Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 14:52:11 -0400 From: Grant McLean <Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca> Subject: RE: [CR]Pinarello -- A Neglected Marque
Wayne,
You're soooo right! While Steven Maasland was selling all those pinarello's at BicycleSport in the Early 80's, I remember joking at the Bikesmiths, where I worked, how Pinarello had invented the worlds first Quick Release decal kit!!
Grant McLean Toronto.Ca
Wayne Bingham of Falls Church VA wrote: One thing I've noticed is that, like many Italian frames of the era, the paint and particularly the decals could be fairly poor in quality. Most frames were not clear-coated, so decals often are chipped and scratched, or missing altogether. I guess what I'm getting at is that older Pinarellos are often kind of rough looking, and therefore maybe don't command as much interest.
Bruce Schrader writes: During this era, I was selling GIOS and very proud of the fine craftsmanship displayed in their work as opposed to Pinarellos and Colnagos which I thought were rather poor in quality as well. But here it is years later and I'm in the middle of cleaning up and rebuilding a GIOS from that period and I'm dissappointed in the poor quality of the workmanship as far as the lug work and brazing is concerned and the paint has patches of ugly rust growing underneath it, not just where it's chipped or worn off either, but in places where if it were prepped and painted properly, it should essentially never rust unless it was left outdoors at the beach everyday. I guess most the Italian marks had their noble beginnings and then went through growth periods (sub-contracting) where the quality became inconsistent and in many cases, consistently poor.
It's another example of why I appreciate the high quality work of most of the american builders in the past 20 years. Their work is excellent and consistent (or improving) over time.
Bruce Schrader San Francisco
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