italian marques

the playing mantis
the playing mantis Posts: 2,129
edited March 2013 in Road general
if someone came along and forced you to choose a bike from an italian marque, what would you choose and why

a lot of peoples dream bikes are colnagos, but i think i would plump for a basso as to me at least a lot of them are draw droppingly nice. maybe a bottechia emme 2


(stupid post but im listening in on an extremely boring conf call with the states, so im trying to entertain myself.... )
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Comments

  • Smirf
    Smirf Posts: 123
    Legend 10.5

    and i wouldn't exactly call it being forced!
    Parlee Altum - "summer"
    Felt VR5 - "winter"
    Trek Triton Singlespeed - "commuter"
  • zoltansocrates
    zoltansocrates Posts: 118
    de rosa merak evo with campy eps, stunning imo
  • Minglok74
    Minglok74 Posts: 36
    Bianchi for me
  • Coach H
    Coach H Posts: 1,092
    Legend 10.5, Colnago C59 or Colnago Master in Sarroni
    Coach H. (Dont ask me for training advice - 'It's not about the bike')
  • Scrumple
    Scrumple Posts: 2,665
    Wilier
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Cinelli
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Dario Pegoretti Responsorium with SR - grazie mille!
  • elderone
    elderone Posts: 1,410
    pinarello..cus halfords do them.
    Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I would plan a to drive over to Italy to peruse some options in a fantasimo bike shop.
    Go sit in a little cafe with a double espresso or two to ponder on which one to take back to blighty.
    Buy it then go back to the bar and admire its beauty while sipping on a lemocello.

    Actually thats a bit of a faff. I'm off to my local trading estate to get a Macky D and then a Halarello for the club ride tomorrow!
  • canny_lad
    canny_lad Posts: 329
    elderone wrote:
    pinarello..cus halfords do them.

    I like the cut of your jib sir :D
  • meesterbond
    meesterbond Posts: 1,240
    RonB wrote:
    Dario Pegoretti Responsorium with SR - grazie mille!


    This.
  • tomisitt
    tomisitt Posts: 257
    Passoni Top Force with Campag SR - gorgeous!
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    The basso does look and ride amazing.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • thegreatdivide
    thegreatdivide Posts: 5,807
    Wilier for the Cento Uno (but not the SR) and the Zero 7/9.

    Colnago for the Master and C59.

    De Rosa for the Protos.

    (I'm just off a boring conf call :lol:)
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    CAMPY ??????? Who the F**k calls it that apart from weirdo americans. Oh i have SHIMY & SRAMY on my other bikes too :evil:
  • saprkzz
    saprkzz Posts: 592
    Out of the ones I can think of, It would have to be a Wilier or cipollini.. The other Italian bikes are so bland and boring, I like a bit of bling which these two makes supply.
  • g00se
    g00se Posts: 2,221
    Hmmmm,

    De Rosa, Ciocc, and does Comtat count even though they're based in London?
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    saprkzz wrote:
    Out of the ones I can think of, It would have to be a Wilier or cipollini.. The other Italian bikes are so bland and boring, I like a bit of bling which these two makes supply.

    Wilier, Bling??? You sure? I wouldn't call garish black and fluorescent yellow paintwork bling.

    Italian style is about following classic subtlety. Not horrible brightly coloured bling. Leave that to the chavs.
  • Diamant49
    Diamant49 Posts: 101
    Somec
  • declan1
    declan1 Posts: 2,470
    Gazzetta67 wrote:
    CAMPY ??????? Who the F**k calls it that apart from weirdo americans. Oh i have SHIMY & SRAMY on my other bikes too :evil:

    I don't see how making SRAM longer results in it being easier to say.

    Staying OT, I would probably go for a Dogma 2 in Sky colours. Don't know why, but I've always loved the Dogma.

    Road - Dolan Preffisio
    MTB - On-One Inbred

    I have no idea what's going on here.
  • pride4ever
    pride4ever Posts: 510
    OP you were right when you said Bottecchia Emme 2 in the Italian colours........INCREDIBLE.
    the deeper the section the deeper the pleasure.
  • southdownswolf
    southdownswolf Posts: 1,525
    I'll have a Somec Rex please.
    http://www.stuartmole.co.uk/
  • ovi
    ovi Posts: 396
    http://www.prestigio.sm/en/modelli_det.php?pid=12 something different.
  • saprkzz
    saprkzz Posts: 592
    SmoggySteve wrote:
    saprkzz wrote:
    Out of the ones I can think of, It would have to be a Wilier or cipollini.. The other Italian bikes are so bland and boring, I like a bit of bling which these two makes supply.

    Wilier, Bling??? You sure? I wouldn't call garish black and fluorescent yellow paintwork bling.

    Italian style is about following classic subtlety. Not horrible brightly coloured bling. Leave that to the chavs.

    the Flo yellow one isnt the only bike they do, there are some very nice looking colour schemes and bikes.

    But seeing your signature has reminded me, i totally forgot about Bianchi, because over any of the bikes, I would be laying my money down on a Oltre XR with super record EPS!!!
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    saprkzz wrote:
    SmoggySteve wrote:
    saprkzz wrote:
    Out of the ones I can think of, It would have to be a Wilier or cipollini.. The other Italian bikes are so bland and boring, I like a bit of bling which these two makes supply.

    Wilier, Bling??? You sure? I wouldn't call garish black and fluorescent yellow paintwork bling.

    Italian style is about following classic subtlety. Not horrible brightly coloured bling. Leave that to the chavs.

    the Flo yellow one isnt the only bike they do, there are some very nice looking colour schemes and bikes.

    But seeing your signature has reminded me, i totally forgot about Bianchi, because over any of the bikes, I would be laying my money down on a Oltre XR with super record EPS!!!

    Bianchi get a bad rep from some for reasons I cannot fathom. I love them all, less the 928 which is a concept bike they push out to try things. My Sempre Is a beautiful machine, and the Oltre up close is a masterpiece .
  • BobScarle
    BobScarle Posts: 282
    I bought my Bianchi Infinito about two years ago, and what a lovely bike it is. Nobody forced me to buy it.

    If I was to get another, I would have the same again, maybe a different colour, but the same model. This is the colour scheme they do now, http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/images/Bia ... s-1000.jpg. Wonderful
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    Thing that I like now is Bianchi got their head out their arses and started putting decent wheels on their bikes. The Reparto Corse stuff is diabolical
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Bianchi get a bad rep from some for reasons I cannot fathom.

    About 15 years ago, the brought out the Ev2 which was built from very light, heat-treated alloy - with Pantani winning, demand went up as their quality went south - head-tubes and bottom-brackets had a habit of falling-off. Many dealers got a bad rep as a consequence and rightly-so won't go anywhere near them. I was working in the trade and they were a nightmare to deal with.

    The other problem with Bianchi is they're a lot like Raleigh and trading off a reputation that doesn't exist anymore- they're not even an Italian company - Swedish owned Swede and most of their product is made in the far east. There's nothing prestigous about them - just another mass-produced box shifter.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Pickled Pig
    Pickled Pig Posts: 233
    Because a Fondriest was my 1st "proper" road bike in the 90s I'd go for a TF Zero, and try and get the right size this time.
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    Monty Dog wrote:
    Bianchi get a bad rep from some for reasons I cannot fathom.

    About 15 years ago, the brought out the Ev2 which was built from very light, heat-treated alloy - with Pantani winning, demand went up as their quality went south - head-tubes and bottom-brackets had a habit of falling-off. Many dealers got a bad rep as a consequence and rightly-so won't go anywhere near them. I was working in the trade and they were a nightmare to deal with.

    The other problem with Bianchi is they're a lot like Raleigh and trading off a reputation that doesn't exist anymore- they're not even an Italian company - Swedish owned Swede and most of their product is made in the far east. There's nothing prestigous about them - just another mass-produced box shifter.

    After all you say there, things going wrong in the past, the current bikes are up there with the best. They are still one of the few makes used on the pro tour so they cant be too bad.

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