Mario Vicini aka Gaibera

Often I am asked the question: who is behind the SAB brand? Answer: Mario Vicini, the owner of a company born in 1990 in San Marino, Italy for the creation and production of road racing bicycles aimed at the mass production as well as at customized products. Over two decades the company has developed the distribution of its products through a sales network of appointed agents and retailers in Italy and in the world.
Mario Vicini indeed has been in the industry for much longer than 20 years since he has continued the business of bicycle manufacturer started by his father, Mario Vicini Senior, aka Gaibera, at the end of long career as professional road racer at international level in the years between 1930 - 1950

Gaibera has raced with some of the best racers of all the time, from Gino Bartali to Fausto Coppi, during some of the most epic years of the Italian cycling history. He was a strong climber and a fearless descender. The second place at the 1937 Tour de France is probably the best result of his career. Mario Vicini was without team, since for a series of circumstances he had signed up as private racer financing his trip to France by selling two gold medals won before becoming pro. In the same race he even worn, for a day, the prestigious yellow jersey.

Mario Vicini Sr has also won the Italian Championship in 1938, worn the Pink jersey in one of the several edition of Giro di Italia that he raced and won several other prestigious competitions as Giro del Lazio. He was still in his 20s, in prime shape, when the Second World War started and, indeed, it jeopardized the rest of his career. In 1946 he opened his first bicycle store that he would transform in a successful business over the years. He raced until 1952 when almost 40 but then he must have kept riding because in 1973, at 60, he won the Master World Title.
Mario Vicini aka Gaibera kept working with his kids on the family bicycle business until 1995, when he passed away in Cesena, his hometown.