About Us
R.S.C. is an organisation committed to the study of the historical cycling heritage. Since 2008, the association has been carrying out an ambitious and unique project dedicated to vintage bicycles, aimed at classifying manufacturers and matching models, frame numbers and production years for the main Italian manufacturers. With this objective in mind, the famous ‘Registers’ were born, namely:
- the Historical Register, i.e. the main database, subdivided by brand name and containing all registered bicycles, accompanied by individual datasheets and photo galleries;
- the Special Register, which contains bicycles recognised as being of historical importance, to which a Certificate of Historicity is issued; and finally
- the Regional Register, which aims to record all manufacturers in the country.
Also of fundamental importance is our virtual Library of vintage catalogues and magazines, the largest collection of cycling material available on the Internet.
Through this work, the association intends to document and enhance the historical cycling heritage, while also contributing to the dissemination of vintage bicycle culture.
Our Mission
Registro Storico Cicli was born from a passion that could not remain confined to a garage, among those tools we use to take care of our beloved vintage two-wheelers. Very shortly, it seemed to us that a tool was missing in that garage, one that was more unobtainable than others, a tool to give a name and a surname to a bike, to give a parent, a date of birth and one in which its relatives disappeared. In short, a tool to give a vintage bike an identity. A precise identity made of stories, of dust, of entrepreneurs, of cyclists, of mechanics, of missing parts, and above all of that artisan quality so developed in our country. We had to build that tool ourselves and make it available to others, and so we did.
Once the first pedal stroke was underway, we had to establish where to go, and for us it was essential to clarify that direction: we want to make it easy to enter a frame number and from that to look for a correlation with a brand, and then try to dissect every piece of information available to us on the model in order to make that bike unique, as it was unique at the time it was built. We also want to go further, and so we strive equally hard to create as comprehensive a database as possible with datasheets, pictures and documentation of all kinds. Every clue is often useful and necessary in order to be able to date a bike or discover under layers of rust or missing parts where its originality begins or how, if need be, to restore it.
Finally, Registro Storico Cicli is a way to unite those who share the same passion. Through membership we don’t just reach out to share a vintage catalogue, be it Ancora, Bianchi, Colnago or Legnano. We also wish to get to know each other in person with a handshake, and then perhaps hand over one of our tools, trying to preserve one of the many examples of waht is the most beautiful, original and human invention of all time: the bicycle.
