Wilier Triestina

Wilier Triestina is an Italian manufacturer of road bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes and e-bikes, based in Rossano Veneto in northern Italy.

History

Wilier was founded in 1906 by Italian trader Pietro Dal Molin, along the river Brenta in the town Bassano del Grappa. He would create steel bicycles by hand in a small workshop, at a time of a large increase in the popularity of cycling in Italy.

This boom continued up until the end of World War II, by which time Wilier had grown to a company of over 300 employees. The ensuing economic downturn caused the brand to struggle in comparison to its earlier years.

It was during this time that the brand name Wilier was discontinued and it was renamed as Wilier Triestina, continuing the work of Wilier in producing high quality steel bicycle frames. Through this period, a distinguishing feature of the Wilier Triestina frames was the deep copper colouring. A few of these early editions are on display in the show room at the company's headquarters in Italy.

Not everything was plain sailing for Wilier Triestina and not long after the company formed under its new name, it was broken down and sold off in smaller factions, the advent of the scooter and motorbike having made the bicycle a far less attractive proposition. In 1969 the brand name was sold to Lino Gastaldello, who was making frames to sell to local shops.

In 1989, with the help of Lino Gastaldello’s sons, Michele, Andrea and Enrico the company made the decision to expand beyond the local region it had been operating in, out to the whole of Italy and subsequently Europe.

Wilier Triestina was the first European manufacturer to use Easton aluminium tubing in its frame designs, allowing the frames to be manufactured at a very low weight. This design was used to much success by the 1998 Tour de France winner Marco Pantani.

This hunt for lighter and lighter products continued into the era of carbon fibre with Wilier Triestina's first carbon frame tipping the scales at 1200g. This frame was something of a benchmark for the time but wasn’t enough for the company's engineers.

The continued refinement and development of the design and material technology saw the steady evolution of the product range to 2011 when the Zero.7 was released. At the time, it was one of only a select few frames that hit the scales under 800g.

Did you know?

Pro cycling

Current sponsorships: Astana Qazaqstan Team, Wilier Triestina - Pirelli Factory Team, Ivar Slik.

Highlights:

• The heritage of Wilier as a racing brand goes a long way back. In an era of Bartali and Coppi, Wilier supported a young rider in Fiorenzo Magni, who Magni rode a Wilier to victory at the Tour of Flanders and the Giro d’Italia in 1948.
• Wilier sponsored the Cofidis team between 2005 and 2006, Tour de France stages through David Moncoutié and Jimmy Casper.
• 2008 saw the brand take one of the most prestigious wins in cycling. Aboard a Wilier, Italian Alessandro Ballan took the World Championship road race title.
• Wilier was a title sponsor of the Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia team between 2016 and 2018.
• Wilier has sponsored the Astana team since 2020, winning Il Lombardia with Jakob Fuglsang in that year.
• Mark Cavendish joined Astana in 2023, riding to a famous victory on stage 21 of the Giro d’Italia on the Filante SLR.