Blingin' Pegoretti
Dario Pegoretti is the world’s most famous framebuilder. He began building under the tutelage of his father-in-law, master builder Luigino Milani. Before long though, Pegoretti’s notoriety exceeded Milani’s and his clients quickly included greats such as Marco Pantani, Miguel Indurain, and Marco Cipollini. Smoking finally took his life in August 2018 and we got calls from a number of you asking to order a frame or two or three. When we forwarded those orders, we found that Pegoretti inventory was frozen indefinitely.
The manufacturer reached out and asked us to add a note here because our post may “give a different impression” than reality, and just in case it does, here are their corrections. From Pegoretti: “…while the distributor in the US froze their Pegoretti stock for a short time in 2018 to prevent a run on the frames from chancers looking to make a killing as the prices rocketed, the Bottega never ceased production. As you may have seen from our site and the wider press for things like our latest frame, Round, Pegoretti is in the capable hands of Pietro, Dario’s longtime friend and frame builder and Cristina, ex CEO of Brooks England.”
Almost a year later, we got our hands on this black and white Responsorium. Clearly Pegoretti’s focus shifted at some point from race bikes to rides that also function as canvases. Influences on his handpainted designs include painters of antiquity to modern artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, as can be seen in another Peg we’ve shared here.
When it came time to spec it out, we all agreed on two things. First: a Pegoretti really ought to be outfitted with Campagnolo parts. Second: this is a special bike and no holds should be barred. So how’d that come together?
Enter: 12-speed Super Record. This stuff challenges 10-speed Campag. Seriously, it’s that good.
Enter: Bora Ultra 35 Dark wheels. Ceramic CULT bearings, carbon rims, carbon hubshells. And it would be a crime to put anything but a lovely, cotton, Italian Vittoria Corsa tanwall on there. This bike is about as good as it gets, and seriously fast.