Jack Engelbrecht’s 2006 Mondonico
Jack Engelbrecht’s 2006 Mondonico
A bit of a dichotomy, this bike is simple and fancy, modern and old-fashioned.
The single gear harkens back to the early days of bike racing, at the same time that the carbon fiber says “I’m modern”. The understated black paint scheme tries to make the bike generic-looking, but the beautiful lugs and fine detail work make this bike unmistakably high-end.
Before Antonio Mondonico retired, he made one last swing through the United States visiting the bike shops that had sold his machines, taking orders for his last batch of bikes. Our friend Jack Engelbrecht, already riding a Mondonico Monza, decided that he really wanted a single-speed road bike to commemorate the history of Mondonico, a bicycle building family that had been making racing bikes for over 75 years.
Phil Wood hubs, White Industries freewheel
Modern or old-fashioned?
Some of Antonio’s best work
Mondonico bicycles began in Concorezzo Italy, a small village just outside Milan in 1929, and were hand-built by brothers Giuseppe and Angelo Mondonico. Self-taught in the bicycle world, but otherwise skilled industrial craftsmen, the brothers repaired and fabricated new bikes together for decades.
The original Mondonico badge
The modern Mondonico badge
In the 1970’s the brazing torch passed to young Antonio Mondonico. The cycling world is a small one, particularly in Italy, and many famous bike names are entwined in the Mondonico story. Antonio had apprenticed in Gianni Motta’s shop for a couple of years, then moved on to the Colnago shop where he worked until taking over the family business in 1979 (Ernesto Colnago was a friend of the Mondonico family, and as a young racer actually rode for a bike shop team that was headquartered in Giuseppe Mondonico’s shop). In the 1980’s, Antonio would partner with another big name in Italian bicycles, Paolo Guerciotti, and build racing bikes for some of the greatest racers of the era.
Our friend Jack, the owner of this bike, passed away in 2012. This bike stands as a memorial to Jack and the sport that he enjoyed so much.