>>2025048Yeah the american brands can be more but I have seen stowe's(new york), serotta(not really custom but nice), lighthouse(san luis obispo), and others come up for 500 or so. Medici was the hair bandit brand, but made here.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jan-05-me-20494-story.html Watch out for bill davidsons(seattle), common down here.
Most italian bikes I find tend to use BSA bb's, but some may have used italian threaded bb's. Honestly I just use the one they tend to have and rebuild the bike from that. Italian bb's are way more common then french or swiss so it's nbd. Only weird standards relate to campagnolo stuff that I can immediately think of right now.
Some brands did sell out to walmart in the early 2000's, but those weren't just italians. Nishiki, motobecane, schwinn, maybe an italian brand or two.
An easy way to tell if it's good is if it has lugs there is a 99% chance they haven't sold out yet. Some brands I can remember are torelli, daccordi, battaglin, benotto(some are mexican built bikes), and the more common brands like cinelli, colnago, pinarello, and bianchi. Many more that I can't remember right now.
Don't forget nice british bikes too like holdsworth, some raleigh's, and more.
Oh, and pre 1990's schwinns are some of the best deals in my mind. Some made in japan, most made in america. Treks were made in wisconsin back then too.
>>2025077I haven't used one yet to know.
