We went to an Italian Bicycle Factory

• Officine Mattio Website: https://www.officinemattio.com/
• Gregario Website: https://www.gregariocycling.com/
• Alpi Del Mare: https://granfondoalpidelmare.com/en/home/
• WIN BIKES & WHEELS from MAPDEC: https://raffall.com/mapdec

We took a trip to the Piedmont region of Italy on an epic trip. We took part in the Alpi Del Mare Gran Fondo that started in the town of Mondovi, We then went to the @officinemattio2009 Headquarters in Cuneo, and finally onto Pedemonte Composites just outside Genoa.

For this trip Mapdec paid for own flights and travel, but Officine Mattio paid for our race entry and hotels.

Officine Mattio have a number of bikes in their range, including stainless steel and aluminium models. They are made using a wrapped tubes method. This video also features a short segment on Gregario Bikes, who use an adjustable monocoque mould.
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Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to Genoa in Italy
00:45 Who are Officine Mattio?
02:04 The Factory visit
08:05 Interview with investor Scott
14:51 The Alpi Del Mare ride
18:13 Our thoughts
20:51 Introducing @gregariolab

With thanks to @spoken_velo for organising the trip.

Welcome to Italy. We are in a town just outside Genova. The Mediterranean Sea is just over there
behind my shoulder. And we have been invited out here by a relatively startup
brand called Officine. Mattio, about ten years old. And we’ve come out here to film
how their bikes are made, except when we actually got to
the factory, we weren’t allowed to film. We managed to film some bits and pieces. So this video is going to be a collection
of a few interesting tip bits from our video that kind of tells the story
of where I think the brand is right now. We’ve been invited out to ride ar grand
Fondu They sponsored, which is an amazing time. I’ve ridden some of their bikes, we’ve met
an awful lot of the people behind it. We’ve spoken to some of the investors. That’s a fascinating conversation
And we’ve also spoken to a few people in the factory as well. So I think, in all this video is going to be pretty
fascinating, but a bit of segmented. I just realized that right about now
in the video, you’re wondering who the hell is Officine Mattio? I have never heard of this bike brand. Well, probably the better question to ask
is who are Officine Mattio? Because they are a collection
of individuals that all come together with this common
dream of trying to bring manufacturing of bicycles back into Italy
and so transcend the cottage industry, because of course,
there are some smaller brands out there. Now, this all starts
with a chap called Giovanni. He used to run a bike shop and he was the one that really went out
and met all these people and collected this talent to eventually have
all the ingredients that he needed, to make this brand. After that, there is Davido,
he is head of marketing, the guy that is behind organizing
Gran Fondos and all sorts of things. Then, crucially, a chap called Roberto
who ran a really high end paint shop and he was the one responsible for all these elaborate paint jobs
that you’re seeing coming out of a Officine. Matteo. And then we have Riccardo, an ex pro racer who really started to import
on what he wanted from the designs. We have Luca,
who runs a cycle touring business and then currently brought
that business into the Officine. Matteo. So they also have a a tourist guide
business as part of this brand. Quite unique. But most crucially, perhaps they found someone that had the carbon
expertise and Pedemonte composites. And we went there to go
meet up with Chiara. The construction method using it, Officine, Matteo,
we haven’t really covered on this channel before,
so let me try and talk you through it. They’re using a method called the tube
and wrapping technique. Now Pedemonte components that you see
here are also famous for making lots of other really top
end carbon components. When we were there,
we saw front splitters, rally cars. We saw ladders being made for high end luxury yachts,
and that’s a bit of a weird one. Had an autoclave there. They were making racing seats, They also had their own bicycle
brand called Pedemonte. And that bicycle brand
was all about very fine custom geometry. Millimeter perfect custom geometry. More on that in a second. And then out of that became the work
with our Officine, Matteo and Officine. Matteo
now makes up the bulk of their work, but they still maintain
that really high end automotive because that’s kind of a bit of a heritage
and where they learn things as well. So the construction method that they use is a more traditional tube
and wrap design. So they use moulds to make the generic tube
in the down tube, top tube. And then they use various bits
of forging to make the common components. So the bottom bracket, the drop outs,
the top of the head tube. Interestingly,
and then they bond it all together, basically
just glue it all together in the jig. Once they have it all glued together,
they then go back with other layers of carbon fiber and wrap it around
those tubing to reinforce it. There’s an awful lot of labor involved. Every single stage needs a line in
and check in. But also an awful lot of sanding. And the room that we saw that was a big
dedicated extraction chamber sanding facility
with all sorts of manners of hand tools and big tools to try and sand off
all the excess glues and resins, and get everything down
to a nice smooth finish. now, there’s not an awful lot of detail
on the Officine Mattio website about how they’re doing this construction,
but on the Pedemonte Cycles website, there’s a little bit more detail
about how they get and the compaction by using the compression bags
on the inside of those tubes in a fairly unique way. And when we were there, they really didn’t want us to film
how they were achieving that. The inside of the frame,
if we were to inspect it, looks quite messy compared to what we’re used to, but the outside of the frame
is absolutely beautiful, as you’d expect. And we’re going to hand over now to Davide,
talk us through how he learned his craft. I started a few years ago, by helping the other and then, learn and learn there, and, today, I,
I am on the jig. Yeah. I kept the tube, put it together
on the jig and made it bicycle. For example,
we check the size of the frame like four, five time before gluing it And in your own words,
what would you say is the biggest difference
of what you do here compared to what we’re familiar
with seeing from Chinese brands? What what makes it different? I think it’s the, the quality control. And, the thing that, you can have everything under your looking, from A to Z, from the paper of carbon To the single part to the frame. And you can achieve a great tour. And this is everything, right? The way from the freezer
where everything is kept and the design offices up there,
which is my next question. How closely do you work with
the designers? other particular thing is that,
almost everything everyone working here is cycling people. Is it okay? I used to go cycling. Yeah, but we know what, oh. Other cyclists need. So it’s, both way. So they come up with, some design and we come up with this, some needs. Okay. Together. That’s perfect.
That’s what I was really hoping to hear. So when you think about, is there a better way
of making this bottom bracket area, can we integrate that into a design
that actually happens in real, real time what’s the benefit of having
so much, breadth of knowledge here? Yeah, for sure. In the beginning, everything started
with the knowhow from the cars. Then, we moved these to the bicycle, Thank you so much for your time, David.
Everybody appreciate. here’s my thinking right now,
if you imagine and put yourself in the shoes of the founder,
Giovanni, were to try and start a bicycle brand who specialized in carbon
fiber from scratch in 2025. How on earth would you do it? A lot of the brands that we’re familiar
with all started off relatively small scale. Started welded frames on a small scale,
got bigger and bigger, and then as new technology came along, we started to introduce that technology
piecemeal. Today, to become competitive from day
one would actually be really challenging. And I think there’s two ways
that you could possibly do that. One, you could take a massive amount
of investment, buy a factory, spend millions of pounds on molds
and start training and it could be a decade
before you are profitable again. Or you do it the organic route
and you try and do it piecemeal. think what Officine Mattio
trying to do is somewhere in between. They’ve tried to do something organically, take an investment when it’s necessary
to take a bit of a leap forward. And I think as we see them today
is when they’ve taken their first good chunk of investment. So let’s hear from Scott. We’re at A restaurant straight off doing in 100 K. Grand Fondu Thanks for hospitality, by the way.
This is Scott McGuigan. You’re the finance, I guess, behind
Officine Mattio, one of the investors. Yeah. Which has come up fairly recently. When did that happen? So that happened about, 20 months ago. Brilliant. So you saw a an opportunity there. I just wonder if you could share
with our audience what they probably to consider to be the Dragon’s Den pitch. What was the thing
that captured your imagination? one part is leisure. the world is moving to a more leisure
based platform. And I think because of that, I looked at this investment
as part of that portfolio. Second
is the artisan nature of this business. This is a very, very,
very special business. And it’s sort of reviving
the old manufacturing of road frames in Italy. A lot of that, as you know, would be
outsourced for the last 20, 25 years. And that’s some of the big names
that have done that too. So what we look to is to say,
okay, let’s bring that back in-house. Let’s do something with that. So that was the second attraction. That’s the second attraction okay. the third attraction was just the people. I mean, you experience now, Cuneo. And the Italian passion is very real. And passion. Yeah. But it comes with the heart. They really want to make a difference. They want to make a change, and
they want to take this product to market. It definitely feels like they really want
a really strong homegrown product again. Like they want to bring manufacturing
home. Absolutely, absolutely. And I think because of that, you know, those three things,
the mix of those three things said to me, it’s not just about the return
on investment for me. It’s actually about growing something
and giving it back to the community. Right? It’s in the bigger space of doing that. And when I was out on my ride
today, I definitely I was talking to people, other dealers
and other people here on your hospitality. and I almost feel like let down
by some of the famous Italian brands that have now started to outsource.
There’s almost like a hunger and a thirst. I mean, this is
this is a journey for this company, right? This company’s been around, you know,
initially about eight and nine years ago, Giovanni set up as the founder with the
and the original shareholders. And where it’s come from then
today is just one part of that journey. And that journey will continue. And like you said, there’s the passion,
there’s the manufacturing. Embrace the bring something back. And also to to keep that brand. I mean, the most important thing about OM
is the brand, the brand, association. You want to be part of something
growing into something larger. I can feel the fire in your belly
for this project. It’s amazing. Now, the really difficult thing for me to wrap my head around
is just how hard this could be. Yes. The Chinese have got a big lead on carbon
manufacturing. do you see that? You’ve got to close a gap,
or are you doing something different? What’s.
Where do you see that challenge going? Yeah I mean I think the challenge
is in different levels. Let’s just say there’s
there’s an obvious commercial challenge. Right. And and that’s most manufacturers
have outsourced to Asia. It’s a low cost base. And then they can cross sell
back into the market. I’m sure if you’re a ten year old company compared to a 50 year old company
absolutely. Brand awareness
I think the second thing on that too is really when you when you look at
where we are in the marketplace, we’re a little bit at the top end
just now, just just a little bit. That may change in the future. Yeah. You know,
and that’s that’s about the brand growing because the brand just can’t go
horizontal. Needs to go vertical. We need to speak to
and listen to our customer base. When our customer base
tells us the issues, good. But maybe we want a different view. then the we will react to that. I, I, I see I see the challenge
thing that really blows my mind is, you need a factory and a paint shop and staff and staff
training and time to iterate and time to make mistakes
and time to learn from those mistakes. sometimes in manufacturing and then
especially in, in this industry, people don’t appreciate what was done in the past
and then what is going to in the future. Right. Interesting. So when you look at it, the talents,
there already okay. You need to elaborate on that. So you found people
initially that could work with carbon. And this is why it’s important to,
you know, tell the story right. So what industry were they in before? So they were originally in the cycling
industry. Okay. Back to your point. Once things started to get outsourced,
those artisans started to look at other industries. So looking at ski and carving skis for carbon manufacturing,
for people like Pagani, etc.. So there’s a whole space and the carbon
manufacturing is very mature in Italy. And all we are doing
now is we’re tapping into the artisans that were working for those entities. They’ve now upped their skills
and technology and advancement in carbon. Yes, manufacturing. And now we are bringing
that back into the solution. So here’s the interesting lead. Question for that is do
you think you found these people in time to capture that talent on that thing
and pass it on to the next generation? Definitely. Yeah. And that’s part
of bringing it all in-house, right. Because when we bring that in-house,
then we can start doing apprenticeships. Yeah, we can start bringing people in and
we can bring people in on the front end. On the R&D side, we can bring people in the back
end, in the manufacturing, in the paint and in the sales side to
the sales is as important. as manufacturing
It’s a good salesman. I always argue
that they’re the most important. Without them, nothing else happens. So yeah, I that’s really,
really fascinating. And I don’t want to take this interview
too much long time. But is there anything else
that you want to tell this audience about, that you don’t think that we’ve if there’s one thing that you want to say,
guys need to understand this. What’s that? I think,
one message would be come through. Could you see the product,
see the team and experience. You will
then understand what the project is about. That’s brilliant. You’ve got to live it. Thank you so much for your time, Scott.
I really appreciate it. Thank you. Cheers. Now, as you can imagine,
there’s quite a lot of the conversations I’ve had with Scott that we couldn’t even share some of the future ambitions
and the future projects, his ideas, hopefully they’re going to play out,
but it’s such early days yet. But I promise you, there is an awful lot of passion, ambition
behind what you’ve just seen there. we came here to ride the ALP del Mare
Gran Fondo, which is in the Maritime Alps,
and it’s been absolutely stunning. We’ve come all the way to Italy
to learn about actual bikes made in Italy. You’ve got to go to start
with a bike ride on a massive scale. Quiet moment on the hill. let’s have a chat about this bike. First of all, climbs really nice. Seated out the saddle. Love that. It’s not a great under. Braking into a tight corner. So hard on the brake, into a hairpin. doesn’t feel great the second you let
the front brake off and let it roll. It’s nice again. Like you’re on weight. The front wheel takes control,
just a bit skittish. And I think that’s
because the fork isn’t that stiff. I mean I’m nitpicking here. And you’ve got to remember that
I’m used to riding like a time scylon which must have the stiffest fork
in existence. Here it is. last 100m, Well, an absolutely excellent day out. Loved every second. First of a mass start event. And that was quite the adrenaline hit. asked me six months ago if I was going to be riding
100 K through the Italian Maratine Alpes, I absolutely would not have
thought that was going to be possible. So that’s amazing. And it’s a really brave move to, to kind of launch the brand like this
with such a big scale event. When we’ve talked to the guys about it,
they were saying they expected to have maybe 500 people showing up on this first go of it,
and they’ve actually ended up with 3000. So I imagine that the kind of logistics
and prep that’s gone into that has really kind of multiplied
over the, the, the period that they’ve been kind of
doing all the planning and actually like to have a closed road
event. It requires a lot of participation across
a lot of different administrative organizations. And they there’s a really lovely kind of, celebration dinner,
on the Sunday night after the rides. And I think that’s quite special. And I don’t know if we would have
that same support in a UK town. It’s quite a small town on the way. And we had kind of words
from the head of the town. Might have been the mayor. Got to be honest. Didn’t quite catch it, but he was really passionate
about the benefits of cycle tourism and what that could bring to the area. So they’re really seeing it
as an opportunity for them to get involved with bikes. And that’s really special
that you’ve got kind of this high end brands
collaborating with municipal organizations to bring something of this scale together. There were some local restaurants
that were involved. One of the towns we went through had like
an artisanal market as a feed station. I don’t know about you, but like,
certainly getting handfuls of artisanal cheese on my way through a town
is exactly how I want to spend 100 K. There was a little wine
stall there as well, but I wasn’t for me. But. Yeah, absolutely fantastic, ride Like,
I couldn’t stop grinning the whole way around and loads
of really strong women out as well. Like, I don’t know if Italian cycling is quite as male
dominated as UK cycling at this level. I’m not sure, but it remains to be seen Right now, I think it’s pretty fair to say
that your decision to buy an Officine Matteo bike
is probably based on politics and pride more than it is on performance and cost,
and they’re well aware of that. Okay, that definitely
that beautiful paint jobs help. But there’s definitely strides
to be made for me. This feels right now like a company
that is just learning to walk. And it wants to show off to the world. It wants to invite you to sportifs
and wear their clothing. But they’re desperately trying to generate
that revenue to get to the next stage, the next part of the dream. I think that’s what you’re seeing
in this video today is a brand going, come on, we’re ready now let’s get
where you want us to be together. Going to visit the factories. It was really impressed upon me
how invested everybody was in the process. It’s a lot of
it seems to be kind of a family affair. So you’ve got kind of the father
started the innital company, and then you kind of
have the kids running it, and they’re all involved,
you know, brothers and sisters. And that also feels very Italian in terms
of keeping it in the family is genuinely a family
run business. And that extends to some of the employees
as well, and they’ve really worked hard to create a community
feel around their brand. And that ultimately is what is going
to keep them kind of moving forward. You need that investment in the brand,
you need trust in the brand. And one really good way of doing
that is to build community around it. So yeah, to summarize, like this
event has been amazing for the bikes and the tech that we’ve seen,
but it’s actually been all of the people that are involved
in that process that have enabled this to come together in the way that it has
and has made it feel so welcoming. So I’m really pro of all of that. I think it’s an amazing way
to build a brand. So I’m going to finish this video off
with a massive thank you to the whole team
that invited us out here. The Alipi Del Mere Grand
Fondo was amazing fun. It is such a great distance. A 100km closed road. It was so much fun just to let loose over
a relatively short distance. Nothing epic about it. It was just a Grand Fondo where
you could just go fast, have a great time. And we did. It was brilliant.
I thoroughly recommend it. Don’t be put off by the relatively short
distance. Get out here and enjoy those roads. It’s been brilliant. Meeting the team is a big, extensive team. It is definitely the sense of a network
of highly passionate and skilled individuals
that have all somehow found each other in their career with a shared vision,
and they’re trying to make that happen. And I really do think
that’s the way forward in modern business. You need to pull in lots of skills
and expertise from lots of areas, and it really does feel like Giovanni
is building his team, to take this to where he wants it to be. At this point in the video, I want to present a counter
method to what you’ve just seen so far. Now, the brand I’m about to show
you is called Gregorio and they were exhibiting at the expo of this race,
and they’ve completely taken a different tack to Officine Matteo, rather
than trying to be a big global brand and with lots of different,
bikes in the range, they’ve got one bike and they’re going
to do that one bike really, really well. What makes this really unique is that they’ve come up with a custom
geometry, but full monocoque. Now if you don’t know what that means, let me try and talk it
through the full monocoque rather than like the time bikes
that you’ve seen on our channel where the front triangle comes out of the mold
and you then glue in the rear triangle. This is complete monocoque. So you open the mold
and an entire bike comes out. You don’t have to glue
in the rear triangle. So the mold is quite three dimensional. Now what’s really interesting
is that this company uses an app that scans your body and works out exactly
that geometry millimeter perfect that you need. It takes that data and then feeds into,
a program that gives them the details of the exact custom mold
that they need to make to make your frame. So if you look at this little,
YouTube shorts, the only bit that I can find
on the internet of this process, you can just see here and here
where they’ve put inserts into the mold to create essentially a custom mold
in order to make a custom geometry bike. Absolutely fascinating. But it didn’t stop there. Take a look at what they did
with the bottom bracket. we’ve got some cutaways here. I’ve been asking them how they mold
these in, and they’re really proud of it. First of all, they used
first described as an adjustable mold so they can do a monocoque chassis,
but to any size millimeter. Perfect. So definitely
some kind of proprietary adjustable mold. But what they did with the bottom bracket
is that these inserts are screwed into the mold. And then the carbon layer on top of them. So these are actually integral
to the actual frame itself. They’re not glued in afterwards. Maybe a glimpse at the future. Now this is small volume niche product, very specialist cottage industry,
but still made in Italy. A completely different approach. I’m going to finish this video with an invitation for you to leave
feedback on your thoughts down. In that comment section,
please go and check out their website. Consider the, points
that I’ve made in this video and the challenges involved in trying
to bring production back to Italy. And yeah,
please put your feedback down below. I know that the team, would definitely be
keen to read it. So get started, get typing. Look forward to see what you got to say. Thanks for watching. Take it easy.