The Bootleg name was born in Milan in 1994, when Cinelli started building all-black, reflective, category-defying bikes for messengers, fixed-gear rebels and urban survivors. It was performance equipment — Columbus tubing, Campagnolo groupsets, MTB forks — modified for the street. Bootleg as in unauthorised, unofficial, made-by-hand-from-what-was-around. The blueprint of a Cinelli that didn’t fit any existing category.

Almost twenty years later, that same DIY spirit boarded a plane to Cairo. In 2012 and 2013, on two consecutive editions of the legendary Tour d’Afrique, Dario Tosi, Lucas Brunelle and Chas Christiansen rode prototype Cinelli touring bikes from Egypt to South Africa. The brief was simple: build the most indestructible self-supported touring bike in the world.

The result was the Hobootleg — Hobo plus Bootleg. Wanderer plus rule-breaker.

Since then, the Hobootleg has crossed the planet (and entered the Guinness Book of
World Records doing it). It has crested all seven of the world’s highest passable mountain passes. It has logged more than a million kilometres of adventure riding. The platform has evolved — today it lives in three distinct builds — but the DNA hasn’t moved an inch: a steel frame, a head full of plans, and the freedom to throw them out the moment something better appears.