Backstedt's Bianchi is a little different from the rest - note the massive downtube. (Image credit: Anthony Tan/Cyclingnews.com)
Italian bike manufacturer Bianchi has been affected by a serious fire, which broke out in the company's warehouse based in Telgate-Bergamo, on Wednesday morning. The Bianchi factory in Treviglio was not affected, as it is in another location, but some important inventory has been lost in the fire.
Fortunately, Bianchi has confirmed that no employees were injured, and that it has put into place a recovery plan to continue its production flow. Moreover, the fire had no effect on the component inventory, so Bianchi is continuing to assemble bikes and working with the suppliers to accelerate shipments.
"We have worked hard over the past months to satisfy the extremely strong demand for our new 2010 line," said Bianchi CEO Bob Ippolito. "We are confident that we can recover quickly and we fully rely on our team. The situation is under control."
Salvatore Grimaldi, owner of Bianchi, was confident that the factory's production would be back to normal soon. "Fortunately we had no injuries and there is no effect to the historic Bianchi factory. We kindly ask our dealers to have patience and give Bianchi their support as we are preparing and implementing our recovery plan," he said.
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