Steve Maas wrote:
>
> I've spent the whole day trying to figure out how to answer this without
> getting myself into a lot of trouble. I know, I'm getting perilously
> close to national stereotyping, which is decidedly un-PC. Unfortunately,
> I do believe that there is such a thing as national personality, which
> is why I do so well with Scandinavians, whose national personality is
> much like mine, and not so well with...well, others. In any case,
> trouble is nothing new for me, for sure, but as I descend into old
> farthood, I do try to mellow out and behave myself. Doesn't always
> work, but I try.
>
> Let's just say this: I don't see anything in my Colnagos, for example,
> that tells me a thing about the charming, easygoing dysfunctionality
> that was Italian society in the 60s and 70s, extending into today. (The
> same dysfunctionality, I might add, that has given Alitalia and Malpensa
> airport a 100% success rate at losing my luggage on flights into Milan.)
> They're nice bikes, of course. But they don't tell me anything about the
> times and people that produced them. British bikes do. French do too,
> although maybe not quite so profoundly.
>
> Do they for you? I'd like to hear how. In fact, I'd like to hear any
> comments on the history and culture of a people, and how it is reflected
> in the bicycles they built. That would be a welcome relief from the
> tiresome stuff about racing, TDF, Paris-Brest-etc., and technobabble
> about frame stiffness.
>
> Uh-oh. I think I got myself into trouble again. Dang! Gotta stop doing
> that.
>
> Or, maybe not....
>
> Steve Maas
> Long Beach, California, US of A
I'm a designer (taught at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena for 10 years). Italians are known worldwide for being unsurpassed as designers and this is what I see in their frames and parts. Unsurpassed industrial design. Giants! That's their history and culture and it's clearly reflected in their bicycles (to me at least). They provided the source of inspiration for most of the US frame builders in the early 1970s I'd add.
Italian passion...
Maybe someone else could explain it better?
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
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