Silca and FiftyOne Bikes Honor Silca Founder with Tribute Bicycle to be Raffled for People for Bikes

Amsterdam, 3rd of April - The FiftyOne SILCA Centennial model was hand built in Ireland to commemorate Silca founder Felice Sacchi’s love of Italian sports cars and his personal Alfa Romeo. The classic finish features a racing stripe along the top tube, and the lightweight high tech carbon fibre frame represents the pinnacle of tech, as Sacchi would want. The build also contains elements pointing to the Silca founder’s auto passion– matching frame & floor pumps sharing the same timeless artwork.

Silca will be collecting donations on behalf of PeopleForBikes throughout 2019 and one lucky supporter will win the bike on Giving Tuesday (December 3rd, 2019). Donations can be made in increments of $10– each $10 donated is an additional entry into the random drawing. Click ‘Donate’ below to learn more about PeopleForBikes and the brands that made this possible, then start donating!

The History of Silca Founder Felice Sacchi and Alfa Romeo

Felice had a thing for Alfa Romeo. When Felice Sacchi founded SILCA in 1917, he was an automotive and aircraft engineer with a knack for pneumatics and machining. He was also a pioneer toolmaker for the then-revolutionary new material– plastic.

His designs soon found homes with legendary Italian brands like Ducati, Alfa Romeo and Piaggio. SILCA was a major supplier to the bicycle, automotive and motorcycle industries until the company was nationalized under Mussolini in 1940.

The original SILCA factory was levelled by Allied bombing during the war, but Felice rebuilt from scratch starting in 1946. He lived to see the company return to dominance in the Italian cycling market. Silca also produced the foot pumps sold with every Alfa Romeo, an accomplishment he was particularly proud of as a well-known fan of Alfa’s winning combination of design and driveability. In his final years, he owned a sporty silver 1954 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Berlina. This is the car that served as the inspiration for this collaboration.

Donate: https://silca.cc/pages/people-for-bikes

Custom FiftyOne Silca Build

• Carbon Tube to Tube construction using ENVE tubing.

• Innovative CPA (Controlled Plasma Ablation) to create strong, stiffer bond joints

• Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.

• Pro Bars, stem and seat post.

• Shimano Dura-Ace wheelset.

• Fizik Arione saddle.

• Omata One Smart GPS Bicycle Computer

• Pirelli Pzero Silver 23mm Tires

• SILCA Impero Ultimate Frame Pump

• SILCA Superpista Ultimate Floor Pump

• SILCA SICURO Titanium Bottle Cages

ABOUT SILCA

SILCA was founded in 1917 by Felice Sacchi outside of Milan, Italy. SILCA was the first company to put gauges on pumps, the first to produce a true ‘high-pressure’ frame pump and the first to work with revolutionary lightweight material plastic after the end of WWII, and later the first to bring CO2 to roadside inflation. Today SILCA is located in Indianapolis, IN where it continues to build iconic products that utilize the finest materials and craftsmanship available.

About FiftyOne Bikes Company

FiftyOne, based in Dublin Ireland create one-off custom creations. The company use traditional frame building techniques and combine them with modern technologies and materials. They areone of the first bicycle makers to use Controlled Plasma Ablation bonding to create joints with greater strength than traditional bonding methods.

About People For Bikes

Launched in 1999, PeopleForBikes includes an industry coalition as well as a charitable foundation. Over the years, we have spent more than $30 million to make bicycling better. We’ve invested $2.1 million in community projects and leveraged more than $654 million in federal, state, and private funding. We have contributed millions to national groups and programs like the Safe Routes to School, the League of American Bicyclists and the International Mountain Bicycling Association, ensuring safer places to ride for both children and adults.