Cipollini Itaca Road Frame

The Odyssey of Endurance - Introducing the Cipollini Itaca

Considering that in the Odessey, Ithaca represents the longing for home, it is a slightly curious name to give to an endurance-oriented road bike. But the Cipollini Itaca is designed to get your heart racing and ignite your imagination for those epic rides that take you far away from home, fast and totally comfortable. It conjures up the siren song of two-wheeled adventure.

Though the Cipollini designers say this is their version of an endurance bike, it still provides snappy high performance. Cipollini doesn’t get the credit it deserves for its production methods. The carbon frames are produced in Italy using what they call True Carbon Monocoque (TCM) technology. That means it is a completely monocoque frame, which is unlike most carbon frames where just the front triangle is made as one piece and then bonded to the stays in the rear. Eliminating those bonded sections improves the overall stiffness of the whole and removes those potential single points of failure, if something goes wrong with the bonding process.

Comfort-Oriented Geometry of the Cipollini Itaca

If the high quality carbon layup screams performance, the Itaca’s geometry introduces the comfort. With a shorter reach and higher stack than the race-oriented RB1K, the Cipollini Itaca invites you to settle into a comfortable position for the long haul. But they’ve been rather clever in keeping the seat tube and head tube angles closer to the RB1K and the fork rake exactly the same, which ensures you’ll enjoy the same responsive acceleration and confidence inspiring handling that have become a hallmark of Cipollini bikes.

Even more important for the ride comfort, the Itaca can accommodate up to 40 mm wide tires, which is excellent for a proper road bike that isn’t really making any gravel or all road claims, though with clearance like that, you certainly won’t have to turn around when your paved road turns into dusty gravel. The Itaca seat post is another comfort-oriented design featuring the flax fiber in its lamination to help dampen vibrations.

A nifty feature that adds to how well the Itaca will work as a bike for covering long distances, it features what Cipollini marketers charmingly call an “integrated glove compartment”. This down tube storage space comes with a case suitable for holding a multitool, tire levers, and CO2 cartridges, and features a magnetic closure to keep everything safe and stop it rattling around.

The Perfect Blend of Racing Soul and Touring Practicality

The Cipollini Itaca endurance bike has the soul of a racing bike, but the practicality of a long distance tourer. That makes it super fun to ride while still having the comfort and convenience that will get you through mile after mile of open road.