The Milan show had a lot more to offer than I could cover in the brief column I posted last week. Here are few more items from the trade show that celebrates both the technology and style of some of Italy's most respected bicycle companies.

1988 World Champion Maurizio Fondriest’s face, half of which is made of components, graces the booth promoting the bikes that bear his name.

Europeans in general have not embraced 29er mountain bikes like Americans have, but they do exist in Italy. Italy is at least as carbon-crazy like the rest of Europe and the USA, but titanium bikes still have a strong foothold.

Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn - Tech with Italian flair

Italian frame builder Crisp combines these in a titanium hardtail 29er and a titanium hardtail 69er (26-inch rear wheel, 29-inch front). Nevi and Rewel are also highly respected titanium builders in Italy, even if they offer mostly road frames and have no 29ers. Many Nevi models include a titanium integrated seat mast.

PMP’s new cranks are certainly unique. The external bearings, oversized axle and hollowed-out backs of each arm are not far out of the mainstream, but using a square taper on the end of the spindle in this day and age is eyebrow-raising. PMP has re-invented the square taper, however. Besides being much larger, the square axle end is split at the four corners. The chamfered head of the bolt expands the end of the square end of the spindle to bind more effectively with the crankarm.

Toolmaker Silva has come up with a convenient item that combines a chain whip and a cog lock-ring tool into a single tool.

Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn - Tech with Italian flair

The Deda Tre HST (High Speed Tire) triathlon/time trial tire comes in clincher only; there is no tubular option available as with all other Deda Tre models. Its tread is claimed to have reduced rolling resistance thanks to tread design. Taking a cue from the grippy finish on a Teak wood ship deck, it has a slick center strip with very slight rough finish on the sides. The idea is to create minimal deformation of rubber as is rolls, thus reducing rolling resistance.

Fulcrum is the latest to offer a carbon crank. It shares the Ultra-Torque external bearing/integrated spindle design with its Campagnolo cousins (Fulcrum is a subsidiary of the venerable Italian company). The arms also use the same short-fiber carbon molding process as Campagnolo cranks.

Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn - Tech with Italian flair

De Rosa has embraced the integrated seatpost; its King 3, Idol, and Team (aluminum) frames all have one. The King 3, shown here with company founder Ugo De Rosa, is the third generation of the King carbon frame.

Like its predecessors, it is made by bonding a few large monocoque subassemblies together.

The SMP saddle is unmistakable, its huge split is so large. Now, that same design is available in full carbon. While definitely light, it hardly looks like a super-comfortable saddle.

Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn - Tech with Italian flair

Wily Technic makes custom carbon rims for Malvestiti. You can order the Wily rims personalized as you please. Any fabric you want can be the used as the top layer. Your name and a design of your choosing can also be laser-etched into the rim before clear-coating.

The Gran Fondo Fabio Casartelli has grown to more than 1000 participants each year, weaving a technical course near Casartelli’s hometown of Como and including the super-steep Muro di Sormano (Sormano Wall).

Casartelli was the 1992 Olympic road champion who died so tragically crashing into a barricade on the Col de Portet d’Aspet descent in the Pyrénées in the 1995 Tour de France while he was a Motorola teammate of Lance Armstrong. The Gran Fondo is strictly a non-competitive event; only the climbs are timed, in order to remember Casartelli with joy and not competition.