On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 00:57:28 -0500, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
wrote:

I got my new MTB frame in the mail yesterday, and the first thing I noticed
was that it was totally clean. Spotless. Greaseless. Honed, sparkling,
radiant. The BB shell was clean with no paint in the threads, the headtube
the same, and the dropouts properly prepped with no paint where the axle
sits. This was a $200 MTB frame from Taiwan.

Now, flashback to two weeks ago. A customer's crash-replacement
Made-in-Italy Bianchi Pinella frame ($1800 retail) comes in for me to build
up, and although there's no problems on painted areas, there's virtually no
attention to detail when it comes to the bottom bracket or headset! There's
slag strewn everywhere inside the BB (even bits I can break off with my
fingernail), there's bubbling on the opposing side of the welds, it's
totally unfinished with paint all up in the threads, and the headtube looks
plain discolored and ugly.


That's "old world craftmanship" and "character" for you. Not some
soulless thing from Asia.

JT



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