Drali

Carlo Drali was born in Milan in 1897 and at the age of 13 started working at Cicli Olympia racing frame department.

In 1914 Carlo is personally hired by Edoardo Bianchi to work in the Bianchi factory racing division where, apart from 1916-18 war service he stayed, building frames for pro team members Girardengo, Olmo, Aspisi and Bergomi until in 1923 Carlo opened his own bicycle workshop and Bianchi dealership constructing racing frames.

Giuseppe (nicknamed Beppino) Drali was born in 1928 and joined his father in the shop at the age of 10 and continues to the present day at the age of 92 hand building artisan racing frames.

In 1945 after the war break, Bianchi resumed manufacturing and Carlo and Beppino were commissioned to produce the bicycles for a champion that would make history: Fausto Coppi.

In 1946 Fausto Coppi wins the first "Milan-Sanremo" on a frame built by Carlo Drali.

In 1949 they created the Bianchi Specialissima "Elaborata Drali" track bikes for Fausto Coppi. It was the only case in which Bianchi has allowed a frame maker to affix his signature on their frames. One of the bikes has always hung in Drali’s shop in Via Chiesa Rossa.

During the 1950s and 60s Carlo and Beppino Drali were two of the small band of Milano frame builders who worked for Bianchi’s Reparto Corse Racing division making team frames for not only Coppi but also Baldini, Nencini and Gimondi

In 1970 when Bianchi closed it’s in-house racing division and for the next 20 years, Beppino continued building small numbers of race frames decaled as Bianchis for some of their pro team

Beppino finally closed his workshop in 2014.

In 2016 a group of enthusiasts invested in Drali and relaunched Cicli Drali with the help of Beppino’s long term apprentice Alessandro just around the corner from the original shop. Beppino comes to work every day

Giuseppe Drali passed away December 25th  2021

www.ciclidralimilano.it

Guiseppe ‘Beppino’ Drali film  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5TsF8xhvmA