In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Italian heritage brand Basso is releasing a 400-piece limited edition version of its Diamante road bike.
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Born out of Alcide Basso’s garage in 1977, the brand has gone from making steel and aluminium bicycles to high-end carbon race bikes, and is one of the few brands still making carbon frames by hand in Italy.
The 40th-anniversary edition uses Basso's Diamante frame, but the design inspiration is taken from its 1982 GAP frame and carries over the chrome red paint job, as well as small details like the logo placement, seatstays and fork crown.
The Diamante frame is made from a mix of Toray T1000 and T800 high carbon and is claimed to weigh just 780g — although Basso does specify that that’s without the special chrome paint job. As with the standard Diamante, the bikes feature a semi-integrated "monolithic" front frame section, unique conical stem spacers and a front crown shape that’s claimed to be better at spreading the steering forces over a wider area for tack-sharp steering.
The special edition bike is a no expense spared, fully Italian affair with a Campy Super Record groupset and Selle San Marco Aspide Carbon FX saddle, and Basso’s in-house components brand Microtech provides the bars and stem — as well as its M150 Carbon rolling stock, which are finished with gumwall Vittoria Open Corsa rubber.
With this limited-edition frame, owners will receive a certificate of authenticity that includes a wet signature from Alcide Basso himself.
Basso hasn’t announced how much this special edition bike will cost, but I can't image it will be cheap.