A well-known Belgian bicycle manufacturer is BVBA Bonaventure, which is known for its Ventura, Venturelli and Scatto brand bicycles. Ventura has been gone for a while but Venturelli and Scatto are still around.
1925: Jules Bonaventure
Ventura werd opgericht in 1925 in Veurne door Jules Bonaventure en is ondertussen al aan de 4de generatie toe. Racefietsen van dit merk zie je nog geregeld opdagen op 2de hands verkoopsites. Er reden zelfs 2 professionele wielerploegen in de jaren 60 op een Ventura: In 1968 Etalo – Ventura en in 1969 Etalo – Sikiri – Ventura met telkens Jozef Braeckevelt als ploegleider.
Ventura becomes Venturelli
In the late 1970s, Ventura changed to Venturelli following the trend that the more Italian a racing bike sounded, the more popular it was and the better the brand sold. Did the Bonaventure family know that an Italian cyclist named Romeo Venturelli rode among the pros in the 1960s? Does the name have anything to do with it or is it purely derived from their surname Bonaventure?
The Venturelli racing bikes, especially the Corso line, were extremely popular in the 80s and 90s, mainly because they were a very solid bike with a very good price-quality ratio. My first racing bike was also a Venturelli and I am very happy that I still have it. In 2016 I even rode the full Eroica in Gaiole in Chianti!
In 1981 the company was split up by Jules' 2 sons: Gilbert and Roger. Roger stayed in Veurne and specialized in painting frames while Gilbert moved to Roeselare with Venturelli. The building in Roeselare soon became too small, resulting in another move in 1992, this time to Hooglede Gits, where Venturelli is still present. The paint shop also still exists, it is now owned by Johan Bonaventure.
Initially, the steel frames were made in the factory itself and then distributed to the bicycle makers. With the rise of aluminum bicycles, production was stopped and the frames were purchased in China and Taiwan. This is still the case today.
The Venturelli racing bikes had a typical color scheme that makes you recognize them almost immediately.
Introduction of the Scatto brand
Eind jaren 90 werd het merk Scatto geïntroduceerd dat voortaan de Venturelli racefietsen verving. De naam Venturelli bleef voortbestaan voor de gewone stadsfietsen. Nog later sprong Bonaventure ook op de verkoop van elektrische fietsen wat momenteel hun hoofdactiviteit is.
Below you can see some Venturelli racing bikes from the 1980s and 1990s.
