>>>This overnight thing though; boy, it's pushing the limits of credulity. Personally I find it hard to believe. It would take more than one person to pull this off.>>>
Jay,
It's absolutely believable that this could be done. I'm not a builder, but current examples would be John Slawta (Landshark) and Tom Ritchey. John builds 250+ frames a year, from ordering raw materials to paint (and some paint it is), completely solo. He had a great presentation at Cirque a few years ago. Tom said in an interview (Riv Reader, I believe) that he could easily knock out a complete frame in a single morning, certainly leaving time enough for paint. I have also been in Jack Trumbal's (Franklin Frames) shop. The tooling and processes he has to expedite building are amazing.
These guys are/were mostly fillet-brazing, but similar proficiencies can apply to lugged building. And these efforts are/were one-man only. The De Rosa story would involve multiple workers. Plus some of the functions could have been done in advance. And I doubt the same construction/finishing/paint quality standards would apply to these one-off race machines. With three guys, I'd bet the frame could be assembled and brazed in an hour, and ready for paint in less than 90 minutes. Paint and deliver by the next morning, maybe even that night, and the mechanics get the bike assembled and set-up in less than an hour.
Jon Schaer
Columbus, OH USA