Originally Posted by Kommisar89

You'll have to decided whether a 2002 Bianchi Veloce constitutes a "newer bike" but honestly I can't tell much difference between it and the '72 Bottecchia in terms of ride quality (braking and shifting of course are another matter).

Have you ever read those reviews in Car and Driver or similar auto magazine when they practically wax poetic and award the 1st place spot to a Porsche that just got its lunch eaten by a Corvette on the test track? They talk about subtle differences in road feel and other things that 9 drivers out of 10 drivers could never feel.

Then again, I can't tell any difference between the two afore mentioned bikes and my 2004 Bianchi Pista which presumably has track geometry.

When I first bought the Veloce, I hadn't ridden a road bike in years and had been riding a dual suspension MTB for about 2 years. Coming down the big hill by my house the MTB was like cruising down in an Escalade with power steering. When I got the Veloce it seemed nervous and twitchy and I was afraid to push it down the same hill. Today it feels totally stable at near 50-mph (as does the Bottecchia) so that seems to have just been a matter of getting used to it.