1967).

In 1969 De Rosa was approached by Gianni Motta, a great champion of
that era who had admired the bicycles of the Max Majer team. Motta
wanted to engage De Rosa as his frame builder and mechanic, De Rosa
accepted and became the bicycle supplier to Motta's powerful Sanson
team as well. It was also during this period that one of the greatest
stars of cycling was rising - Eddy Merckx. DeRosa built some frames for
Merckx around this time, but it was not until 1973 that their now
famous relationship was formalized.

That was when Eddy asked Ugo to become the official frame builder and
mechanic for the Molteni team which he captained. The results were
unprecedented as Merckx and his teammates won nearly all the major races
including the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, Milano-San Remo and
the World Championship. This partnership remained in effect until
Merckx's retirement in 1978. In 1981 Eddy again called upon his former
frame builder to be a technical consultant when he first set up his own
bicycle manufacturing facility. De Rosa's talents were, however, in
great demand by the mid- seventies.

In 1974 another great racer came to him in search of the frame that was
the talk of the pro peleton. Francesco Moser wanted De Rosa bicycles for
his Filotex team. De Rosa complied and the results were rewarding for
both parties. The team was taken over by Sanson in 1976, and it added
the powerful Belgian Roger DeVlaeminck to its roster while Moser went
on to win the World Championship.

So as the seventies came to a close Ugo De Rosa had gone from the
humble beginnings in his uncle's repair shop to becoming the frame
builder of two World Champions. De Rosa's personal life was as rewarding
as his professional one. His wife and sons had always been supportive of
him, and as the seventies were coming to a close his sons Danilo,
Doriano, and Cristiano were showing great interest in the family
business. The timing could not have been better as the demand for De
Rosa bicycles skyrocketed in the eighties as De Rosa had entered new
markets for the first time including the United States, Russia, Japan,
Belgium, and Germany


The sport side of the business continued to grow for De Rosa in the
eighties as well. In 1982 he sponsored the Sammontana team led by Moreno
Argentin and Giovanbattista Baronchelli. From 1985 to 1989 De Rosa
worked with the Ariostea team which grew from a small start-up team to
one of the dominant squads in the peleton by the end of the decade.

The end of the eighties also saw De Rosa outgrow the small work shop
adjacent to his home where all his frames had been made, and he moved to
a larger space in Cusano Milanino and assigned his sons definite
responsibilities. Danilo and Doriano learned well from their father and
started to work beside him in the most critical phases of frame
construction while Cristiano took over the commercial side of the business.

In 1990 Ugo De Rosa embarked on a new project to build bicycle frames
from titanium tubes which would stand up to rigors of professional
racing and have the ride quality of a DeRosa. Ugo spent over three years
in the research and development phase of this project. In 1994 the final
results were delivered to the Gewiss team in the form of the De Rosa
Titanio. The results were fantastic, and the Gewiss team won the
following races:

•Milano-Sanremo (G. Furlan)
•Liege-Bastogne-Liege (E. Berzin)
•Freccia Vallone (Argentin, Furlan, Berzin, una pagina storica del
ciclismo: tre corridori della stessa squadra arrivano al traguardo)
•77 Giro d'Italia (E. Berzin, un russo di talento vince a soli 23 anni,
battendo un corridore esperto come M. Induran)

•Giro di francia (P. Ugrumov â “ se“ secondo posto)
•Giro di Lombardia (V. Bobrik)

The Gewiss team collected over 40 victories in 1994, verifying
DeRosa's R&D on his titanium project.

The Gewiss team collected over 40 victories in 1994, verifying De
Rosa's titanium frame concept. Today the De Rosa family continues to
build the finest bicycles they know how to while constantly searching
for ways to improve their product. Ugo, Danilo, Doriano, and Cristiano
have come a long way since Ugo entered that first race some forty years ago.