Pegoretti
Dario Pegoretti is considered one of the great modern framebuilders and a pioneer of T.I.G.-welded frames. Pegoretti uses only steel and aluminum to create his frames, having used tubes from Excel, Dedacciai, and most recently Columbus. Pegoretti models include the Responsorium, Big Leg Emma (my fav), Marcelo, Duende, Luigino, Love #3, and the 8:30. Pegoretti’s frames have been ridden by Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, Stephen Roche, Claudio Chiappucci, Mario Cippolini, and Andrea Tafi. He began as a contract builder, making private-label frames for other manufacturers until the American distributor Gita convinced him to build under his own name. Pegoretti won the President’s Choice award at the 2007 North American Handmade Bicycle Show and framebuilder of the year at the 2008 show. Some links to his beautiful work can be found here and here. But the absolute best may be this collection of images, courtesy of Above Category Cycling in Mill Valley, California. Beautiful.
