Christoph Hartmann, 45 years old, from Landsberg am Lech, is an oboist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. His second great passion, however, is racing bikes. Together with a friend, Berlin bike shop owner Maik Kresse, the racing cyclist developed the idea of offering customised frames under his own name. Hartmann remembered a report on Italian frame builders in the February 2004 issue of TOUR. He particularly remembered a picture showing the Japanese double bass player and Rossini fan Takaaki Sano in the workshop of frame builder Francesco Muraca. Hartmann visited Muraca and his partner Sano in their racing bike workshop in Masate, a small village in Lombardy, between Milan and Bergamo. Hartmann and Kresse, Muraca and Sano came to an agreement: the customised frames were to be produced and painted in Masate. Now all that remained was to find a suitable brand name.
Hartmann then remembered a forgotten virtuoso of his instrument, whose compositions he himself had brought back to life. Hartmann had once tracked down manuscripts by Antonio Pasculli, a 19th century Sicilian oboist, in an Italian library. Pasculli reworked themes from operas by Rossini and Verdi into his own oboe pieces, which were characterised by fast scales and broken chords that barely gave the soloist time to catch his breath. Since 2005, the brand name "Pasculli" has also stood for Italian-style racing bike frames. The company now operates as a holding company and resides in a villa with a spacious showroom on a historic industrial site in Berlin-Friedenau.
The "Bagnolo" test separator is classically welded from steel; not socket-welded, but using the TIG welding process that Muraca has been using since the 1980s. With this method, all dimensions and angles can be realised to the exact millimetre and degree according to customer requirements, without being restricted by ready-made sleeves. The frame tubes come exclusively from Dedacciai; the tube set of the "Bagnolo" is called "Zero Replica", the tube diameters are moderately enlarged. The fork, made entirely of steel, is truly unique. Here too, the comparatively large diameters of the steerer tube and fork blades are a rather modern interpretation of the classic material. However, Pasculli is not limited to steel; customised frames are also available in aluminium and carbon.
The colour scheme comes from Berlin designer Andreas Töpfer. He also developed the Pasculli emblem: a stylised racing cyclist made up of five ellipses of different sizes. Two clearly differentiated colours are typical of Pasculli, with five basic designs to choose from, and individual wishes can be taken into account. The type names of all Pasculli bikes are derived from hills or passes near the Italian town of Bettola.
The equipment on the test bike serves as an example of customisation and is more international than Italian. Only the stem, handlebars, seatpost and saddle come from Italian manufacturers: Deda and Fizik; shifting and braking are handled by SRAM's "Force". Citec's "3000 S Aero Carbon" wheels and Conti's top-of-the-range "GP 4000 S" tyres complete the 8.4-kilogram bike. On the road, the Pasculli has neutral handling, the riding position is sporty to comfortable in relation to the frame size of 56 centimetres. Even on rapid descents, the racer always remains easy to control; the steering head stiffness (78 Newton metres per degree), which is very good for a steel frame, and the laterally stiff fork (71 Newton per millimetre) keep the bike on course - for which it inevitably has to pay tribute in terms of weight. Just under 2,800 grams for the frame and fork are around twice as much as current top carbon frames. The much-cited suspension comfort of steel racers is limited to the saddle, where the Bagnolo is on a par with good carbon frames. The steel fork, which is more solid than filigree, does not offer significantly better suspension than contemporary fibre composite models.
The weld seams from Muraca's production are impeccable and cleanly finished, and the paint has a wonderfully silky sheen. This makes it all the more annoying that the paint flaked off over a large area when the seat clamp screw at the end of the seat tube was tightened correctly. Adjusting the seat position also left its mark: The seat tube had not been rubbed out cleanly - unsmoothed grooves and metal shavings scratched the black seatpost shaft.
The appearance of the "Bagnolo" is a success. Most of the applause goes to the very cleanly joined frame and the unique design. The technical values are also good for a steel racer of this type. The only thing missing for the virtuosity of the name giver is a more durable paint finish and perfection in the details, such as a chip-free seat tube. Then the "Bagnolo" would surely inspire Antonio Pasculli to new, virtuoso oboe solos.
Plusunique design; only six weeks delivery time; high riding safety for steel frames
Minussmall technical weaknesses
Price frame set/complete bike: 1,500/4,250 euros
Reference/Info: Pasculli, phone: 030/85401289, www.pasculli.de Frame sizes: Customised frames
Seat/steering angle: 73/73.5°
Seat/top/head tube: 530/560/151 mm plus 18 mm headset cap
Wheelbase/caster: 980/52 mm
TOUR frame height/STR*: 583 mm/1.54
EQUIPMENT
Fork: Pasculli, steel
Steering bearing: Chris King
Brakes, gears, bottom bracket: SRAM Force (53/39 t.)
Wheels/tyres: Citec 3000 S Aero Carbon/Continental GP 4000 S
Handlebar/stem: Deda Newton/Deda Zero 100
Saddle/post: Fizik Antares/Deda Zero 100
*projected measurement from centre of bottom bracket to top of head tube/STR (stack to reach); values between 1.45 and 1.55 indicate a balanced riding position, values below this are sporty, above this comfortable; **adjusted weight for frame size 57 and fork steerer length 225 mm; ***the grade includes further individual marks which we cannot print for reasons of space. In the case of complete bikes, 60 per cent of the final score is based on the equipment.
