Competitive Cyclist

PEGORETTI BIG LEG EMMA

Even though we're well on our way into the 21st century, where every last bicycle-related trinket is seemingly made from carbon fiber or titanium, we still have loads of customers who can't surrender their love affair with steel. Part of it is rooted in sentimentality -- if you've been a cyclist for a while, the first bike you really cared about was undoubtedly steel. The other part of it, though is based in reality. Steel provides a dynamic ride unlike other materials. It's just about as smooth as titanium on rough roads, while providing superior stiffness for climbs and sprints. It's nonetheless a relatively inexpensive material, and its intrinsic strength gives builders unparalleled latitude to showcase their craftsmanship by manipulating the tubes and lugs in ways as individualized as a jazz musician handles a solo.

The only mild downside to steel is its weight, though the added grams here are used for a distinct purpose. The beefiness of the Big Leg Emma is a function of Pegoretti's use of his signature wide tubing diameters in combination with the unique emplacement of multiple horizontal plates in the downtube to provide torsional stiffness and otherwise allow the frame to resist the power-robbing flex naturally caused by pedaling forces.

Here's how it works: before welding up the tubes, Pegoretti takes the downtube and uses a laser to cut several small grooves into it. He installs a temporary copper insert into the opposite side of the tube, so the laser only cuts through one side, and doesn't go through the other. He then moves the copper insert to the other side, and makes the matching laser cuts there. He removes the insert, then brazes in the horizontal anti-flex plates. The final step is brazing ornamental hexagons over the laser-cut incisions. The result is quite beautiful, but it's also intensely functional. Pegoretti’s concept for using stiffening plates is an adaptation of an idea of Faliero Masi's, who inserted similar plates in the chainstays of track bikes back in the 70's to give them flex resistance for trackies as they dove down the bank of a track in a full-blown sprint.

What's the story behind the name Big Leg Emma? Someone told us once that it's a reference to a Frank Zappa song. Someone else told us that it was a loving reference to Dario's mother. Either way, you can't help but note that the "legs" also reference the unimaginably oversized chainstays you'll find on a Big Leg Emma. No matter how prepared you are to see them, you are guaranteed to say "omigod" at first glance. They are full suspension mountain bike big, and that's another reason why the bike will ride with such phenomenal stiffness.

The Big Leg Emma is built from low-alloy, heat treated steel custom-drawn from Dario by Columbus. Many folks rightfully compare the Big Leg Emma to other stout steel bikes such as the Eddy Merckx MX Leader. We'd like to point out one important fact, though: The Columbus tubing used here is significantly lighter than the Columbus MXL tubes used on the MX Leader -- nearly 2 pounds lighter, in fact, giving the Big Leg Emma a frame weight of 4.1 lbs. for a size 56cm. Do not let the picture fool you, it comes equipped with an Edge Composites 2.0 fork, and requires a 1-1/8" headset, a 32.0mm front derailleur, and a 29.4mm seatpost. It is available as a stock bike in 1cm increments between 48-60cm.

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2010 Pegoretti Big Leg Emma Pricing

2010 Pegoretti Big Leg Emma Geometry

Seat Tube (c-c)	Top Tube	Seat Angle	Head Tube Length	Setback	Chainstay	Head Tube Angle
49	52	74.5	9.8	13.1	40.5	72
50	52.5	74	10.4	13.8	40.5	72
51	53	74	11.4	14.0	40.5	72
52	53.5	74	12.6	14.3	40.5	72.5
53	54.8	73.5	13.8	15.0	40.5	73
54	55	73.5	15.4	15.3	40.5	73
55	55.8	73	16.5	16.0	40.5	73
56	56.5	73	17.6	16.3	40.5	73
57	57	73	18.7	16.6	41	73
58	57.5	72.5	19.7	17.4	41	73
59	58	72	20.8	18.2	41	73
60	58.5	72	21.8	18.4	41	73
61	59	72	22.8	18.8	41	73
62	59.5	72	23.6	19.2	41	73