My impression of Colnago in the mid to late '70s was always affected by these cookie cutter bikes. They often showed notable heat distortion. At the shop we called them 'Nags. There sure were plenty out there.
As to the "crap like this", there is a certain sort of bike you really hate to see crashed and another that is just a racing tool. It always gets kind of funny when a bike made for racing is too good to race. I think, for example of a racing tool, that Marinoni is very focussed on this "real" racing market. Thousands of frames being raced, crashed, new ones bought for a reasonable price etc. Just a cost of the sport to the racer.
Joe
At 10:20 AM 10/7/00 -0400, Jerry & Liz Moos wrote:
>This discussion reinforces a memory of mine about Colnago in that era. In
1981 Jack
>Morin, of City Cycle in Little Rock, AR, who some on the list may
remember, built up
>the Alan Super Record with Zeus 2000 that I displayed at the last Cirque.
He was
>rather happy I wasn't actually racing at the time (though I did later race
the bike
>once or twice). He regarded this as one of his top quality bikes, and
never liked
>to see really beautiful bikes raced, as most of the racing in the region
consisted
>of criteriums in which crashes abounded. When I went to pick it up, he
expressed
>this view to another customer who was in the shop at the time. When the
guy asked
>what he sold to the racers, he motioned to a Campy NR-equipped Colnago
Super and
>said "Crap like this." That was in the era you mention. Though Colnago
has made
>some great bikes before and after that era, the indifferent quality of
many Supers
>at that time has caused me to alway think of Colnago as a step below
Derosa, Masi
>and Cinelli in terms of quality.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jerry Moos