I can get a De Rosa Protos (made in Italy if that matters) direct mount rim brake with campy eps for the same price as an S-Works Tarmac disc. Anyone ride a Protos? Very few reviews out there, and I can't ride it until it's built and paid for.

How bad could it be?

I'd look at it this way - you get to do the full Italiano wank without any of the me-tooism you'd be tainted with on a Pinarello. I like De Rosas, they're pretty cool. Couldn't tell you squat about the Protos, though.

But direct mount rim instead of disc, that's also pretty damn cool and not me-too at all. Wish my rim brakes were direct mount, at least the front.

...Hmmm...

I was thinking the same thing but I do wonder if the big bike companies now have the resources, engineering, manufacturing etc to just build better bikes than the De Rosa's of the world...

I wouldn't overthink it. Even the most sophisticated bicycle one can buy is trivial when compared to a cell phone or a car. I doubt there are any real trade secrets in bike making.

If you want the best bike, it's probably a Giant with Shimano, right? Those two companies probably have more engineers than half the rest of the industry.

What about the other components offered on each? Are they the same?

They look nice.PROTOS 2.0 MUD – De Rosa North America

For me, DeRosa > Specialized, because it's Italian. (Not just the name on a Taiwanese frame, but actually made in the mother country.)

The Tarmac is a pervasive, ordinary offering from Big S, one of millions produced every year.

Spesh certainly has their consistency and QC dialed in better, but that's not so say the DeRosa/Campy build will have problems, just that it's more likely to.

DeRosa has a heart in their name! Do you see a heart anywhere on the Tarmac? As others have sometimes noted, when is the last time you saw someone with a Shimano tattoo?

We could also look at the model names. Protos is Greek for "first." Tarmac means pavement. (More specifically, it's short for tarmacadam, the British term for a type of pavement called "asphalt" in the U.S.)

While I would much rather drive a Ferrari or Alfa Romeo, I’d prefer to own a Toyota or Mazda. But that's because I need reliable transportation. I don't need bikes; I want them.

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You know how some folks get wings on their back? I had an idea, kinda ripping off the Campy logo, to have aerospace-looking folded wings, 'secured' with QRs, to signify the bionic freedom of cycling... The QRs would be branded Dura-Ace.