We already touched upon this on BBM's recent De Rosa thread, but it's a fascinating topic.

Some argue that the 'industrial' Masi's and De Rosa's of the last years of steel are superior performers, while others say they lack the soul and craftsmanship of the earlier frames directly off the hands of the masters.

It should be indisputable that the new steel perform better (ie stiffer tubing, more aggressive geometry), and to further this desire for speed, they also don't complain much when their owners subject them to the popular group upgrade. If you want to tag along with the carbon crowd but still fly the colors, this is what you do. Whether you choose one or the other brand will probably hinge on that ethereal notion of 'ride quality', the one bit of mystique left for us neo-classical types.

The allure of the magnificent, truly hand made frames that came out of Italy before everything got so steam lined, now, that's something completely different, going way beyond a craving for physical performance. These frames rarely gets the component 'upgrade', in fact they probably see significantly less road miles. Which is fine because that's not really what its about. I don't own any such classics, so I can only speculate here, but the fascination seems go deeper and be more complex. History, rarity, details lost in time, myth and mystique all play a role in making it harder and more time consuming to play this game.

That's my arguably black and white take on things. Somewhere along the years the borders of these eras got a bit fuzzy, and a few neo-classics will still hold left over fairy dust, while, on the other hand, not all seventies hand filed chrome lugs are alive with magic.