We are pleased to announce that Big Ring Cycles is the exclusive Denver/Golden home of Wilier Bicycles.

Wilier was founded in 1906, and is one of the oldest bicycle brands in the world. Their headquarters is in Rossano Veneto, Italy, which is about 90 km northwest of Venice. Angelo steadily grew the business, and then his son Gianmarco joined him in 2001. Together they have established a network of loyal Elite Dealers in the United States, whom they enjoy taking to Rossano Veneto every May to visit the factory and to ride the Dolomite stages of the Giro d’Italia. The latter could be seen more as a punishment than a reward, but everyone seems to love it.

Wilier is the proud sponsor of the Lampre Pro Tour team.

Wilier Triestina was founded in 1906 when Pietro Dal Molin, a trader from Bassano del Grappa, had the idea of building his own bicycles. His forge of “steel horses” began as a small workshop along the banks of the river Brenta, and was originally called Ciclomeccanica Dal Molin. As the demand for bicycles increased, it became more and more successful. He even supplied bicycles to the Italian army during WWI.

After the first World War, Dal Molin’s son Mario assumed the leadership of Ciclomeccanica Dal Molin and began improving the bicycles through the techniques of chromium and nickel-plating. Under his leadership, production increased considerably, and the company, undamaged by World War II, renewed its efforts after the Armistice.

The years after World War II were a time of reconstruction, when the bicycle was the most important means of transportation, and cycling became a popular sport. The champions of those years became heroes. The epic battles of Bartali and Coppi inspired Italians. In 1945, Dal Molin created a racing team which took the name Wilier Triestina.

The name Wilier was a patriotic acronym. In Italian, the letter W is not used.  W is usually used as an abbreviation for the word Viva! The acronym goes like so:
W Italia LIbera E Redenta, which means “Long Live Italy, Liberated and Redeemed.”  Triestina was meant as a tribute to the city of Trieste, which at the time was not yet regained by Italy after the war.  The captain of the team was Giordano Cottur, and he was from Trieste.  When the Giro d’Italia of 1946 featured a stage finish in Trieste, Cottur won the emotional stage. The bicycles themselves soon took on the name, and thus was born Wilier Triestina.

After that success, Wilier became an important part of Italian cycling. There was an industrial boom, and both the plant and the staff were enlarged to meet the increasing demand. Production reached 200 bicycles a day with 300 employees.

Now strong in its success and gaining prestige, Wilier bought up a promising young cyclist: Fiorenzo Magni in 1947. Instead of being overshadowed by Coppi and Bartali, Magni was able to become the third great protagonist of Italian cycling by winning the Giro d’Italia in 1948. It was the same year that Wilier spread to South America, where a small team of local professional cyclists collected dozens of wins. The following season, Team Wilier confirmed its greatness by winning several national races, and in 1949 and 1950, they achieved success in the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France.

Unfortunately for bicycle manufacturers, the first exciting phase of national reconstruction in the early ’50s led to a period of economic boom. People gave up their bicycles for scooters and motorcycles.

Bicycle manufacturers suffered from the fruits of progress, and in 1952 Wilier Triestina shut down its factory, closed its doors and left the competitive cycling world. It seemed that one of the greatest marques in Italian and world cycling would be lost forever.

Now the glorious story of this company and its “copper jewel” lives again thanks to the Gastaldello brothers from Rossano Veneto, who bought the Wilier Triestina marque in 1969. They moved the factory to Rossano Veneto, and began to sponsor professional teams again.