De Rosa Milanino (and Shimano to Campag cassette)

gmb

Hi,

I am seriously considering buying a De Rosa Milanino. Evans has this bike on sale for £1,500 with a Veloce groupset. I've ordered a 52cm and a 54cm into my local store to try.

Does anyone have any experience of this bike and, if so, could you let me have your opinion? I've read a couple of online reviews and they seem generally favourable but I'm looking for as much info as possible.

I currently ride a Planet X Sl Pro with Ultegra which I will have to sell along with my On One Pompino to fund the purchase. I'm looking to keep the wheels which I bought from Carbonzone off eBay a while ago as I quite like them and would use them as Summer wheels. Can anyone recommend a good Shimano to Campagnolo conversion cassette?

Thanks

gozzy

Ambrosio do Campag cassettes with Shimano splines. Or you should be able to change the freehub to a campag one.

spanner239

I really don't get why the complete bike costs this much. You can buy the frame for £700, a full Veloce group set for £350, Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels for about £120 and finishing kit and tyres for about £100. That makes maximum £1,270 vs £1,500 for the complete bike (and £1,500 is a sale price allegedly!).

Winstanley's had the De Rosa R838 for £1,500 last time I looked, much better bike if you want to spend that much money!

Big_Ring_Rider

spanner239 wrote:

Winstanley's had the De Rosa R838 for £1,500 last time I looked, much better bike if you want to spend that much money!

If we are taking frame only, here in what regard is the R838 a better bike than the Milano? Maybe the OP wants an alloy bike, not another off the peg carbon bike, which in this case is essentially a Ribble...

dwanes

spanner239 wrote:

I really don't get why the complete bike costs this much. You can buy the frame for £700, a full Veloce group set for £350, Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels for about £120 and finishing kit and tyres for about £100. That makes maximum £1,270 vs £1,500 for the complete bike (and £1,500 is a sale price allegedly!).

Winstanley's had the De Rosa R838 for £1,500 last time I looked, much better bike if you want to spend that much money!

No it is not a much better bike.

The Milanino frame is a Stunner, I keep eyeing one up at a LBS and keep wishing i would have bought one instead of my Carbon bike.
Now that I have had a carbon bike my next one will be an Alloy one and I hope the Milanino frame is still around when I next change.
I say good on ya, and please post some photos if you do buy one.

spanner239

Regardless of different (equally valid) opinions on which is the better bike, I still don't understand the pricing of the complete bike package compared to the sum of the individual parts.

dwanes

Unless you know what you were doing you would still need to pay for the build, which would take it to near off the peg price. Plus the hassle of it all if you don't have much spare time.

gmb

Thanks for the replies and the advice re. the ambrosio.

Spanner 239 - Thanks, I've had a look at Winstanley's and the 2013 R838 has £600 off! Fantastic bargain, but unfortunately not in my size. I know it's the same shape as a Ribble but the De Rosa paint job looks great.

The Milanino just looks stunning. Retro lines and a beautiful paint job. I've no doubt that someone of my limited abilities will not be able to get anything more out of a alu bike than a carbon one. I've enjoyed owning my Planet X and would have no problem recommending them but I just fancy a change. I've always wanted a De Rosa, and short of winning the Euro Millions and buying a Protos this is the only one I'll be able to afford.

dwanes - I'll definitely post photos if the bike fits (I've already applied for the 0 per cent credit card:))

86inch

I actually have a Milanino frame, with SRAM Force and various bits to suit me as I cannot get on with "factory spec" bikes as the bars are never wide enough and the saddles are never right... anyway..
..Go for the Milanino, you won't regret it if you want a racing frame as opposed to a "sportive" frame, the ride and handling are superb, the quality of the frame is superb and its looks are superb.

Why have a "me too" bike when you can have something genuinely handmade by a master, which the Milanino is?

However, the frame deserves much more than Campag Veloce - Athena at least... If you can, buy the frame and components separately and build it yourself. You'll get a far better machine.

gmb

86inch wrote:

I actually have a Milanino frame, with SRAM Force and various bits to suit me as I cannot get on with "factory spec" bikes as the bars are never wide enough and the saddles are never right... anyway..
..Go for the Milanino, you won't regret it if you want a racing frame as opposed to a "sportive" frame, the ride and handling are superb, the quality of the frame is superb and its looks are superb.

Why have a "me too" bike when you can have something genuinely handmade by a master, which the Milanino is?

However, the frame deserves much more than Campag Veloce - Athena at least... If you can, buy the frame and components separately and build it yourself. You'll get a far better machine.

Nice to hear such positive things about this frame. I would love to buy Athena but can't afford it, or at least family priorities come over mine. I'll just be grateful to be able to ride a De Rosa to be honest! I'm going to look at replacing the groupset gradually over birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases but I'm sure Veloce will do me and my "abilities" fine. Can't wait to try the frame now. Just out of curiosity what seize frame do you ride and how tall are you? I've ordered a 52 and 54 and am 5'10" with short fat hairy legs...

napoleond

Sorely tempted with a Milanino Training frame to replace my ribble winter...

86inch

GMB wrote:

Just out of curiosity what seize frame do you ride and how tall are you? I've ordered a 52 and 54 and am 5'10" with short fat hairy legs...

I'm 5'10" with 34" inside leg, I have a 56cm frame. Sounds like you may find the 54 more to your sizing, but you might need a longer stem to match a longer torso - another reason I don't buy off the peg bikes. They never fit unless you are lucky.

spanner239

Out of interest what is the spec of the machine at Evans for £1,500?

You could get a very good spec if you buy the bits and build it up yourself, as an example I just priced up the following:

2014 De Rosa Milanino frame from Wiggle = £664 (believe this comes with the seat post and headset)

The rest from Ribble (with their current 10% off deal)
- Campag Veloce group set (still get 10% off if you buy the bits individually and this works out cheaper than the group set - I think)
- Continental Grand Prix Tyres and tubes
- Selle Italia SLS saddle
- Deda Zero 100 stem and RHM02 bars, Deda bar tape
- 2014 Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels
Total basket with -10% = £633.92

Total cost of £1,298

For the extra £200 you could bump the group set up to Centaur or at a push Athena (the alloy version)!

on-yer-bike

lovely looking frame but who uses plain old round aluminum tubing anymore? Isnt the best way to use aluminum on a bike frame to hydro form it?

napoleond

on-yer-bike wrote:

lovely looking frame but who uses plain old round aluminum tubing anymore? Isnt the best way to use aluminum on a bike frame to hydro form it?

Depends if you want to dupe people into thinking crazy shapes = better

on-yer-bike

NapoleonD wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

lovely looking frame but who uses plain old round aluminum tubing anymore? Isnt the best way to use aluminum on a bike frame to hydro form it?

Depends if you want to dupe people into thinking crazy shapes = better

Why go to all the trouble then? How much does this frame weigh?

napoleond

Hydro forming the front end to increase seat/down tube contact area on the head tube can increase stiffness. Ditto around the BB. Is it worth it? Dunno. But it looks horrible.
The tubes are butted and custom drawn though.

Is your Pegoretti made from funky shapes? No. It doesn't need to be.

Frame weight is probably pretty heavy, I'd guess around the 1600g mark for a med. There's a lot of paint on it!

It'd be interesting to see how they ride.

on-yer-bike

I wonder how it compares to the Condor Italia? Im looking for a bike for my wife and she loves the De Rosa (as do I to look at) she also likes the Condor. Giants, Ridleys, Cinelli experiences etc dont rock her boat. She has to have mudguards from October to March as a stipulation of her club and the Condor can take proper guards. I would rather buy a frame and build it with Campag. Im not keen on bumpy welds either but the De Rosa is a bit pricey.

napoleond

Yeah it's a big premium over the Condor. I personally dislike the curves of the Condor though.
The Milanino training with mudguard mounts look fantastic!
I'll be perfectly honest, I love my ribble winter bike with Athena. It rides really well! It has full mudguards with standard group set brakes ( I find long drop brakes crap) and I've managed to get 24mm Conti GP4000s tyres in there. It looks boring as hell though
Be interesting to see how the steel ribble winter frame is.

on-yer-bike

Can't make out why these frames dont appear on the De Rosa website and brochure

napoleond

on-yer-bike wrote:

Can't make out why these frames dont appear on the De Rosa website and brochure

How odd!

Yet the Training isn't out yet... They have the 'team' aluminium frame in the brochure. :?

86inch

on-yer-bike wrote:

Can't make out why these frames dont appear on the De Rosa website and brochure

If I understand correctly, the "Milanino" is a UK specification of the De Rosa "Team" that does appear on their website and is exclusive to I-Ride, the UK distributor.

on-yer-bike

I see. Comes in normal and compact geo. That is why the training version at Wiggle is normal geo. I guess the trad Italian graphics is aimed at the UK market.

gmb

Call from Evans today. The 54 is in for me to test ride. I'm going on Thursday and will report back. Very much looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

bianchi_tim

Best of luck, there is something special about a De Rosa. My R838 is my pride a joy regardless of it's Ribble comparisons, I know I wouldn't get the same sense of riding something special riding a Ribble, just seeing that De Rosa badge on the top tube makes me try that little bit harder!

gmb

Well, I went to Evans today to try the Milanino and my credit card has taken a bit of a hit.

I wasn't keen on the white bar tape/cables so Evans are changing these to black and remove a spacer. I'm going to pick the bike up in the morning.

I was very impressed on my quick test ride (although I didn't go far/fast). It was my first time on Campag and I quite liked it. The paint job is absolutely stunning. I hope I'm going to have many happy hours on this bike.

I'll take the bike for a bit of a ride tomorrow and post a few pics etc. in the "Your Road Bike" section.

Thanks for all the advice.

napoleond

Cool! Looking forward to seeing it

dwanes

Nice one.

richard_harmer

In regards to the comments as to why the Milanino does not appear in the De Rosa brochure, I am not sure. I can confirm, however, that the Milanino is NOT the UK version off the De Rosa Team. This bike, whilst similar, has a tapered head tube so should be stiffer at the front end, but may be slightly heavier as a result.

I built up a XL Milanino with Sram Force and Campag Eurus wheels to use as an Aluminium winter/training bike (I live in Perth, Australia, so no real requirement for a full on winter build with mud guards etc.) I managed to pretty much exactly replicate the position on my Lapierre Xelius and it worked out really well.

For anyone that is interested in how the bike rides, I can report that it rides really well. I notice the weight over my carbon bike but the handling is fantastic. It has steep geometry (head tube, seat tube) and a shortish wheelbase for it's size so the handling is as you would expect for a race bike geometry.

Ride quality is good too. I use 25 mm clincher tyres and an aluminium zero-set-back seat post (to achieve my correct position) which are not known for comfort but I have to say that this is far more comfortable than other aluminium bikes that I have ridden (e.g. Bianchi Via Nerone).

The finish of the welds is excellent and the frame looks great too which combined with the geometry was enough for me to chose this frame. From a value for money perspective, I think the Canondale Caad 10 or Canyon Ultimate are probably better as they are no doubt lighter, but if anyone is, like me, buying this as their second bike I would thoroughly recommend it.

What's more, the threaded bottom bracket and external cable routing make the bike easy to work on and service. This was the first bike I have built and I do not regret it.

One thing to note is that the frame was supplied (by Wiggle) without a plastic cable guide or bolt for under the bottom bracket housing, which I found a little difficult to source. It also may require a chainstay protector sticker but these are easy to get hold of.

Hope you find this helpful.

de_sisti

GMB wrote:

Hi,

I am seriously considering buying a De Rosa Milanino. Evans has this bike on sale for £1,500 with a Veloce groupset. I've ordered a 52cm and a 54cm into my local store to try.

Does anyone have any experience of this bike and, if so, could you let me have your opinion? I've read a couple of online reviews and they seem generally favourable but I'm looking for as much info as possible.

I currently ride a Planet X Sl Pro with Ultegra which I will have to sell along with my On One Pompino to fund the purchase. I'm looking to keep the wheels which I bought from Carbonzone off eBay a while ago as I quite like them and would use them as Summer wheels. Can anyone recommend a good Shimano to Campagnolo conversion cassette?

Thanks

pete75 wrote:

Subject: Shimano to Campag 10 speed converter cassette by Miche

De Sisti wrote:

If that one goes quickly, I have a boxed, un-used one that's available.

gmb

richard_harmer wrote:

In regards to the comments as to why the Milanino does not appear in the De Rosa brochure, I am not sure. I can confirm, however, that the Milanino is NOT the UK version off the De Rosa Team. This bike, whilst similar, has a tapered head tube so should be stiffer at the front end, but may be slightly heavier as a result.

I built up a XL Milanino with Sram Force and Campag Eurus wheels to use as an Aluminium winter/training bike (I live in Perth, Australia, so no real requirement for a full on winter build with mud guards etc.) I managed to pretty much exactly replicate the position on my Lapierre Xelius and it worked out really well.

For anyone that is interested in how the bike rides, I can report that it rides really well. I notice the weight over my carbon bike but the handling is fantastic. It has steep geometry (head tube, seat tube) and a shortish wheelbase for it's size so the handling is as you would expect for a race bike geometry.

Ride quality is good too. I use 25 mm clincher tyres and an aluminium zero-set-back seat post (to achieve my correct position) which are not known for comfort but I have to say that this is far more comfortable than other aluminium bikes that I have ridden (e.g. Bianchi Via Nerone).

The finish of the welds is excellent and the frame looks great too which combined with the geometry was enough for me to chose this frame. From a value for money perspective, I think the Canondale Caad 10 or Canyon Ultimate are probably better as they are no doubt lighter, but if anyone is, like me, buying this as their second bike I would thoroughly recommend it.

What's more, the threaded bottom bracket and external cable routing make the bike easy to work on and service. This was the first bike I have built and I do not regret it.

One thing to note is that the frame was supplied (by Wiggle) without a plastic cable guide or bolt for under the bottom bracket housing, which I found a little difficult to source. It also may require a chainstay protector sticker but these are easy to get hold of.

Hope you find this helpful.

It was strange to see a thread I started last year resurrected.

I'm pleased you are enjoying the frame. I was initially worried as I had to sell my Planet X, which I really liked to find my Milanino. I really shouldn't have concerned myself. The De Rosa is fabulous. I love it.

Here is the link to the thread in Your Road Bikes :

viewtopic.php?f=40044&t=12947495&hilit=Milanino

and a picture: