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The term monocoque never goes out of style. It has even been called into question by Elon Musk during Tesla’s Cybertruck presentation and is now widely used in many industries.

The term monocoque comes from the French, literally “single shell” and was originally introduced in the field of boats [1-3], then transferred to the first airplanes to finally land in the automotive world thanks to André Gustave Citroën [4,5]. In general, in any closed vehicle, a monocoque is a structural shell capable of responding to external loads through stresses that are generated on the external skin without the need for a chassis for this function. The more the shell is closed and made up of a single part (mono), the more effective it will be in its structural function, just as it happens for an egg shell (coque), so fragile as to shatter between the fingers once broken, but so resistant as to require a decisive blow to break it as long as it is intact. Over time, the term monocoque was then “watered down” and revisited in a thousand keys of interpretation, sometimes called out in vain, generating not a little confusion and lending itself to some marketing tricks, as in the case of cycling.

Few days ago we received our first prize for the startup project we are working on. Actually it is not the first at all, we have contributed to many others, but from a certain point of view this is the first directly assigned to us! Something we are glad, because let us know that we are on the good way.

Many of you ask us for information and if Gregario is not just a brand for my consulting business, so I’m here to give some explanations.

Let’s take a step back… together with the consultancy activity onset a couple of years ago, and thanks to who is now my teammate, started a business project that was in my mind since long time, but it was nothing more than an idea and a patent research. Until now, the project was not advertised since we preferred to focus on the purpose to bring something exclusive and really new on the market, but even more so because we prefer to do everything right and avoid shortcuts. We spent the last two year patenting, developing and figuring out how we want this new adventure to be. What we can say is that Gregario will no longer be solely dedicated to supporting companies in the cycling industry. Instead, it will expand its activities and skills with new ideas and new teammates, starting a research and development section that aims to bring innovative products to the support of you cyclists too.

To develop, reinforce and bring these ideas to life I could not be a team without an experienced and fair partner, who also has a sincere passion for the world of pedals.. Besides, I couldn’t have done it without a friend and adviser who believes in me.. He is Paolo Baldissera.

When I was young I couldn’t wait to visit the national cycle trade show. I had the fever getting there every year coming, until I had the possibility to touch many bikes as possible, understand what was new and try to find the racing bike of my dreams. Every year that bike remained always on my dreams. Many time it was a concept (unfortunately not in catalogue) or something too expensive for my time!

Also if in different perspective, every year since, this needs of discovering the new make me plan to attend some trade shows. Frequently, I opt for the biggest international trade shows dedicated to industry community and for a couple of national events based on the number and quality of exhibitors.

In few weeks, one of the biggest – Eurobike – starts, so this means the whole bicycle industry, or at least a portion of it (this time), is very busy to get everything ready before the start of the event. I say “a portion”, because I sadly noticed the absence of many big brands this year. Not something new, it is the trend that all the cycling trade shows are facing from years, struggling to get their old appeal. Many big companies have preference to do their own in house event focused on their dealers, I cannot blame them for it. And, I have not a reply to the question if exhibiting at trade shows is a waste on money. What is certain, is that, in the past decade a lot of changing happened. The new marketing and selling strategies has been matched with the incapacity of the old fairs to adapt and find new timing and solutions for this new era. Moreover, we come from a period where many trade shows were around and redundant, and frankly where the business was the organization of the event itself more than the business between exhibitors/visitors.

Gregario is well known for providing a range of excellent b2b bicycles design services, but not yet for providing courses and workshops too. Isn’t uncommon for us to travel outside Italy to provide such expertise with passion. We were delighted to be selected as international experts by a representative from The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to held design a workshop about bicycle design for the Research and Development Centre for Bicycles and Sewing Machines in Ludhiana (RDCBSM), India.

As you know, Gregario is not only Salvatore, but more like an open lab were time by time experts are involved for collaboration. In this case, to provide the widest approach I coupled with an old mate, Paolo Baldissera (Mech. Eng. and PhD) from Politecnico di Torino. Paolo has an extended experience in applied research, he is the Founder and Technical advisor of Team Policumbent, and his love for bike science make him perfect matching with my philosophy.

Recently, I find myself in the unlikely position to write a blog for my new venture website. “Unlikely” because I’m not a blogger or a good social media person in my non-business related activities too. I’m an engineer (not all bad with this!), and I don’t know nothing about write an appealing article or rules to engage followers. Moreover, I’m not a copywriters, and I don’t like to read back several times. Therefore, from now on, I apologize for my bad English writing and errors you will find around but I will put down on paper my opinion without think back. Otherwise there is a risk you will not read this!

So, why I decided to open a blog section in this website? You will be justified to write me back: are you crazy! Internet is full (maybe over) of blogs, articles, experts, and hunters of followers (sincerely not my intention). After all, I’m more confident with design a product or hack something about bicycles. But, since I started my own business, I decided to open prospect and going versus new things: I choose a new place where to make a better family life, decided to work hard but leave more time to enjoy, and test myself with new challenges: like write a blog. This kind of environment, I need to say, is influencing me to find new motivations and excitement every day. For a freelance and product thinker (as I like to see myself), and when you are about to build from scratch a new venture, like me, this is what can make a huge difference, so, here I’m with a cup of espresso (no sugar please) and a piece of extra fondente (extra dark chocolate) writing my first post, after few days of self-motivation, to find new inspiration.