Equipped with just amazing talent, one helper and a manual tube bending machine, Dedioniggi found himself a three room warehouse in the Northern Italian city of Turin, and went to work. Possibly it was because he was an innovator, perhaps it was because the tube bending machine was manual; one way or the other, Dedioniggi quickly moved from bending steel to bending aluminum alloys. Until this breakthrough, made by our hero Dedioniggi, bike parts were made from lightweight steel. Even lightweight steel isn’t nearly as lightweight as aluminum. And there is no loss of strength so the bicycle parts made by 3T were equally as durable, and significantly lighter in weight, than anything that had come before it. Yeah, this guy got some notice, fast.
Dedioniggi changed the cycling industry with these new fangled aluminum alloy handlebars, stems and seat pillars. In fact, the world’s first Ergal handlebar came out in 1975. (Ergal = AL7075 Aluminum) It was called the Superleggero and weighed in at 240 grams which was significantly less than anything that had come before it. Over 30 years later, the Superleggero is still well regarded in the cycling industry.
Surprisingly though, it took 24 years and change in ownership for the innovations of 3T to be recognized by the International Design Award committee. Fortunately that award didn’t go to their heads, they have always and will always be known for offering their customers more, including a five year owner’s warranty on all their parts. That is a first in the cycling industry and remains an amazing warranty. It’s nice to know they still take pride in their parts.
Of course, taking pride in your parts is easy when you go above and beyond the call of duty for superior design and overboard testing for strength and durability. To quote their website, “(3T) components are engineered for strength through a systemic understanding of stresses and careful optimization of structural design and composite-materials lay-up.” Evidently that is the key to longer lasting and stronger components.
3T also tests its components to the nth degree. They literally test everything to destruction. That way you know when you are putting out tremendous pressure on your bike during a sprint or a climb, your 3T cycling parts won’t bend or break under pressure.