Carbon bikes, “we bring production back to Italy”: the announcement of the 3T

Enough Taiwan, enough Asia: “the construction of the frame is coming home”, more precisely in the Bergamo area and in the places where the production of the most famous bikes on the planet started, northern Italy. The announcement is from 3T, one of the companies that have made the history of bicycles, especially in components, since 1961. Like many Italian two-wheeler companies and not only, the Bergamo one too has “succumbed” to the sirens of the East , with an office in Taiwan as well as one in Canada. But now the high-level production of carbon frames will have the true Made in Italy brand: with the entire production process in Italy. Already in 2018 the company had started producing cranksets (crown and cranks) in the peninsula, “today the dream is coming true – the website reads -: our Italian carbon factory is ready to build frames. The reasons for this desire were many, from the romantic ones (3T was born on Italian production in 1961) to the technical ones (full control of the process) and from the organizational ones (reduced times, greater flexibility) to the commercial ones (protection of proprietary technology) “. The company explains it later: the strategic choice is to produce carbon bicycles using techniques other than those that are the most popular for reasons of rapid construction: instead of using carbon pre-impregnated with epoxy resin, as almost all companies in the East do, it was chosen starting from “dry” carbon filaments that only after being put into shape will be impregnated with resin for hardening: an already existing technology but re-study started from scratch by 3T and which led to proprietary technologies to be carefully stored in a single facility. The choice is due, in summary, to the possibility of orienting the fiber in all the necessary directions. “In 2019 we started with the development of the first production frame: the Racemax Italia. The goal was to produce a frame that was lighter than the standard Racemax (not so easy as it is already light for a gravel frame) while maintaining its characteristics of rigidity and resistance. This month – 3T announces – goes into production “.” To celebrate – finally reads – we are producing the first 100 frames from the Italian carbon factory as Special Founder’s edition. The first frame enters our 3T Museum, the other 99 are at your disposal “.