snipped: chasds@mindspring.com writes: The Stradivarius violin analogy is instructive, if a little extreme (bicycle frames are not great violins, and never will be)...the brutal truth is, if Stradivarius didn't make it, then it's not a Stradivarius.
unlike the fiddle, which is _ the_ fiddle, a bicycle frame, no matter who made it/how it's made, is NOT _the_ bicycle. any frame can be enhanced as well as compromised with a particular choice of running gear. the maintenance of this gear, as well, has an effect. 'lotta variations to deal with. also, musicians become known as virtuosos. by the time a cyclist is world class, he's getting paid by the industry to use 'manufactured' goods. additionally, was a stradivari really such a to-die-for instrument in his own day? it took centuries for the lore to be piled on. to me, the analogy may be misplaced. but looking for parallels keeps my sites set high. e-RICHIE Richard Sachs Cycles No.9, North Main Street Chester, CT 06412 USA http://www.richardsachs.com Tel. 860.526.2059