Sarto have actually been around since the 1950s and even though you may not have heard of them, there’s a very good reason why.
You see, many of the framesets created in the Italian company’s Veneto workshop emerge with the logos of other manufacturers’ brands on the down tubes. Not all, like the Lampo here, bear the Sarto brand.
Exactly which brands those are remains hush hush, of course, as it doesn’t exactly improve your street cred if it turns out someone else has been making your bikes, but Pinarello and Moser are two names to have been listed as former clients on the Sarto website.
But therein lies the problem with being a terzista – a common practice in Italy of one company assembling another’s products to specific instructions – you can build one beautiful bike after another without anybody recognising your handiwork.
Things are starting to change in this little corner of Veneto, though, as Sarto are increasing production of their own brand bikes meaning the secret’s becoming harder to keep, and this, the Lampo, sits atop their range.
It’s not immediately striking as an aero bike but there are plenty of subtle nudges
Interestingly Sarto – the eponymous brand of one Antonio Sarto – means tailor, a pretty apt description for a company who claim to be the first to have introduced tube-to-tube carbon construction. And one that survives in today’s industry because – though looking to the far East is a cheaper option for mass production – they offer tailor-made frames.
Sarto also say they’re the first framebuilders in Italy to adopt carbon as a frame building material which, if true, is very impressive.
