I'm inclined toward the Spanish Nationalism perspective. The low end ALFA's were all unique designs differing markedly from the Criterium and other higher end Campy copies. For example they used a well designed one piece handlebar/stem combo which may have saved some money but was a lovely design quite different than the standard stem/bar combo of the other sets. Surely a lower grade of aluminum or cheaper hardware could have developed a parallel style for the ALFA setup. But the investment in design seems to have been a conscious attempt by Zeus to have a distinctive "Spanish" lower end bike. Alan Bernstein (basking in an Indian summer in NYC).
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