Re: [CR]Frame makers and card suits

(Example: Framebuilders:Alberto Masi)

From: Douglas R. Brooks <dbrk@troi.cc.rochester.edu>
Subject: Re: [CR]Frame makers and card suits
To: rchasteen@kc.rr.com (Rick Chasteen)
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 10:46:16 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <00b801c0fa5e$721c48e0$e1bc5e18@kc.rr.com>


One side of my family, my mother's, is first generation Italian immigrants: they all spoke Italian as their preferred language and carried with them the values, ideas, and games of their motherland. Decent, honest, and hardworking, they were also playful gamblers and risk takers with a keen eye for deals and chances, and they all, and I mean ALL, played cards (almost always in gambling games and almost always for penny-ante). I submit that this is a cultural trait that likely goes back to the Empire days and further. No risk, no gain; no game, no fun: what better describes riding a race bike?

That Colnago "flower" looks like a clover or a club to me; the Confente "spade" looks like, well, a spade to me, not a heart; and my Sachs has all four suits on the inside of the fork blades and is molto cool (and will be worth more when...nah...Richie should live LONG and prosper!), Gratuitous bike content: French bikes have different motifs, no? Could this be a similar cultural trait meant to express an ethos?

prego! Douglas "Giordano is the other name" Brooks Canandaigua, NY
>
> What is the Italian fascination with card suits: spade, club, heart, and
> diamond? Remember Quattro Assi? And Brother Sachs says Ciocc means Poker
> face!?
>
> Rick Chasteen, (honest, I'm going to start working soon) Kansas City