I think the Italians had a great design where the upper tube curved up where it joined the seat tube. I believe this gave that joint a much stronger bond and reinforcement. This area was usually chromed to put a durable finish in an area which would receive a lot of wear. I would have posted a photo but amazingly could only find one which was quite poor. Our collecting must really be gender specific even though I would expect 5-10% of my sales were Ladies bikes (counting 3 speed lightweights
BOB FREITAS
no frost bite from yesterdays ride in MILL VALLEY,
CA USA