ALAN is, at first sight, a bit of an odd name for an Italian framebuilder. When the founder of the company, Sig. Ludovic Falconi set the company up in 1972, he thought to use the first two letters of the christian names of each of his two children to form the company name ... so Alberto and his sister Anna contributed "Al" and "An".
Alberto has now largely taken over from his father, and Anna works with him in the company, so this is still very much a family affair, which has been in the business of building bicycle frames for a long time.
Unlike many producers, Alan do all of their own design and production in Europe, having accumulated great experience over the years - Ludovic established the company in 1972 by importing airframe bonding technology and airframe-grade aluminium alloys into the world of cycles with the then-futuristic looking Alan Record frames. These frames had polished, smooth lugs and anodised tubes, making them unlike any other frame on the market in both performance and looks.
In cyclo-cross and on the road, Alan frames won many important victories, especially at home in the mountains on the road, and in the rough world of cyclo-cross where the slightly more compliant ride of these early aluminium frames was appreciated by the riders, as was the light weight.
Not content to rest on this success, though, Ludovic launched the first commercially available carbon fibre frames on the world in 1976. Made using broadly similar processes to the alu frames, the Record Carbonio used Toray Carbon woven tubes, bonded with alloy lugs and a special process to prevent galvanic corrosion at the joint, which many producers even today omit, compromising the lifespan of their product.
20 World Cyclo Cross titles have been won on Alan frames, along with five World Track titles. Countless other races and titles have been won on bicycles and frames that incorporate parts made by the Alan factory for framebuilders the world over - Alan have unmatched experience, and many of the icons of cycle manufacture have, over the years, come to respect that experience and to call upon it.
As we go into 2007, Alan meets the new year with new designs, cutting-edge technology, and the assurance of quality that comes with "Made in Italy".
This is what the 2009 ALAN website says:
First in the world to make aluminium and carbon frames In 1972, ALAN was the first company to introduce an all aluminum frameset made from aerospace grade aluminum. Just a few years later in 1976, ALAN was again first in developing and manufacturing a production carbon frame made by bonding Torayca carbon fibre composite tubing to cast aluminium lugs, a process still widely used today by many manufacturers.
Over the years ALAN’s expertise in frame building, and it’s reputation for quality led to ALAN frames being ridden to 20 World Cyclo cross Championships, 5 World Track Title Championships, numerous classics wins, as well as stage wins in the Tour de France, Giro D’Italia, and Vuelta De Espana.
Maintaining the ability to design, build, and paint frames in-house allows ALAN to offer full customization to meet any fitting needs or material preferences a customer may desire, for a premium quality, exclusive, safe and reliable product.
NOTE:
So, ALAN does not mean Aluminium Anodised, as many people assume.
E-mail to Mr. Alberto Falconi, ALAN
http://www.alanbike.net
