For what its worth, I got this tidbit on Colnago a few months back (don't shoot the messenger):
Honestly most Colnago's are not that nice! I worked in a shop back in
the
> mid to late 80's and the vast majority of the Colnago's we received
were
> terrible and required several hours of prep work before we could sell
them.
> They were out of alignment, threads were poorly cut, chrome and paint
was
> sloppy, paint had to be cleaned out of the threads and seat tube,
etc.,
> etc. Only in the past 6-7 years has the quality become acceptable.
Even
> then your still better off buying a Serotta, IF, Seven, Steelman,
Sycip,
> etc. Of course they don't have the amazing paint work that the Colnago
has!
Peter "the t-shirt guy" Grenader
LA