Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
I find amusing those who wax poetically about made in USA yet wouldn’t want their children or other loved ones working on a production line in a factory monotonously welding, painting or finishing frames 8 hours a day for a decade or more. If you feel better buying a vintage bike made by a laborer in France, England or Italy in the 80’s enjoy there is plenty to choose from, however don’t kid yourself these were bastions of quality workmanship compared to what is being made in Taiwan today.
Today all is about cuttings production costs and building more bikes at a cheaper labor cost. In the past in the 80's early 90's you could buy some nice frame Jean Marie Pilorget, Meral, Cycles Rebiai and other well known builders at a comparable price. I live in France and Cannondale got really popular in my country in 1996 with the Volvo Cannondale MTB team and with the appearance of the 1997 Saeco Road BikeRacing team, until then it was not as popular as brands such as Peugeot, Lapierre, Motobecane and Sunn who were the top four best selling brands. In the very late 1990's early 2000s, I started to see quite a number of Cannondales appearing whether they were road and MTB models. Vintage Cannondales are highly praised and sought after in my country.