De Rosa Neo Primato review

Who does he think he is, Eddy Merckx? That's the kind of comment you're likely to attract if you're riding this bike, because the orange livery - even though the frame decals don't say so - is unmistakably Molteni, the team that the great Belgian captained during his all-conquering heyday.

Italian Ugo De Rosa built bikes for Big Ted for most of his career, and when Merckx retired and went into frame-building, it was De Rosa who showed him around the jig and brazing torch.

So De Rosa still likes to commemorate the partnership even though it's over 30 years since Merckx retired, and who can blame him?

Bike technology has come a long way in 30 years - the latest carbon frames are half the weight of those ridden by the pros in the 1970s - but recently there's been a revival of interest in steel, with a new generation of cyclists looking back to the era of Eddy Merckx for style and inspiration. For those people, the De Rosa Neo Primato is a perfect fit.

Made from Dedacciai Zero Uno tubing and weighing 1.7kg, it has both the sought-after feel of steel and the look of the golden era of cycling. At the London Cycle Show at the end of last year, the Molteni De Rosa Neo Primato had a permanent crowd of admirers around it. In these days of weird-shaped bulging carbon tubes, an elegant, slim frame with classic clean lines suddenly looks beautiful again. For added authenticity, the Neo Primato comes with a steel fork - a rarity on a modern drop-bar bike.