Our history

The Stelbel story started by chance. Stelio had just bought a bike, but he didn’t like it. It was no good, he said, not even for basic chores.

There were some steel pipes in his workshop, thick and heavy but fit for purpose. The TIG welder was hardly ever off the shop floor, the surface plate was used regularly, and when it came to metalwork, the skill of Stelio and his father, Antenore, was well-known. So when they decided to make a bicycle, it didn’t even take a day. There, in a workshop in Rodano, just outside of Milan, the first “Telaio Belletti” was born in 1973. From there, it took almost two years for that first Belletti prototype to become a real Stelbel. Stelio was a mechanical engineer by trade, and so could only devote what little free time he had after work hours to realise his dream.

In those days, steel pipes for bicycle frames were only produced with lugged junctions in mind. TIG welding, Stelio’s method of choice, needed something else. Something better. Pipes and techniques were modified. Special chassis were built from scratch. Unique solutions were developed – the famous Stelbel fork crown being just one example. And then, there was the new construction method: TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding. It’s a process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld – something that no one in the cycling world had done before. Thanks to his experience in the aeronautical world, however, Stelio was an obvious innovator. Stelbel’s final prototype was called “Integrale”, a name that emphasised the frame’s unique design and the modern, innovative elements that distinguished it from everything else on the market. In the absence of lugs, the frame looked as if it was all one piece. Its integrated characteristics and peculiarities were described in an eight-page document, that was presented to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office on 10 July, 1975.

In the same year, the Stelbel brand made its first international appearance. In the early ’70s, the Polish national cycling team’s mechanic was Italian, and he lived near to the Belletti workshop. He’d been hearing rumours about an exciting frame builder trying new methods, but at that time it was hard to imagine a bike without lugs being strong enough to withstand the rigours of racing. There was something intriguing about the story, however, and so the mechanic commissioned Stelio to build frames for the Polish team. The resulting frames were revolutionary. The tubing used was as thin as possible to minimise weight, with special reinforcements inserted at key points to ensure strength and rigidity. On 27 August, 1975, the Polish quartet took the coveted rainbow jersey in the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Belgium. That success was enough to convince Stelio to devote all of his time to bicycles, and the rest is history.

Over the years, the brand expanded. The workshop in Rodano continued experimenting, trying new things and continuing Stelbel’s tradition of innovation. Aesthetics were refined, the unique fork crown was developed, and some forays into stainless frame construction began using tubing that was custom designed and made specifically for Stelio. Stelbel was also among the very first to introduce vertical rear dropouts, as early as 1977.

Throughout the late ’70s and ’80s, Stelbel built a reputation for using unconventional tube sizes and shapes, oversized or non-circular, and occasionally for surprising the cycling world with special projects like the iconic Punta dell’Est, which was first created in 1983 and then grabbed the cycling world’s attention at the 1985 Milan bike show. By then, a number of large brands had starting using TIG welding in their construction process. Stelbel went from success to success, and when production was at its peak there were people employed at the workshop. There were also some experiments with aluminium and MTB frames. Sadly, personal problems forced Stelio to close the doors on Stelbel in 1990, and nothing more was heard from the famous Telaista – until 2013. In September of that year, there was talk of a return. The foundations were laid, and work began on returning one of Italy’s finest frame-building brands to its former glory. Now, thanks to a collaboration between Cicli Corsa and Stelio Belletti, we’re proud to present the 2019 Stelbel range to a new generation of cyclists.

Stelio Belletti

Stelio Belletti has always had a particular talent when it came to building frames for vehicles. That they were powered by a combustion engine, or the legs of a cyclist, made little difference. Every type of frame presents its own challenges, and achieving maximum performance is no easy task. For Stelio and his father Antenore, however, these difficulties only inspired them to excel at whatever they built, whether it was in the field of aeronautics, motorcycle racing, or cycling. Look into the Belletti family history, and it won’t be long before you come across an article praising their engineering genius. For example, the P19 Scricciolo, a small plane for which Belletti developed the fuselage, is described as “a masterpiece of handling” that for over 20 years was trainer aircraft of choice for the Aero Club d’Italia. In 1967, the Belletti’s were responsible for improving the chassis of the era’s most powerful racing motorbike, the Honda 500 GP. The legendary Gran Prix rider Mike Hailwood came to the father and son pair hoping to refine the handling of his bike, and in just 16 days, the Belletti workshop delivered a new frame for the powerful Honda engine. Shortly after, Hailwood duly rode to victory at the Mototemporada Romagnola in Rimini – beating another icon of the sport, Giacomo Agostini, in the process.

Stelio’s unique approach to bicycle frame construction was born from such experiences, and his background in motor racing and aeronautics. A lifelong love of cycling spurred him to develop new technologies and techniques for the cycling world, and though he’s now in his 80s, that passion still inspires him today. A bike frame is a seemingly simple tool, but that simplicity is only made possible by a complex understanding of the master craftsman’s methods and materials. A special attention is required. Stelio’s dedication has always been to the quality of the final product, regardless of how long it took. The classic Stelbel fork crown is the perfect example of this. There might have been easier solutions, but they wouldn’t have been the right one. This spirit of originality and hard work was passed down to Stelio by his father, Antenore, a skilled mechanic the likes of whom you no longer meet. The best teacher and mentor that the young Stelio could have asked for, he passed away some time ago but his energy and ideals can still be seen in all of Stelbel’s products today.

La tecnica

Steel has always been Stelbel’s material of choice. But it’s not just about continuing tradition, because recent metallurgical research has led to the production of high-tech alloys that offer undeniable advantages when it comes to tailoring a hand-built bike to the rider’s needs. We use Columbus Tubi because we believe that they’re the best in the business. They supply us with double and triple-butted tubing, and also customise tubes according to our needs.

For our new frames we’ve revived Stelio’s aesthetics and unique methods while combining them with the latest technological advances. TIG Welding remains at the core of the new Stelbel range, and we build frames one at a time, always to measure. This attention to detail allows us to devote the necessary time to ensuring a product of the highest-possible quality, with the frame’s dynamic characteristics always balanced to suit the rider. The classic range of frames will feature the famous Stelbel fork crown, one of the most distinctive elements from our past. For fans of timeless beauty, we offer the second generation “Integrale 40^th Anniversary”.

Our modern frames are all equipped with carbon fibre forks.  All of the steel that we use comes from Columbus, the standard-bearer in bicycle tubing manufacture for generations. The sizes, thicknesses and specific forms have all been chosen to suit our designs, and we use triple-butted tubes made from three different alloys to build frames that are responsive and low weight.

Building a high-level steel frame requires the expertise of great craftsmen and workers. For that, we thank Giovanni, Domenico, Massimo, Claudio, Mario, Walter, Michele, Marco and everyone else involved in the construction and finish of Stelbel frames. Each model’s technical characteristics are described in detail on the frame’s dedicated page. More information is also available on 2015 models. Steel is at the heart of everything we do. It’s our history and it will be a huge part of our future, too. But we’re also interested in the possibilities of carbon fibre, so we will soon begin development of our own range of forks, designed and built entirely in-house. While respecting our history as craftsmen, we also hope to continue Stelbel’s tradition of experimentation and innovation by working with new materials and developing new frames in composite materials.

Mission

Stelbel’s revival started with a simple premise: stay true to the past. The brand’s most iconic characteristics have inspired this new generation of frames, and we treasure the values that Stelio Belletti has always followed. We will continue to experiment and innovate and with the ambition to improve. All of our frames are handmade in Italy by skilled Italian craftsmen, tailored exclusively to the customer’s needs and custom built to order. We work hard and invest a lot of time in ensuring that we live up to expectations, communicate quickly with customers and offer efficient assistance when needed. And of course, we aim to build the best possible product, whose quality is controlled throughout the process of construction and finish. We also aspire to honour the great Italian frame-building tradition, and perhaps one day we’d like to think that we played a role in returning it to its former glory.