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I don't disagree with Steve as much as he may think. I certainly agree with
Steve in that no matter who built the frames, they should be considered
Piniarellos, as that's who contracted them. I also agree that in the later
years, the contract builders did have zero influence over how the frames
were built. This lack of input is exactly what has driven the best of the
contract builders out of the contract business, from Confente to Pegoretti,
et al.
The only thing I'd disagree with is that the number of the frames built outside of the shop are probably greater than you realize, as the files are indeed, as they say, "out there." It's also this fact that caused many of the big builders, such as Piniarello, to swear off contract builders, and keep their reputation intact.
Of course, in an interesting link to another thread going on at the same time, some of the smaller, but very prestigious, builders, will tell you that between the cost of tubing and labor, combined with mechanization, the actual cost of the complete built frame in Italy is cheaper than some of the paint jobs on them. This includes the high-end tubesets currently fabricated out of Steel and aluminum.
Charlie Shafer Madison, Ct.
> Giovanni Pinarello has not made a frame in a very long time, and I doubt
> that his son Fausto has ever made one, but this does not mean bikes with
> their name on it are not true Pinarello bikes. I can promise you that
> Indurain, Riis and Ullrich (the 7 Off-topic years in question) all dealt
> with Pinarello and his people when getting fitted for their bikes. This is
> the same with all the sponsored riders. Furthermore, all operations with
the
> sponsored riders were handled with full knowledge and approval from
> Pinarello, so in my books they were all Pinarello bikes. Beyond this, your
> assertion that Dario made frames for all riding pros is patently
incorrect.
> He was only one of many framebuilders that were contracted to build the
> frames. In fact, I can guarantee that many if not most of the frames came
> out of the Viale della Repubblica frameshop in Villorba. As proof of this,
I
> would like to relate an event that occurred to me personally. Giovanni
> Pinarello offered me a bike built for and used by Franco Ballerini at the
> conclusion of a season. The bike was identical in tubing and componentry
to
> anything available to any Pinarello customer and had the complete Villorba
> serial number and build file. The frame was not 'stock' as determined by
> some catalogue, or as sold by your typical international distributor, but
> then Pinarello never insisted on selling only 'stock' frames: that was a
> creature of the needs of a sales network for an industrialized product.
> Herein lies one of the great differences between buying frames from a
> distributor and/or directly from the vaunted foreign frame builders:
namely
> that when you buy through a distributor, you invariably get a 'stock'
frame
> that may or may not suit your needs, whereas the framebuilder working
> directly with you may be willing to alter their 'standards' slightly to
suit
> you. This is what occurs with the better sponsored riders (but not for
most
> domestiques who continue to often get 'stock' frames) Lastly, to the best
of
> my knowledge, none of the contracted or employed framebuilders were able
to
> unilaterally do anything they wanted with any sponsored riders' frames.
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ