Originally Posted by
T-Mar
The French had a great racing heritage, arguably greater than Italians, up to the 1970s. However, for the most part their success was tied to big, full range brands like Gitane, Motobecane and Peugeot.
Italy's popularity was also tied to the big, full range brands into the 1970s, with marques like Atala, Bianchi, Bottecchia and Legnano being the most popular during the early 1970s bicycle boom.
Then in 1975, a curious thing happened, the boom went bust. Looking to retain financial liquidity, many of the larger, full range manufacturers ditched their independent American distributors and set up their own USA based sales and distribution divisions in an attempt to retain a large piece of a much shrunken pie. This forced the independent distributors to look for new bicycles and the late 1970s saw a number of smaller, more exclusive brands introduced to the USA, many of them being Italian.
This (including the parts I didn't quote) is a very interesting analysis. I have a sense that part of the popularity of Italian bikes is that, apart from Bianchis of a certain period, there just aren't low-end Italian bikes. I'm sure there are some, maybe more than I realize, but that's at least not the impression I have of them, and for the purposes of this discussion perception is everything.
For example, this is an entry level Colnago:
Columbus tubing
Forged dropouts
Chrome lugs and fork
Pantographed fork crown
Internally routed brake cable
Nice construction
For most brands, this would be their top-of-the-line model. For Colnago, it was the bottom.
By contrast, a typical bottom-of-the-lineup Raleigh is likely to have a hi-tensile steel frame, stem shifters, stamped dropouts, cottered cranks, and a curb weight around 35 pounds. Sure, Raleigh sold a lot more bikes by offering models like this, but they diluted their brand.