"hippy" wrote in message
...

This opinion may well be totally wrong and might upset a few people,
but here goes:

The only people I have seen with $5k+ (usually more) Italian beauties
have them leaning against the cafe where they have been sitting for the
last hour! :-P

I have seen a couple of Colnago's being raced but their numbers are
dwarfed by people riding mass-produced aluminium frames (Giant,
Avanti, Specialized, probably my Peugeot, etc).

You shoulda been at Heffron Park this afternoon. There were about eight
well worn Colnagos there, three of which (including my own) sporting Mapei
paint jobs, no less.

Maybe I don't hang around as many cafes as you, but I see plenty of Colnagos
at racing. My own does about 250km per week, and has been crashed twice so
far in the three years I've owned it. It's an aluminium one, and besides
the paint looking well used and pretty badly scuffed, still has a good many
years of life left.

There are probably more Giants than any other make of bike at racing,
followed perhaps by Treks, but the Colnagos are quite popular.

I have no qualms about riding around on a bike that cost six or seven grand.
Plenty of people own cars that cost more than that, and my bike _is_ my car.

Regards,

Suzy (whos Colnago carried her to 2nd place in this afternoons D grade crit)