Picchio Special

Well, I guess then by inductive logic ... no wait! Actually, the fact that you've seen "numerous" examples of sloppy brazing does not entitle you, logically, to infer that all Italian bicycles are sloppily brazed. How exactly am I supposed to "listen to the case" when you never bothered to make it? You simply dismissed an entire nation's bicycles with a single - very patronising - set of comments. As if there aren't numerous examples of sloppy brazing from other nations - I've seen some Dawes that would make your hair curl. And I can't recall an Italian bike that was accompanied by the obligatory phrase "death fork." Have a look in the mirror, Mr. Viscount (which is, in fact, what the old saw "pot calling the kettle black" is really about - you chose to make it about something else, not me.) It's also interesting that you toss your former Italian girlfriends in with Italian consumer goods like cars and bikes, and I'm alleged to be "patronising." Bottom line is, your initial post was one big stereotype - neither accurate nor artfully expressed - that well deserved the response it got from me.