I had this one friend, Kevin, who used to read the stock prices in the newspaper and do other odd things that 13yo boys wouldn't normally do. He probably would have felt that durability was an important feature. Actually he eventually bought a Panasonic bicycle. The rest of us couldn't have cared less about that. We wanted to be fast and cool. And if we didn't know anything about 531 or Columbus butted tubing let alone fine craftmanship in brazing and finishing lugs, we certainly knew that the pros rode European bikes with the same paint scheme and decals as the Raleighs, Peugeots, Gitanes, Bottecchias, etc. that were in our local bike shops.