In a message dated 4/8/2004 3:27:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tullio@TheRamp.net writes:
<< don't get it. If these "racing" frames didn't require great attention to detail, then why both to regard them as special? If they had crappy brazing and alignment, then they were crappy frames. If they are simply "serviceable," then they aren't special.
There is some weird mystique that surrounds certain builders that exists to this day. Put the right name on a crummy bike and the masses will bow down. Tell the right marketing story, and people will see flaws as "character." Yet wheel out another bike with the same flaws but without the fancy name, and those same people turn up their noses. >>
An important consideration is left out of this line of discussion.
Those fancy bikes are supposed to have and presumed to have the finest build quality and best handling. DeRosa, or all the other artisan built frames are presumed/ advertised/ presented as having impeccable quality. Only the finest.
And a finely built, knowledgeably designed, mitered, tubed, brazed, aligned and finished bike IS better than a slopped out mass produced bike.
When, in fact, it turns out that there is a stinker found amongst the fancier brands, say a poor example or even a batch of sloppy jobs, that occurrence is not a reflection upon whether better bikes are better or not, but rather reflects a lapse in the honesty and integrity of the builder/maker/manufacturer. For a crazy example, if I learned through experience or friend's recommendations or reading bike magazines that Richard Sachs frames were beautifully built, race designed, immaculately joined, and then found one in which the BB fell out, I would not say "All fancy frames are no better than the Schwinns at Walmart." It would mean that Richard had been kidnapped or worse and an incompetent impostor was knocking out hack jobs in his place!
But the point is if we find a Masi or a DeRosa or whatever that is not up to it's billing, then it is a case of breach of contract so to speak. We are not unreasonable to believe and expect the best from these makers. Our expectations are not wrong, the supplier just let us down.
Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 336-274-5959 fax 336-274-6360 <A HREF="http://www.cyclesdeoro.com">cyclesdeORO.com</A> <A HREF="http://www.classicrendezvous.com./main.htm">ClassicRendezvous.com</A>