1988 Gianni Motta

A Gianni Motta! A fantastic bike named after a great guy.
Gianni Motta was an Italian bike racer whose professional career ran from the middle 1960’s to 1976. Gianni Motta won the Giro di Lombardia, the Tour de Suisse, and the 1966 Giro d’Italia as the leader of the Molteni team (and I bet you’re surprised to know anyone besides Eddy Merckx ever won a race for Molteni). When Gianni retired from racing he started a bike company.
Gianni’s bike designs were inspired by the best of Italy’s frame builders. There is a shadow of Bianchi, Ugo De Rosa, Antonio Mondonico and Ernesto Colnago in a lot of the Motta bikes that we’ve seen, but Gianni always added something extra.

Funny model name

Gianni Motta head badge

Front end close up

Our friend Jeb Thornburg raced around on this bike back in his college days. This was a pretty sweet racing rig in the late ’80’s, and it just oozes Italian racing heritage. This a custom Gianni Motta “Personal 2001R”. The normally round frame tubing on this bike has been flattened into octagon shapes. The normally straight seat stays dive inward at the rear brake bridge. The brake cable shoots through the top tube. The semi-sloping fork crown holds onto pretty meaty fork legs, and like almost all steel Gianni Motta forks, this one is chrome.

Crimped tubing

Chorus drivetrain

Bent seatstays

Want to know something else about Gianni Motta? In the early ’80’s Motta sponsored the first American Team to enter a Grand Tour, the 1984 Giro d’Italia. The team was captained by U.S. Pro Champion John Eustice, and included a friend of the shop, Tim Rutledge. The pick for the team’s manager? Robin Morton.

Robin Morton, the team, Gianni Motta

Robin was not only the first American to manage a team at a grand tour, she was the first woman to ever do the job. The Linea Italia-Motta team wore American flag inspired jerseys and their Gianni Motta bikes sported a red, white & blue paint scheme. The team’s presence (even at the back of the race) turned heads.

1988 Gianni Motta