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Sarto Lampo

Hand-built bike from Veneto's best-kept secret

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.

The Sarto Lampo takes the brand’s expertise and delivers some of the finest Italian craftsmanship on a carbon aero road bike.

The Lampo here is Sarto’s take on an aero road bike, and one that was re-launched for the 2015 model year. It sits opposite the Seta in their range, the 700g super-light climber’s frame, and alongside the Energia TA – one of two new thru-axle designs for 2016, the other being the Gravel TA.

The profiles of the tubeset are the product of Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis – a system which, Sarto say, has allowed them to optimise every tube profile on the Lampo.

It’s not immediately striking as an aero bike – certainly not in the same way as the Trek Madone or Specialized Venge ViAS – but there are plenty of subtle nudges, including lowered seatstays.

And at the back, for example, the integrated, over-sized seattube boasts a kammtail aero profile and – thanks to its size – also boosts the high stiffness of the frame by minimising energy loss. Plus an integrated saddle blocking system is a new concept from the company for a further aero gain.

Cable routing is internal, as you’d expect on an aero bike, and the ISOFLOW seat stays have also been optimised, in accordance with CFD analysis, for aerodynamics.

At the front, meanwhile, the downtube integrates the fork – which is another brand new Sarto concept design, also available with a V-brake – and there’s also a tapered 1-1/8” to 1.5” headtube. All that combines for a balance between aerodynamics and stiffness on the Lampo which Sarto say makes the ideal frame for both speed and gran fondos (that’s sportives, to you and me).

Weighing in at 980g, it’s suitably light despite its aero prowess too, knocking 70g off the weight of Sarto’s former aero road frames. And if the white and green colourway we have here puts you off, there are another nine options available including black and red, white and pink and eye-catching blue or red options.

Sarto will also offer disc-brake options on all of their frames, proving even a small, long-standing family-run business can adapt to the modern cycling world.

The Sarto Lampo takes that expertise and delivers some of the finest Italian craftsmanship on a carbon aero road bike.

And when we say Italian craftsmanship in this instance, we really mean Italian – hand-made in the workshop in Veneto and not in a factory in Taiwan…

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