STYLE over SPEED ride Brisbane, Australia

From http://italianbicycles.com.au and https://www.facebook.com/ItalianBicycles

G'day Beautiful People!

How are we doing with the chilli winter? Is it one more reason to ride or does winter make you more numb and willing to stay warm and at home?

Luckily for us it was not that cold on the evening of FRI 5th MAY (yes I know it is now 15 days ago but we've been very busy) and we enjoyed one of the most interesting bicycle events around Australia, the so called Style over Speed ride. It was 150% awesome fun!! Photos attached below courtesy of Pixels by Design Photos, Wynnum.

We had plenty to ride, laugh and enjoy at Style over Speed ride, people were all happily joining together under a beautiful clear sky spreading some magic powder-of-stars. Everybody around had a big smile. Quite a good number of people were first timers showing up, as well as plenty of first time riders! Nonetheless, nobody was scared and people were just excited of attending such uniquely diverse and original event.

 We experienced a tremendous success at the ride, not only because everybody loved our truly authentic and  somehow woggish accent (pizza, pasta, mamma & cappuccino) but also thanks to Paulina and Enzo, the Lombardo Bikes Asia Pacific representatives who paid up a visit and joined us with their beautiful Sanremo and Touring 28 for a beautiful evening ride along Brisbane CBD, South Bank and West End.

 

From the top of my mind and after checking with Mario we probably counted 189 bicycles all together, 90% with working lights on. 

Although, this time the remaining 10% without lights did not receive any fine by the police, unlike those without helmet during the Tweed Ride last August. The bike portfolio was extremely diverse, from the classic old ladies bike to the modern funky cargo bike and all the way to the great latest MTB with hydraulic disc brakes! In spite of this, everybody was welcome no matter the bike type, the clothing or the experience. 

 

The ride itself was not excessively long, it was actually quite enjoyable for any type of rider including the extreme novices. Having said that, you needed a decent functioning bicycle to perform the ride with working lights. Temperature was actually quite nice but what impressed us the most was the ability for people to be ready at 5:30pm on a Friday afternoon with their beautiful stylish clothes and their bikes, yet displaying enough energy to ride around... to our vision, it is a great alternative to the classic socializing in front of a beer in a pub... not that we do not like the latter, however variety is the spice of life! Why pizza everyday if you can have classic lasagne?

A similar event like the one we are describing to you today will be held around August, the so called Tweed Ride. It is a very interesting event and you are required, when possible, to wear your most amazing tweed. Scroll down our blog to find out more about the last year Tweed Ride event in Brisbane. Although last year we attended the Tweed Ride in Melbourne and Sydney, unfortunately due to iPhone collapse we have no photo on record of those :(

We look forward to seeing you at any of these events and we recommend to pay a visit to our website to catch up on our latest deals. Also, stay tuned with our news and events via our  facebook page and via our twitter channel.

Thank you very much for your attention, see you all soon, Many Happy Rides!

Mario and Roberto 

ITALIAN BICYCLES - Australia, New Zealand, Singapore,

The awesome meaning of Lombardo Italian Bicycles!

From http://italiabicycles.com.au

Hello Beautiful People!

Guess what? Summer is now definitely gone! 

Many of you might say "not for us!" since we still keep recording very high temperature in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and in plenty more places in AUS and why not, someone says in north NZ as well. On one side, great hot weather means more opportunity to ride a bike, on the other hand too hot weather can seriously be annoying particularly with temperature above 37 degrees! Such problem seems not affecting south east QLD and northern NSW where the rain has done some heavy damage and has prevented many occasional and recreational riders to get on a bike. Nonetheless, as soon as a little bit of sunshine comes out some of us who love the healthy and happy lifestyle are ready to make the most of it! 

Mario & Roberto went out for a pleasurable and relax ride this last SAT around South Bank in Brisbane, it seems they had lots of fun! Where did ride this last week end?

It seems now the bad weather is behind us, whilst strong winds keep us on the watch. Yesterday was not a bad day, today is nice so... finger crossed for more great weather!

Lately we've received some very inquisitive e-mails with people more or less asking the following: "why are your bikes so better than the others? Is it only because they are more expensive? We can now get bikes online from $235 AU!". In all honesty we did not receive many of these e-mails, probably 6 in the last 4 months out of the 150+ enquiries via e-mail we receive everyday, week end included. The fact is that we did not know how to answer to this question. Better said, we did not know how to answer to this question without appearing biased. After all, we are still managing Italian Bicycles and we do LOVE our Lombardo Italian bikes, thus an impartial answer had to be sought. We looked for non biased answers and we found some here http://ow.ly/iIVS5 - As you can see yourself, we left our fans, our supporters, our aficionados and our clients totally FREE to express what they felt they wanted to say plus, we offered a small reward for doing it, thus trying to involve as many people as we could.

Italian Bicycles, as the name wishes to remind to all of us, is an online business specialized in Lombardo Bikes: bicycles hand-made in Italy since 1952

In reality, without posing too much effort looking around, the best answer we could find ourselves is the one below. Warning! The grammar might not be perfect, but the actual meaning and the truth behind it is indeed quite real!

 

Anonymous biking fellow riding around the UK, France, Italy and Austria

So, it plausible that we can all provide the very same answer for the above question posed by people out there who yet do not own a Lombardo: "My friend, that is why!". 


Every Lombardo bikes comes to you with these 2 stickers certifying the manufacturer origin and its location, including the Eropean Union control certification and approval.

Nowadays the vast majority of bicycles are massively produced in China and Taiwan. Most brands on the market do take up of these productions engraving their brand. The kind of Know-how, Tradition, Passion and Love used to build these bikes in those regions is quite different than those used to build Lombardo Italian Bicycles, where the very same family started manufacturing bicycles since 1952 and where now a selected squad of craftsmen works non-stop to produce a state of the art design.

Try before you buy... and feel the difference.

Keep you head up while on the bike and enjoy your ride.

See you all soon.

Mario and Roberto at ride@italianbicycles.com.au and
http://italianbicycles.com.au

Valentine's day! ... anything left for the boys?

From http://italianbicycles.com.au

Hello Wonderful People!!!

Finally back on the blog after a quite time in January. Nowadays almost everybody is back to work after the Festive Season and thus, more bike riding for those who hate the cars or the public transports. More fun and more happiness Before and After work... how cool is that?

Typical breakfast before riding to work

Lot's of issues with the floods in QLD and NSW while plenty of bushfire in VIC, SA and WA. The whole team at Italian Bicycles hopes that everybody is now recovering or on the way to it.

It seems climate really needs to settle down instead of acting unpredictable every summer. We guess a good way to help the climate would be reducing Carbon emission into atmosphere and this can certainly be achieved through more .... BIKE RIDING!

However if you buy a bike and ride it only once a week that won't change things much... instead riding a bike every day of the week or at least 3 times per week then YES, this will make a difference to our environment. Also, don't forget that 3 times per week on a bike means 156 days of the year, which is equivalent to losing quite a bit of fat in excess for those who need losing a couple of Kg or simply want to appear just nice and lean.

So... let's talk about .... VALENTINE's DAY!

What do you think is going to happen this year? Will the MAYA made a mistake and predicted something else on 14th FEB? And more onto Valentine's day meaning is it only for girls or the boys should claim their fair share of credit? Regardless of the answer, there are plenty of different ways to celebrate Valentine's day and one of this could be: A Relaxed Bike Ride with your partner... along the beach, near the park, or why not up the hills and downtown ...

A Valentine's day suggestion with Lombardo Murano 26 W 3sp integrated Shim Nexus

As we were discussing above Valentine's day is the opportunity to also do something new and different than the daily routine, so a relaxed bike ride together can add a romantic / precious value to any relationship. We strongly recommend it... take your partner for a nice relaxed ride, make him or her feel great. They will surely appreciate!

But... is Valentine a day for handing gifts only to women? Do the boys want their share too this year? As you know Lombardo Bikes make some beautiful Carbon frames hand-made in Italy for both MTB's and Road Race... unfortunately we are unable to service those online but there are roughly 14 shops in all AUS and NZ which can help you with this. As a curiosity we ask the importer for Lombardo in AU and NZ how much is the real weight of the frame below and his answer was "Less than what you think"... my answer was "999 gr? " and his reply was "Spot on, it is less than what you said. It is only 990 gr." I bet you money the frame below would be the PERFECT present to many of the boys around who love Quality and Performances without compromising Weight and Reliability.

A new boys toy for Valentine's day?

The deep expression of love can be so different and variable, so it is art in the very many ways this has been expressed by authors. The same principles applies to bike frame design and graphics, particularly if the craftsmen developing these have been in business for more than 60 years and have, from a little country side location, sold genuine Italian Hand Made Bikes all over the world, proving quality is still the best decision you can make!

A different perspective of bike, for those who are commuting or boating or camping and don't like rusty frames bits and unsafe folding systems

I guess this artistic expression of manufacturing is now confined in very little realms around the world, where people work hard with passion and love to give out their very best with what they do... a bit the same with the bottom line reason why we should celebrate Valentine's day: Love and Passion!!!

Love and Passion to you all! .... Many Sweet Rides!

See you all soon.

Mario and Roberto at ride@italianbicycles.com.au and
http://italianbicycles.com.au

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

From http://italianbicycles.com.au

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

How are you feeling? Are you still busy with your Christmas shopping? Or are you done and dusted with it?

The Festive season is officially on! Everybody is now thinking about their break and the family reunions will be a must for many of us. Plus, the holiday mode is indeed very contagious so plenty of you will feel on holiday this next week. It is the usual Christmas time, nicely hot down under, but we still love it ... over and over.. 

Speaking about Christmas, do you know what is the latest in the Lombardo Italian Bicycles family? Well... check this out:

Lombardo Bikes, in cooperation with the local Councils, offered its bicycles as the only source of energy to power up a number of massive Christmas trees placed in public squares of some of the biggest Italian cities, to promote a more sustainable and greener Festive season. 

The one in the picture is from the City of PALERMO, only 55km from the Lombardo Bikes factory in Buseto Palizzolo, where all Lombardo Bikes are carefully hand-crafted for the joy of our million of fans around the world.

So, for those who wish to see these beautiful trees nicely lit and shining they will have to ... Pedal, Pedal and Pedal!

How would you like to see something similar in the major Australian and New Zealand cities? Send us your comments/opinion... you never know what Lombardo can come up with!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Staff at Italian Bicycles!

Thank you very much for your incredible support this year! We trust you have enjoyed our company as much as we have enjoyed yours!

Mario & Roberto

Spring is now! @ Italian Bicycles

From http://italianbicycles.com.au

Buongiorno Everybody! Or better saying Good Morning everybody!

How is everybody feeling with this cold weather around Australia and New Zealand? Did I say cold? Well it is cold in Melbourne, it was so so in Sydney, what about Auckland, Perth and Adelaide? Well, at least Darwin, Brisbane and Cairns are enjoying some amazing weather, perfect for riding with family and friends. However, just in case you were too cold to speak and perhaps a bit hungry we aim to send a smile sharing today's breakfast with you!

Photo courtesy of Bikingbrisbane.com

We were in Italy for a month in mid June. Straight after we got back we attended Pushies Galore in Brisbane, a very interesting event organized by some serious bike lovers in Holland Park. This year event was truly awesome like the previous year and it is a great way to swap/trade for many bike lovers, as well as for people to find out more about some Vintage/Classic brands like Lombardo Italian Bicycles.

During our time in Italy, we visited the Lombardo Bikes factory and had a look at how frames are made and at the prototype for the bicycle models available from FEB 2013. A lot under Lombardo's belt, in particular with the new racing lines called Lombardo CORSA (Road + MTB), as well as with the new Lombardo ELETTRICA Electric bikes. The latter will be unique for being the only ones Made in Europe (Made in Italy) and licensed to instal BOSCH electric engines on it. Certainly another proof of German known reliability seeking the Italian high-quality for a win-win synergy in entering new markets.

The Lombardo Corsa series is based around 7 models for road and about 8 for MTB.They were all released at Eurobike 2012 in Germany and you can see some sneaky peak photos here.

However the range of bicycles we are more interest into discussing are the Lombardo Bikes, which will be available in AU & NZ and on Italian Bicycles of course since FEB 2013.... or perhaps earlier, who knows!!
So far we know that Lombardo Italian Bicycles is indeed filling up a huge gap in AU and NZ markets with genuine Italian-made quality bicycles with decent pricing, such as vintage, city, trekking, hybrid, road and MTB. It is indeed only since 2009 that Lombardo Bikes brand is available in Asia Pacific but its reliability and its quality of design are yet to be matched by any other brand on the current market.

Haven't tried a Lombardo Bike yet? Easy done! 
Order your new Italian made bike at ITALIAN BICYCLES and have 30 days to decide if you wish to keep it.... you will only need the first 5min ride!!

See you next time!

Italian Bicycles display at ITALIAN WEEK Festival in Brisbane CBD

From http://italianbicycles.com.au

Hello Beautiful People!

 

Did you do anything special last week end? Where did you go? The reason we ask is to find out whether or not you had the chance to see our staff and our beautiful bicycles on Saturday 2nd June in Queen St Mall, Brisbane

Italian Bicycles staff helped the staff from Lombardo Bikes Asia-Pacific during their marvelous Vintage Italian Bicycles exhibition, an event that was included among the many events celebrated as part of the QLD ITALIAN WEEK 2012.

Well in case you didn't attend, here there are some pictures for you! We had hundreds and hundreds of people passing by who stopped and could not avoid admiring and commenting about our Italian Vintage Bicycle Collection, we also had many people subscribing to our newsletter and thus, receiving a 20% discount coupon to use on our website straight away. 

Although our beautiful Lombardo Italian Bicycles were the stars of the day, we also had plenty of people coming around and enquiring about Lombardo as a brand, asking about the history behind it and how different are these bicycles compared to the rest...I guess the answer was easy done: Lombardo bikes are fully built in Italy with a know-how that dates back to 1952!

 

However, at this exhibition our bicycles were not the only thing people looked up for... a lot of the people's curiosity was triggered by these beautiful cup cakes we offered to all Lombardo Bikes "aficionados" coming by around our space to say "Hello!" and to novices who, being very attracted to, wished to touch and feel our Italian bicycles.

We had plenty to offer and to tell about hand-made bicycles and to top it all off we had these beautiful hand-made cup cakes!

 Along with us, there were the people from "La Bella Figura" who teach Italian language and culture in Alderly as well as the beautiful auto-vehicles courtesy of QLD Fiat Car Club! It was indeed a very special Italian engineering day!

Stay tuned with our FACEBOOK and with our TWITTER channels to keep updated with all our public exhibitions and displays as well as our bicycles tips and info.

Next Italian Bicycles display will be along with Lombardo Bikes Asia Pacific at PUSHIES GALORE in Holland Park QLD on 15th JULY 2012, more info on http://bikingbrisbane.com/?page_id=1093

That's all for now, so hope to see you around soon! 

Benefits of Cycling, benefits for you and...

From http://italianbicycles.com.au

Hello everybody!
How is everybody coping with the cold we are facing these days? From Adelaide to Melbourne and from Brisbane to Sydney, Canberra & Hobart and the whole of their respective states, temperatures have not been sensational for the cycling lovers! Except Darwin of course and perhaps Perth during some days.

We have report of few people riding Lombardo bikes during the extremely wet Style over Speed event last Friday in Brisbane. Among our follow Lombardo Bikes riders some in NSW write saying Sydney is a much better place if you live it on a bicycle, who cares about the cold when you ride a glamorous and stylish bike! Also, we receive messages from plenty of people down in Melbourne who complain about the endless rain and cold but yet, they keep cycling for the many benefits associated with it. Speaking of which, given last week success we wanted to re-post our famous diagram (figure below) highlighting some among the many benefits.

By they way, have your heard the rumors? ITALIAN WEEK is on in Brisbane! For those coming up/down to Brisbane or those living close to Brisbane, a various range of interesting and quality events will be held within the City and mostly the CBD. Finest Wine and Food tasting, Music exhibitions, Fashion/Art/Cars displays, dance... and, last but not least..... Italian Bicycles! 

Yes! Italian Bicycles will be displaying on 2nd of JUNE 2012 at Queen St Mall in Brisbane CBD from 10am to 4pm. You will be able to appreciate, touch and feel selected Lombardo Italian Bicycles among the vintage and road cycling collection.

Find out about the entire program clicking here

See the Story Bridge colored with the Italian Flag clicking here

ITALIAN BICYCLES design and quality exhibition is on SAT 2nd June, 10am to 4pm in Queen St Mall, Brisbane CBD

Apart from our beautiful Italian Bicycles, on Sat 2nd June you will be able to see a multitude of events in Queen St Mall, from Cars to Music and much more... come and enjoy a beautiful touch of Italian Culture. Lot's of give away around, so you do not wish to miss the event! See you next time!