Originally Posted by hellojoben

I'm honestly on a jealous streak for all your bikes!

when you're in highschool you don't exactly make bank like all you guys here in C & V....

Originally Posted by BigPolishJimmy

That is a beautiful bicycle, it's really too bad about that fork though, please send it to me and i will hang it on my wall in a place of honor

Originally Posted by bigbossman

Thank you.

Ride difference between a Primato and a Professional is a good question, and one I'm not really qualified to answer........ yet. I rode OFG's professional for ~20 miles or so, and enjoyed it very much. I rode his white Primato for about 18, before boxing it up and shipping it to him.

Luckily, OFG and Gomango have pretty much covered the finer, detailed points on one vs the other, based on their extensive experience. I hope to have the same, one day. But, I can give my perspective and experience so far, based on ~80 miles or so on this particular bike.

I have four bikes in the rotation, including this new one. The other three have been rotated through my daily riding over the last three years or so. They are, in order of acquisition: 1) a Palo Alto, Columbus SL/SLX tubing, 2) a (newer)Cinelli Super Corsa, Columbus Neuron tubing, and 3) a 1993 Basso-built Pogliaghi, some sort of proprietary Pogliaghi tubing. Because the Palo Alto was my first acquisition, it has the most miles on it (just over 5000) - but the other two have been around long enough to accumulate about a couple thousand each. All have the same wheels, tires, and saddle, and all have been ridden both on short rides as well as all day centuries. In addition, all sport 10 speed Campagnolo drive trains.

As OFG likes to point out over and over again, I'm a slow, heavier rider. Even so, I manage to climb a lot of pretty hellacious stuff, and seldom do a ride where I don't hit at least 30+ mph somewhere along the line. Also, there is no such thing as a flat ride around here. I can't go 20 miles without climbing ~1,000' or so, and there are several muti-mile climbs and descents in the surrounding neighborhoods.

So - how do I rank them? The Palo Alto and Pogliaghi are my favorites, and are tied for 1st place in regards to quality ride experience. Looking at my 2010 logs, I see the Pogliaghi has more mileage than the other two, followed by the Palo Alto and then the Cinelli. That I attribute to a taller gear ratio, making it the preferred bike for longer rides with lots of climbing. Both the Palo Alto and Pogliaghi have similar road feel - they are lively, responsive, and a lot of fun to drive. The Cinelli is no slouch and is a wonderful bike in its own right, but it is a bit smoother and so has a more relatively mild mannered steady feel to it than the other two - they want to be whipped and driven, and scream down descents with abandon. The Palo Alto especially - it feels like it is just itching to carve a turn, and it shoots though corners like sh*t though a goose. The Pogliaghi seems to be a better climber (not that means much to a rider of my abilities), but I couldn't tell you why. The Cinelli likes to run too - but in a more dignified manner than the other two.

Now, for the De Rosa. My initial impression with the Primato was that I was slower on it (if that is possible ), but that is not born out by ride data. I've taken it out on trial runs using well known routes on which I have amassed considerable lap timing telemetry on, and the numbers tell the tale - it gets me where I'm going just as quickly.

Last Saturday was the first big ride (~43 miles) with a big climb and a big descent, and that brought to light additional nuances. 1st, the De Rosa is stiffer than my other bikes. when I stand and jump on the pedals, it moves out more quickly. 2nd, it is an efficient climber - I still suffer, but the climb seemed over a bit quicker than in past attempts. 3rd (and this is huge for me), it descends like a bat out of hell. It's dangerous, really, because it makes you feel like there's nothing you can do to get into trouble. The Palo Alto and the Pogliaghi are live wires and need to be finessed and paid attention to, so you are mindful - and they are exhilarating to descend on. The De Rosa is different - hard to quantify, but very confidence inspiring. I ran it up to 45mph without even thinking about it - very smooth, very stable, very sure in the turns. I can't recall thinking about the bike when I was flying down the backside of the climb.

Does any of that make any sense whatsoever?

Originally Posted by brockd15

I'm intrigued by comparisons like this. Do you know the geometry numbers for each bike? It would be interesting to see how they compare and if they correlate to ride quality perception the way you would expect.

Originally Posted by brockd15

I was thinking of things like the ST & HT angles, the chainstay lengths, the wheelbases, and the bottom bracket height.

Originally Posted by gomango

I see OFG aced me.

The man at the lbs, and they did sell these, said Cromor.

Also, he mentioned that's one of the nicer Pogliaghis he's seen.

I showed him the online fotos.

Couldn't believe how clean she was in the pics.

Originally Posted by bigbossman

Who knows. Maybe I'm just an idiot and don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

I think I'm going to really, really grow fond of this bike, though.

Originally Posted by bigbossman

, my best effort was 28:47. On June 15th, I broke that record with a time of 27:35....... on the Pogliaghi.

So, today I take the De Rosa up for its first try, after ~80 miles of "getting to know you" time. As I explained in an earlier post, it gave me the sensation of being a bit slower than my other, more familiar rides. Imagine my surprise when I hit the top, stopped the lap timer, and read off the lap time...... 27:05.

Now, I know this is a one-off and means nothing. 30 seconds can be explained by a lot of things..... the zeal of owning a new bike, the rigatoni I had for dinner last night, a favorable wind, a beautiful, perfect day for riding...... anything at all. But - all things being equal... tires, wheels, saddle, drive-train...... maybe it is the tube set? I'm thinking the impression of being a little slower is really road feed back being smoother than I'm used to. Who knows. Maybe I'm just an idiot and don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

I think I'm going to really, really grow fond of this bike, though.