One of my favorite booths at Interbike this year was Dario Pegoretti‘s. Every time I walked past it, people were swarming to see the hand made steel masterpieces from Italy, rendering it almost impossible to get a clear photo of any of the frames. Since he had the only booth with hand-made track bikes in it, I had to get up close and personal with them.

While describing what makes Pegoretti Cicli’s work different from American builders, I overheard the rep say something to the effect of this: “Dario is from a long line of Italian frame builders. People who found a way to mix production with perfection. None of these American builders are capable of producing the quality and quantity as Dario…”

Arrogant? Sure. But hey, they’re Italian and with these bikes, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

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