To an aficionado of custom Italian road racing bicycles, a Sancineto is considered Holy Grail territory. Regardless of their desirability, however, they are still one of the most unknown marques. Once you get past the flamboyant paint, fine engineering details start to appear, along with the realization that you’re looking at something really special.
Sancineto is a family-run frame builder located in Cuneo, Italy. Pietro Sancineto, in the Italian tradition, raced bicycles and began making frames around 1919. His son Sabastiano carried on, who trained his son, Gianni. Gianni is, to the best of my knowledge, still making frames.
This particular Sancineto is a resident of Australia’s capital of tasteful cycling, Melbourne. Marcus Lau had been collecting components for his Eddy Merckx Team Telekom when he happened across the Columbus MAX Sancineto with matching forks. The temptation to build it up was too much. Not only was it dressed with a titanium Campagnolo 10-speed gruppo, a bespoke leather Concor saddle by Busyman Bicycles was also installed. It was only fitting that Andy Rogers, from Fame & Spear, was assigned the task of documenting some of the details that make this machine so special.
