SurferRosa

And why is pepperoni so good?!

sheddle

why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway

mech986 

Ah, you had me at Monica Bellucci, the rest is just, well, superfluous.

Monica Bellucci on a bike. Any bike.

P!N20

Is that a Lamborghini in the background?

mech986 

Nah, its a chicken and a pup at the lower right. I really don't see anything else!

Drillium Dude 

There's a background?

DD

Old Fireleg

Probably yes. An early prototype. The final result is below:

( PS: Monica isn't bad either, but I think I'd choose the Miura. After that I wouldn't have a problem with dating ... )

RobbieTunes

I heard the owner wants it back, Brian......

RobbieTunes

+1
Nice bike.
I've never seen a Lamborghini in person. I've seen maybe 4 Ferraris.
I've heard it matters if they're fast and handle well, and they're expensive.

I have, however, seen many examples similar to Monica Belluci.
My appreciation is not deterred by matters of speed and handling.

repechage

but the team drivers cannot avoid each other on the track. No help to the cause.

Steel Charlie

BFisher

But I look so sexy on it!

robertorolfo

What's wrong with a V8? And not all wedges are created equal. The 308/328 is still gorgeous, all these years later. Plus, a wedge is better than a land whale, right? (the only form that comes to mind when thinking of Porsche).

As for F1, the top is always the top. Winning in the lessor categories just isn't the same...

Don't worry, the tradition continues. This is the millennial Monica Bellucci, aka Raffaella Fico (sadly, she has had things done to her face recently, making it worse. Just stick with the original paint!)

Wileyone 

She would be an 8 in Montreal.

iab

Comparing F1 to Le Mans is silly. It's like saying the Giro (Le Mans) is better than Milano-Sanremo (F1). An F1 car would be crushed at Le Mans and an LMP will never get pole at Monaco. Le Mans is older and there is no doubt, Enzo regarded it more than F1. He just had a hissy when he could no longer control the rules and Ford and Porsche crushed his soul.

As for the V8, you have to be joking, right? It is a US thing that Ferrari did miserably. Feeling still butt hurt from what Ford did to him, Enzo tried this joke of a dalliance. Gutless pos. 12s and 6es, that the sweet spot, nothing in between. An that wedge isn't fit to suck the exhaust from the 365, which was Enzo's weak attempt to better the E-type (spoiler alert, he did not). And finally, comparing a 550 to a whale is so desperate, it isn't worthy of anything. The only thing somewhat comparable is the P3, but it does not have the elegance.

Chr0m0ly 

I was into inline skates in the ‘90’s (actually thinking about digging my old pair out of storage) and I remember the brand “Rollerblades” becoming the generic term for all skates. They had really good quality, for a while, then it dropped of considerably.

Turns out when they started, they were branding Roces brand skates. Roces is an Italian company, and they’re still making skates.

I wanted a pair of Roces, and I’ll never forget the ad copy.

“From the country that makes fast cars and comfortable shoes, comes a combination of both.”

rjhammett

I have have owned bikes made in the US, Canada, France, Mexico, England, Belgium, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands. About half of my current fleet are Italian made and for good reason. They are pretty, well made and go fast.

P!N20

Mine sure is pretty and well made...

kunsunoke 

It's not marketing. It's experience. I'm not the only person that noticed.

kunsunoke 

My Lossa-built Supercorsa was what I was thinking about when I posted. The Blue China paint is stunning. It's just too bad it doesn't hold up like Chemours' Imron.

kunsunoke 

There's nothing intangible about what the original Italian builders did. They leveraged a tradition of riding, racing, engineering, craftsmanship and artistry to produce some of the best and most iconic bikes on earth. In the process they influenced generations of other craftsmen world-wide - particularly in Japan and the USA. If you prefer French, though - "À chacun ses goûts."

jamesdak 

Well.... it must be something unexplainable for me. All I can say is that I have a lot of bikes that I ride a lot. I've also had a lot come through the fleet. As bikes get moved on it seems to never be the Italian built ones that I have.

I've passed on quite a few beautiful, dang near mint bikes over the years. But as I think about them they are ones like my Team Fuji and Fuji Club, Schwinn Prologue, and even my mint serial #1 1987 Paramount. Also a Trek built Lemond, a highly respected Trek 560 Pro along the way. Heck, as I consider needing room in my bike cave for a couple of new builds I'm even thinking of selling my 1987 Schwinn Circuit that's got a full Campagnolo 11 speed setup on it. I've posted pretty much every one of my Strava KOM's on this bike yet for whatever reason I can deal with selling it over any of my Italian rides. Don't ask me why, that's just how it is.

Yesterday was a 30 miler on my Billato built Giordana XL Super. Every mile was pure heaven and sex on wheels. Can't get better than that.


Out on the road under me, this is my best Italian bike. Not the De Rosa, not the Basso, not any of the others...

iab

Sure. If you entirely ignore the non-Italian builders doing the exact same thing at the same time of those "original" Italian builders did.

Biketiger

Marked up? Sure and it's also very expensive to produce things in Italy - certainly a lot more than China where 90% of bikes are made.
Nagasawa went to Italy and worked for De Rosa in the 1970s building frames.

P!N20

Yes, I was referring to 'Italian' products that aren't produced in Italy. (Did laugh at the tag on my Columbus t-shirt - 'styled in Italy, made in Bangladesh.' It's a t-shirt FFS, how much styling was required?)