79pmooney,

Easy, I hear what you are saying about the Robergel's and yes they could be (well were) infuriating to work with but there is no doubt that they were popular back in the day for the higher end build wheels. I was talking about popularity not spoke quality. The fact that they are still in hot demand and somewhat scarce is interesting.

Automation, CNC machining and computerized manufacturing has taken spoke quality, even in run-of-the-mill spokes to very high levels.

It's the same as any other commodity industry. That same philosophy doesn't exactly carry-over into other components for the bike though. Frame for example. With frames, nothing beats total hands-on hand-made frame. Be it a $6,000 carbon frame or the highest steel frame made by Richard Sachs.