mtb-timeline

Ferraroli

Alain and Florent Ferraroli started Cycles Ferraroli SA in 1978 in the Swiss watch making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Ferraroli specialized in custom, silver brazed and lugged road bicycles and probably started making mountain bicycles by 1983. By the release of their 1987 catalog, Ferraroli had five different models of mountain bikes on offer. As most Ferrarolis were custom, “sur mesure,”, model names were rarely used. Ferraroli's production never exceeded 600 frames per year, which were a mix of road and mountain. Custom Ferrarolis had beautiful splatter and fade paintwork in vibrant, fluorescent colors, standing out from most other European makers of mountain bikes¹⁾

Resources:

The colors of Ferraroli, from the 1993 Ferraroli catalog.
fascinationferraroli

Florent and Alain Ferraroli. From the 1987 catalog.
fascinationferraroli

1985

Shimano Deore XT front (1982-94), lugged frame, internal cable routing, bullmoose bars, probably a newer rear derailleur.

1985 facebook

1986

Shimano SGS (1986)

1986 fascinationferraroli

1987 California

Shimano XT front and rear (1987-88), bullmoose bars, internal cabling, Columbus double butted & lugged. Extra rack mounts.

1987 California retrobike

1988 Pyrénées

Shimano SIS Light Action RD-L523 (1986-88), bullmoose bars, internal routing, full rack tabs, shark fin, Tange tubing

1988 Pyrénées mountainbikemuseum

1989 Annapurna

Deore derailleurs, (1989-90), bullmoose bars, non-internal cabling, fewer rack tabs. Frame #2814. The Annapurna name was already well established by Tom Ritchey - and was likely a tribute to Tom's frame building mastery. Whether this frame is actually an Annapurna is a mystery, as non-custom bikes were not labeled.

1989 Annapurna facebook

1990

Exage Mountain? (1988-89), Rock Shox RS-1 (1990 only), bullmoose bars, full rack mounts.

1990 facebook

1991 Authier

A travel MTB which can be broken down into two parts for compact storage. Authier is a Swiss ski brand. Shimano XT M732 (1990), bullmoose bars , a few, rear rack mounts.

https://mountainbikemuseum.nl/en/mountainbikes/ferraroli-authier-114

1991 Authier facebook

1992

Shimano DX (1991-94). The Magura hydraulic brakes are non-original. Bullmoose bars (the last time bullmoose bars are to be found on any production mtb?).

1992 mtb-news.de

1993 Pyrénées

1993 Pyrénées Shimano XT M735 (1990-92), non-original fork.

1993 Pyrénées fascinationferraroli

1994 California Light

1994 California Light Full XTR (1993+), Columbus Genius tubing & unicrown fork. About US$8000?

1994 California Light
From the 1993 catalog. fascinationferraroli

¹⁾

Of course, the Italians continue to set cycling fashion standards. As the rest of the world embraces lookalike black components and fat tubes merely to advertise larger brand names, Italy still has Campagnolo, elaborate lugs, and stylish paint schemes. Alain and Florent Ferraroli were Italians living in French speaking Switzerland. Their catalogs are in French and some Italian shows up in model names. They later moved to the Italian side of Switzerland.

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