After falling in love with Dale's bike some time ago, I've been on the prowl for picchios. I have one frame I bought from an LBS awhile back, in mint condition. Paid WAY too much for it, but, hey, it's only money, right? I haven't built it up yet, more's the pity, but one of these days. Looks like a late 70s frame, nothing very fancy although the heart-cut-outs in the very nicely profiled lugs are attractive
It's red, though, and I'm just not a big fan of red. I may put it on the block at some point. I haven't wanted to, since it really is a very nice item.
More recently, I've become the proud caretaker of a Picchio tandem, formerly with Sheldon Brown, and before that with Mike Kone. I guess Picchio made a handful of them for an importer who asked for them (someone fill us in)..
My experience with italian tandems has been mixed at best. They're all sporty, but nowhere near as refined as, say, a Rene Herse. Although the Picchio uses what appears to be the standard columbus tandem tube-set, the bike rides *extremely* well. Better than the usual italian tandem. It has creased tubing, beautifully finished lugs, and tracks beautifully. I'm not sure I could ride it no-hands, but the design is definitely an improvement over a Pogliaghi tandem, for instance. Clearly Picchio thought the business through, and made a nice job of it.
The tandem is red too, drat it...but it's a very fine metallic red, much more appealing than a solid color, anyway.
Nice bikes. It really does seem sad that more of them didn't get into this country.
Charles Andrews
Los Angeles