We have a blog entry on the subject of how to distinguish a Cinelli from a Mexican made look a like Windsor, story
here.
We recently received the following from Daniel Jansen Torres:
"I would like to introduce myself as the person who wrote the article on the Windsor Pro bikes at the
Classic Rendenvous website. I did attend law school in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico (Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara) from 1972 to 1978 and it was during the last three years I became a member of that university's semi-pro cycling team (TECOS).
Our team at one point was ranked 3rd in North America as the best team in this category by the UCI. Our team rode both Benottos and until the last years 1975-1976 started riding these bicycles. Acer-Mex, who was the the company that built these bikes, sold them in select stores in Mexico and in particular in Guadalajara by "BICICLETAS ZAPOPAN".
In 1976 I purchased my Windsor thru this store but with a special discount because of my association with my university. The cost was $8700.00 pesos which was about $560.00 US dollars. Because the store did not have my size, my order was sent to Mexico City to have my bike made. Our university also had bought six track bikes that were also on order. It was during this period that myself, our trainer and other members of the team, went to Mexico City to be measured for the frames. We did meet the manager of the Windsor division that made the frames whose name was Remo Vechii. We got a tour of the factory and were amazed by the huge numbers of bikes being built for both the domestic and export markets. These were not the racing bikes, but regular bicycles. After being measured we were given a time frame for the bikes to be sent to Guadalajara.
Back then I did not know of Cinelli's or Colnago's, etc., or any other bike brands. After many years I started to find out more on these bikes and found out that the similarities were not just a coincidence, but a marketing move by Acer-Mex to get recognition in the higher end market. There was in fact a DEAL between Cinelli and the Mexican company to build these bikes almost the same as Italian Cinelli's but with different changes such as the fork, lugs,seat post diameter etc.
One thing I can say is that the Mexican Windsor Pro bicycles were not knock offs as they had the blessing of Cinelli. You have to remember that it was during this time that the Japanese were invading the bike market with very good bikes and that for the Mexican market to survive they struck a deal with this European company to build bikes.The Italians were also was looking for outlets to sell their bikes to compete with the Japanese. As a matter of fact Cinelli does have a factory in Mexico that sells recreational and some mountain bikes."
Reminder: I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components. I can be contacted at veronaman@gmail.com
