I’ve interviewed a lot of founders and makers from the world of bikes. There are many things that tie them together. But if I had to pick a common thread that indicates a chance of success, I’d say it’s the knowledge of self and company: if a bike CEO knows himself and what his company is, things always seem to go well. If, however, someone appears to be chasing the market, money or searching for identity and meaning, their company, like a sailboat without a pilot, will go wherever it will. It may hit upon success, but if it does, it will be accidental and the founder won’t know how to replicate it because they don’t know how they got there the first time. Most likely, their company will just hit upon the rocks.

“We have a purpose, a feeling, no,” begins Enrico during our recent catch-up at the Regroup in the Desert bike show. “We connect with customers who recognize our direction and our idea for what a Sarto bike is.” To that end, he says, Sarto, a company established in the 1960s that built steel bikes before embracing carbon fiber over twenty-five years ago, is laser-focused on the road and gravel experience.

“Our customers are typically very passionate cyclists looking for something different, a performance bike they can ride in comfort over medium to long distances,” he explains. “They want something handmade – truly handmade – by us, by our team. And custom – tailored down to each tube to not just their geometry, but their riding style, weight and power. And a thousand other things.” He pauses for a second and shrugs. “Ultimately, I think we exist to help them find space away from the stresses of life: family, work and so forth.”

In Italian, ‘Sarto’ means ‘Tailor’. Enrico, his wife Chiara, who works in the business and who may very well be the real boss, and his father Antonio, who still comes to the factory every day to check up on his son, are literally tailors. Their cloth is carbon fiber. Their tools are their hands, hearts and eyes, which they use to form tubes, bond, paint and bring to the road the hopes and dreams of their customers. A smattering of hi-tech machinery helps, as does a big blue autoclave, and a solar array on their roof that beams all the power its small team needs to the factory floor.

“We are a bespoke maker, but our bikes have a signature Sarto ride feel,” says Enrico. Can he explain that feeling? “It’s stiff enough in specific moments of the ride, like on the descent, but stiff in the best way. It’s not elastic – it’s stiff where the ride needs it.” Is he talking about a connection to the road? “Exactly. When you descend, the bike reveals itself. You should feel the road, where it’s going, and what it’s doing, like a great racing car driver who drives through their seat, not the steering wheel. If you feel it through the cockpit, it’s too late. We make bikes that allow our customers to sense the road, to ride quickly, but in complete control and comfort.”

Then Enrico says something that makes my eyes prick up. “If your bike is too stiff as you turn into a corner, you need to brake because you don’t feel confident.” In that one sentence, the worst of modern bikes, machines that feel like you’re propped up, perched, not as one and definitely not in control. “Our customers give us great feedback,” he continues. “What we hear most is that when they ride their Sarto, they feel connected in a way they have never experienced before.” To what’s under their wheels? “Yes, to the road, the trail. They say they feel more yet in greater comfort. From that comes confidence and speed.”

You may know 3T as an Italian brand founded in 1961, a component maker, and, since 2016, a fully-fledged manufacturer of bikes. You may have even read our interview with the CEO of Factor Bikes, Rob Gitelis, who described how, in a former life, he helped 3T off-shore many of its products to Taiwan. And most are still made there, of course, but not the 3T Italia range of bikes. No signor.

“Our dream has always been to bring production back to Italy,” says Andrea, with a rousing fortissimo. “So in 2017, we began the long process of investigating whether producing a line of 3T bikes in Italy was feasible and sustainable; whether it was possible or a pipedream!”

And possible it was, but not as the brand had been making its bikes in Asia, explains Andrea. “We had to create an entirely new process, one as close to home as possible: inside our existing HQ.” This isn’t my first Rigoletto, so I ask Andrea a difficult question and hope he doesn’t take offence. Was the Italia program a genuine engineering project or a marketing opportunity? “No!” exclaims Andrea. “It was always about the product, about being entirely Italian once again. Yes, there’s a communication part that we’re proud of, but that came later after the hard work of finding a way to produce not just one-off bikes but production runs of 3T bikes in Italy, now and in the future.”

But there’s nuance here. While 3T wanted to start making bikes in Italy, as Andrea talks, I begin to understand that the overarching reason was control. “Yes, we knew that if we could make our bikes under one roof, design, develop and produce in the same place, with the agility to retrace our steps, and refine or witness the result as it happened, we could make a unique product worthy of the Made in Italy label.”