When I think hand made, I visualize someone preferably with some skill carefully brazing a frame together. Part of the appeal comes from that aspect, personally. But thinking about it, how can you tell this was the case? Millions of bikes have been sold so it's hard to believe that even better frames had that much care. How could you tell if a nice lugged frame was hand made with precision, hand made with shortcuts, or made by machines.

The reason I ask is that I'm looking for Italian steel (my first). The reason that I specifically want Italian is the idea that someone with passion took the time to make a great frame. Certainly I could expect that from the master builders of years ago, but what about an SLX frame from the late 80's? Could I expect a that level of precision or were they just pumped out to meet demand? When did "Hand Made in Italy" mean something before everything turned into carbon copies with only the manufacture's stickers differing.