Shameless promotion of an ebay item (mine), Bertoni pantographed seatpost:
Mark Buswell San Francisco, CA United States
On Nov 8, 2006, at 12:53 PM, oroboyz@aol.com wrote:
> << Is there a reason for the low opinions expressed? Or is this
> some sort of brandname prejudice since it didn't come out of a
> small Italian framebuilder's shop who long ago was a winning racer? >>
>
> Hi Douglas:
>
> As they say, everyone is entitled to their opinions but I think
> the Bertoni suffers from the stigma of being a house brand. Very
> likely a respected maker built those bikes but because the true
> maker is hidden under a made-up name, it just robs the bikes of the
> prestige of associations...
>
> As you say, all this is no indicator of ride quality. But (sadly?)
> bikes are prized, collected, talked about for more than just their
> ride quality... Mojo is so important to we aficienados! Silly but
> true. So just enjoy your bike and to heck with all the snobs and
> naysayers!
>
> Dale Brown
> cycles de ORO, Inc.
> 1410 Mill Street
> Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 USA
> 336.274.5959
> http://www.cyclesdeoro.com
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dhack@sbcglobal.net
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Sent: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 3:34 PM
> Subject: [CR]My Bertoni handles great! What's in a name?
>
> I have searched on the keyword "Bertoni" and read every word of
> every post. In
> summary: a few people used to have Bertoni's and liked them. A few
> people used
> to sell them, and don't make any comment on quality. And a few
> people refer to
> them in mild to strong negative terms (but don't indicate that
> they've ever
> owned one.)
>
> I own one, because I found it in a thrift store (in an afluent
> neighborhood)
> and could not resist buying such a beautiful example of the
> framebuilder's art
> at such a low price. The hand filed lugs, construction, details,
> chrome and
> paint on this Bertoni are as good as anything I have seen. It uses
> classic
> Columbus tubing in classic Italian road racing geometry and has the
> classic
> Italian beauty (except for the "fadish" rear stays which are larger
> diameter in
> the middle than either end). The components were Shimano 600, and
> it was in nice
> shape, low miles with rotten tires. It has 74 degree angles, 99cm
> wheelbase,
> moderate rake and moderate bottom bracket drop.
>
> Over the past 35 years I've owned and ridden a lot of steel bikes
> including
> Masi, Pinarello, Eisentraut, Bob Jackson, Mercier, Gitane, Alpina,
> Styre,
> Viscount, Trek, Jamis Aurora and Surly LHT.(currently own 7 steel
> road bikes).
> My experience has been that the quality of the ride sometimes isn't
> related to
> the prestige of the brand or even the tubing. Some of my favorites
> have no snob
> appeal at all. The Bertoni's ride is firm as a racing frame should
> be, stiff
> enough for sprinting, but it flexes well and evenly (front and back
> flex in a
> balanced manner) over the bumps without chattering, hammering or
> whipping. It
> carves turns like on rails, and it is hands off stable. In short,
> it performs
> exactly the way it should and much better than a lot of frames I've
> ridden,
> regardless of brandname. I am about to strip all the components
> off my Bob
> Jackson and move them to the Bertoni as it rides and handles so
> much better.
>
> Is there a reason for the low opinions expressed? Or is this
> some sort of
> brandname prejudice since it didn't come out of a small Italian
> framebuilder's
> shop who long ago was a winning racer?
>
> If you have a bike that handles great and isn't popular, do us a
> favor and
> tell us about it.
>
> Douglas Hack
> Rio Linda, California
>
>
>
>
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> _______________________________________________
Mark Nevin Buswell / SisuHome\u2122 1/Half-Finnished DESIGN and ART
m 415.341.6516
e mark@sisuhome.com
w http://www.sisuhome.com (UPDATED SEP 9)