Yes, Colnago went through a bad patch in the late 70's. The frames sent to the US were functional but very rough. I remember buying a couple of ALAN's from Jack Moran at the old City Cycle in Little Rock, AR in about 1978 and 1981. Jack was a total Campy and Italian loyalist. He kind of hated to see really nice bikes he sold raced, as most racing was crtierium, and crashes were frequent. I remember him saying, "If you want to race, buy crap like this." - pointing to a Colnago frameset on the wall. Colnago has made some very nice stuff, but some less than artistic stuff as well. Ernesto's motivation has always been profit before artistry, but maybe that is why he is a survivor when so many others have folded.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
<classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 9:41 PM Subject: Re: [CR]Colnago/Masi Comparison
> Oh boy. I have a very different view of Colnagos.
>
> I remember the Bikeology mail order ones with cheap stickers and distorted
> tubes from too hot brazing. Ernesto invented cashing in on the marque.
>
> Joe Bender-Zanoni
> Great Notch, NJ
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Bikerdaver@aol.com>
> To: <dartley@co.ba.md.us>; <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [CR]Colnago/Masi Comparison
>
>
> > In a message dated 3/18/2004 6:04:26 AM PST, dartley@co.ba.md.us writes:
> > We have such a Masi following on this group. Then again we've got an
> > awful lot of Colnago fans. And yes, we can't forget the Cinelli Super
> > Corsa people out there. For those Cognoscenti out there who own two or
> > all three of these late 60's/ early 70's Colanagos, Masis and/or
> > Cinellis, could we get a comparison (totally subjective of course)
> > between these classic marques? I'd like to know how my early 70's
> > classic compares to the others and I'd like to know just how they stack
> > up. I know there are so many other bikes that might be compared, but
> > these three just seem to have the most long term mystique to me.
> > -----------------------------------
> > Dan-
> > (IMHO) when you push away all the fluff, all the hype, all of toes that
> get
> > stepped on, etc., Colnago consistently comes out on top. cheers-
> >
> > Dave Anderson
> > Cut Bank MT