It's a story that repeats and renews itself. Those four friends at the bar have grown up and have transformed a workshop into an office, from an office into a real industry. They are Andrea Camerana, Gian Luca Pozzi, Robert Carrara and Angelo Mantovani. Four friends who a few years ago, it was 2017, decided to take over "Bepin" Drali's workshop who, after losing his wife, no longer had the will to continue. The four of them brought it back to life, until at 93 years old "il Drali" decided to "close up shop", as he used to say, to join his beloved Marisa.

The fantastic four saved a brand, created by Carlo and carried forward by "Bepin" Drali, and now these four horsemen of the apocalypse have transformed a historic workshop in Milan's Stadera neighborhood into a real small-to-medium enterprise that increasingly looks and thinks bigger, another rescue has been accomplished.

It's a story that repeats, as we said, and renews itself with a new acquisition. With a new lifeline thrown to save a historic bicycle brand that in its own way has contributed to making made in Italy great in the world: Cicli Casati.

News of these days reveals that this historic brand of Brianza's industriousness has changed hands: from Massimo, Luca and Manuela Casati it has passed to Cicli Drali, acquired 100 percent by the Milan-based company to give this small but highly appreciated artisanal reality the opportunity to continue building its carbon and stainless steel frames with the same care and meticulousness as always. "We are an over-century-old company (founded in 1923, ed. note) that has acquired another one – says Gian Luca Pozzi, CEO of Drali -. We had already collaborated with the Casati family, we had interfaced and compared notes several times, then the opportunity arose to take over management, given that the market has become very difficult and they were quite struggling. However, one thing must be said right away: Casati will continue to make its bicycles, just as Drali continues its growth and development program. We are a small industrial reality that is growing year after year, Casati will remain an excellence in the production of bespoke frames".

Listening to Pozzi's words is Massimo Casati, born in '63, who has always gotten his hands dirty in the company alongside his brother Luca (born in '67). "Our company was born from the will of Pietro, our grandfather, in 1920. Dad Gianni (who passed away in 2013, ed. note) carried it forward and developed it for years, we started working alongside him very young: me at 18, Luca at 16. While Manuela (born in '75) has always handled the economic side, Luca is the true frame builder of the group. I've always given him a lot of help, though I've increasingly focused on assembly and quality control. Now, with Drali at our side, we can breathe again and make our products thinking only about producing them in the best way possible".

"If there could be a transfer of knowledge between the two companies? Of course there will be – explains Gian Luca Pozzi again -. The Casati brothers have always been appreciated and recognized on the market not only in Italy (95% of production goes abroad, ed. note), they have tremendous experience: their expertise has always attracted us. We are two different brands, which must live autonomously but synergistically".

For the record: from Monza, Cicli Casati has relocated to another location, this time in Ornago, still in the province of Monza and Brianza.