Roland responded to my previous post by saying:
"I think Colnago made more of an effort to meet demand for his bikes by the use of subcontractors in the 80's than did Pogliaghi or Cinelli. I have nothing against his bikes and I own three of them, including a C-50, but I, personally, don't consider Colnago bikes from the eighties "collectable". This doesn't mean that they're not quality products. I think Cinelli and Pogliaghi were closer to, and remained closer to, the concept of the artisan builder than Colnago."
In you initial post, you wrote that in the mid-80's that Colnago was not involved in the building of his bikes, now you write that Pogliaghi and Cinelli were more heavily involved than Colnago at that time. You might therefore be surprised to find out that Pogliaghi had sold out his company and name and stopped building anything in the mid-80's. Cinelli had sold out even earlier in 1978, so your assertion about either of them being closer to artisan builder at such time is somewhat questionable.
If you are speaking of the three bike brands: Colnago, Pogliaghi and Cinelli, Colnago is without doubt the one that has remained the closest to an artisan builder with the namesake in charge of the building of the bikes. If on the other hand, you are only concerned with the actual persons: Sante Pogliaghi, Ernesto Colnago and Cino Cinelli; then, you should perhaps rank Pogliaghi before Colnago as far as artisanship, but Cinelli wouldn't even rank.
BTW, the word is "collectible"
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ
USA