Orlando, Eugenio and the Simoncini Bicycle
I first met Orlando Simoncini as he was returning from lunch, on his bicycle, to the top of a big hill to his farmhouse-like factory. Surrounded by the open Tuscany countryside, there’s much about the bicycle maker Simoncini that’s unexpected. “For years it was just me here in this big place my father had started. I was thinking of calling it quits but then my son Eugenio decided bicycle-making was arguably a better life than the astro-physics he’d completed at the Unversity of Siena. So now we’re father and son again.” says Orlando Simoncini.
Once exclusively a maker of third part bicycles for other famous Italian brands, Simoncini had to reinvent itself when everything went off shore. Now father and son have revived the brand and are making short-run bicycles for boutique brands, especially in the growing gravel segment. I make a pilgrimage to see Simoncini almost every visit to Italy. We’ve become good friends. I respect how they’ve managed to keep the business moving and how the new energy of Eugenio has revived Orlando’s drive and vitality. It’s never easy, but making things you love with your hands still has a vital place in a world where few people have the skills, the fortitude or the volition. http://simoncinitelaibiciclette.it/
