First we should mention the man behind the bikes, Giovanni Battaglin. As a neo Pro he came third in the Giro D’Italia in 1973. This was pretty impressive in its own right but considering that the two spots above him were occupied by Eddy Merckx and Felice Gimondi (first and second respectfully) it makes the result doubly impressive. The highlight of his career was winning the Vuelta a España and the Giro d'Italia in 1981, a feat that the great Eddy Merckx had only achieved before. He went on to set up the bicycle business in 1982 and retired from the peloton at the end of the 1984 season. Battaglin has been at the forefront of design and has been ahead of fashion in developing bicycles like the ‘Pirana’, an aerodynamic carbon fibre machine developed with the sole intention of beating the clock. Tests showed it to be 3 seconds a kilometre faster than conventional designs of the day. This was back in 1985, before the UCI strict rules on bicycle shape and design but the organizers did not allow Visentini to ride it as it proved a clear disadvantage to the other Teams. Visentini ended up coming second on the stage, seven seconds behind Moser. Today Battaglin continues to focus on research and development in their quest to make a better bicycle. The research aspect focuses on materials and shapes to improve both ride and quality. Extensive road testing in a real environment with junior development squads help to fine tune the product. This goes beyond the normal methods of testing on a rig and puts the bicycles into a real world scenario. This gives Battaglin a great platform to test new products before it gets to the end user. Battaglin today produces bicycles in both aluminium and three different levels of carbon fibre. We have chosen four bicycles from their extensive range that best represents a wide range of price points for all riders. The Stealth is the starting point and a SRAM Rival groupset mates well with the purposeful lines of this Italian racer. Next up in the hierarchy is the Racer equipped with a Shimano 105 groupset. This is the first of the carbon framed machines which offers lower weight and greater comfort. Next in line is the C12 frame which comes with two groupset options for different persuasions, one being the Campagnolo Centaur and the other Shimano Dura Ace. The C12 frames uses a T1000 High Modulus Carbon for the frame to further lower the weight and add to rider comfort.