Originally Posted by
Leinster
Has anyone mentioned yet the obvious point that Italian names just sound cooler? Colnago and Bianchi and Tomassini and Battaglin and Bottechia all just sound exciting. (By contrast, Fondriest doesn’t, even though he was a great rider and his bikes look gorgeous). Much more so than Schwinn, or Raleigh or Peugeot, which all sound a bit utilitarian.
Is that why all the American framebuilders have funny names like Havoonian, Alistair Spence, Chris Chance, Kvale, Sklar, Weigle, ...Guglielmana...?
This is why I became a scientist instead of building frames. Nobody would buy a "S Carlson" when they could have that guy I went to college with,
D'autremont..
The aesthetics of the bikes, and the caliber and reputation of Columbus steel, and Campagnolo components, and Fausto Coppi with his Persol shades, are all part of what always looked cool whenever any of us got into cycling.
It's true. Fausto Coppi is
still cool.
It’s also the race car effect. The analog to the Colnago or Bianchi was always Ferrari or Alfa Romeo. But Schwinn was an Oldsmobile, Raleigh a Morris Minor and Peugeot a, well, Peugeot.
Does that make my Herse a Bugatti, my Ron Cooper a Bentley, and my Taylor an Aston Martin?
Conversely, my Claud Butler is some horribly badge-engineered faux-luxury marque by malaise-era British Leyland, like an Austin Metro Vanden Plas...
