Originally Posted by lotek
OY, I have been waiting patiently for 230 pages to read this.
Thylacine, I'm thinking this should post on the framebuilders list, the CR list and maybe a private e-mail or two. . .
Seriously tho, You are right in the sense that most of the European frames
are just living on their past honors.
Masi is owned by Haro, and for the most part produced in Taiwan.
Faliero is probably spinning in his grave given what they have become.
Colnago had its heyday in the 70's. but make no mistake Ernesto is
a marketing genius, his bikes are good but nowhere near the cache/etc
of his early stuff. De Rosa? Gios? same thing.
There are non seppo builders and they make damned good frames
they just don't have the reputation of say a Richard Sachs or a
Spectrum (Tom Kellogg).
Marty
I kinda like the way the Yanks go for their own builders. In the "which steel bike should I buy" threads, the US guys always get great wraps. Down here there's a bit of a 'cultural cringe' thing going on, where it seem as though we all have to have an imported frame. Interestingly, about 10 to 20 years ago, many of the guys who raced were convinced that they had to have a custom frame, so there were heaps of Paconi, Perkins and Hillman frames around (Melbourne builders). We figured out it WAS possible to race on a production line frame, so, as I said, it's all changed, and there's hardly a local frame to be seen. The drop in popularity of steel has probably had a lot to do with it.