I don't understand what the facination is with some of the Euro brands. Back on the late 80's/early 90's when the mass merchants were starting to hit the pacific rim and starting to actually get the quality right, brands like Colnago and Pinarello et al were caught napping and lost a boatload of sales to the new, lighter bikes not only from companies that set up in the Pacific Rim but also US brands like Cannondale and Merlin who were some of the first to venture into new materials sucessfully.

I'm very condemning of some of the big Italian names because I think most of them are solely trading on their former reputations and little else. Some of the latest models are just overpriced overrated crap, and all they have going for them is their euro-trash aesthetic. Scapins and Pegorettis are perhaps the standouts, but they fall down in the geometry department so it's hard to recommend them either.

As much as it pains me to sometimes admit it, the Seppos build some great bikes - probably the best bikes in the world at the moment. Most of which absolutely trounce most things coming out of Italy.

Sure, I'd buy an old Colnago master if I had some spare cash, but purely for nostalgia reasons...and I'd do so knowing full well that it would have 52mm of rake regardless of the head angle, weigh 5lbs and probably snap at the head tube if pushed, and look like it was painted by a 10 year old with a stencil and a spraycan.