I guess I should add my voice to the din.
I'd love to own an Italian bike some day, and a French bike, and an English. And, if I ever find one, a Finnish bike. And then there's a Bayliss and a Sachs and . . . gosh, this list could go on and on!
But right now I own three Japanese bikes, only one of which makes the CR timeframe. The better ones--a Schwinn Peloton that will be CR-worthy next year, and an RB-2 (nine more years) are better frames than the Fuji. The Peloton is especially nice.
None of them is a Zunow or a Toei or a 3Rensho. I like them anyway, but I know that the more hand-crafting, the more desireable a bike is. My bikes are what I can afford, though, and they serve me well.
But speaking of music. . . . It could very well be that certain peoples have a hard time with certain kinds of music. But I will say this: of all the complete sets of Sibelius symphonies I own (five or six, I can't recall for sure) and all the other performances I've heard, one of the deadest to my ears is Van Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. It grated on me to the point that I haven't listened to any of those LPs for 20 years, I think. The best recordings? Well, it's hard to top Colin Davis or Simon Rattle . . . but performances by Akeo Wantanabe and the Japan Philharmonic are right up there, and may very well be my favorites.
Sibelius isn't jazz, but I did want to point out that so much depends on the particular musicians involved--just as so much depends on who's wielding the flame and mitering the tubes on a hand-made frame.
nath "broccoli band boy" dresser
spring green, wi