Why is a frame that’s made of Columbus Aelle sitting at $900.00 with 3 days to go??
Aelle is Italian for plumbing pipe by the way. :evil:
Power of the Ciocc brand I guess?
Seller:
Manufactured with the legendary high professional Columbus Aelle tube set
Aelle sat at the bottom of the Columbus product range 
Nice decals though.
On a good note, have a look at the sellers other items- impressive.
Whilst not exactly bottom of the range it’s still good tubing. I’d rather something with Aelle or Reynolds 501 made by a quality manufacturer than Reynolds 753 or Columbus Neuron from a crap shop in Taiwan.
Frame material is such an over-rated wank for most cyclists. Quality of construction and design aspects are far more important. Most people wouldn’t know what their riding on if it didn’t have a sticker.
Some of the best bikes I’ve ridden had Aelle tubing. It had more to do with geometry and alignment than tubing.
That Ciocc is hot … any Ciocc is hot.
Frame material is such an over-rated wank for most cyclists. Quality of construction and design aspects are far more important. Most people wouldn’t know what their riding on if it didn’t have a sticker.
Some of the best bikes I’ve ridden had Aelle tubing. It had more to do with geometry and alignment than tubing.
That Ciocc is hot … any Ciocc is hot.
My Concorde track frame I crashed at the Austral was AELLE and it was fantastic.
Ciocc, Conti, Paganini, Concorde. Same, same.
I’ve got a 54cm ciocc to sell.
Frame, or with most panto’d groupset. stem, post, shifters.
Much nicer, and free shipping 
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Aelle, my point is the value of the frame doesn’t seem to be proportional to the what it’s made of.
It’s like saying you can win a bike race with Sora components, yes you can, but that doesn’t mean you can ask Dura Ace prices… :roll:
There is a reason why professional racing frames were usually made of high-end tubesets like SLX, not Aelle. The differences may be subtle, but they are there.
And you can’t tell me the Aelle fork doesn’t look cheap and nasty… :evil:
IMO you can easily tell the difference between tubesets- the weight differences are a good starting point.
I have a frame made of Cromor and one made of SLX- there are real differences between them disregarding geometry.
Oh, and the frame is now sitting at AUD $1,714.38 with 1 day to go… :-o
kettle of fish x different 
Without attracting the engineers, hashing through Young’s modulus of elasticity, deconstructing Damon Rinard’s deflection tests and musing over blind tests conducted with identical bikes I’ll stand by my above quoted claim (except with correct spelling their).
What you say is Italian “gaspipe” is just plain gauge tubing at 0.8mm thick. Not butted but still relatively thin/light and still good quality steel.
Ultimately, the easiest way to tell the difference is by weight. No brainer: Aelle = 2345 gram, SLX = 1959 grams. That’s just raw tubes. Lugs, components, rider makes them a lot closer in terms of comparative static weight. One could make up the weight difference by filling their water bottle only 2/3rds full 
For the elite level athlete (which the overwhelming majority of us here aren’t) it will make a difference, albeit less than you might think. For the rest of us punters I stand by my claim that unless it was noted by a tubing decal (or if they weighed it) few here would be able to tell the difference in identical bikes with different tubing just by the way it rides. Real riding, seat of pants feel.
10 psi of tyre pressure … very easy to feel.
23c vs. 28c tyre width … easy to feel.
geometry, fork rake etc … most could tell.
frame material - kinda vague, you’d get mixed results.
I don’t deny that there are differences in frame materials and yes they are subtle. So subtle that I have to challenge your cut and dried assessment of Aelle as plumbing pipe.Like I stated and TC supported, some Aelle tubed bikes ride very nicely and belie their supposed lowly status or street cred.
To quote Richard Sachs (regarding frame materials/tubing) …
I too believe in essence that the differences exist. I believe more strongly, however, that the differences exist but play less a part in the ‘assembled’ frame as compared with the raw material in its ‘tested’ form. My opinion is that the frame in its finished state is a different animal; you’re not buying a pipe, you’re buying a bunch of pipes formed into an incredibly strong and mature design: the diamond bicycle frame.
Sorry to appear cynical, but I do believe most of the ‘engineering’ choices made relative to a bicycle’s frame materials are, in fact made to take into account the lowest common denominator: the industrial work force. Somehow, the suits in charge have to make their choices palatable. The consumers are buying sex. They’re buying an image of what_they_can_be if they ride the latest and greatest. I do not begrudge these suits, their choices, or someone’s desire to profit. I am just trying to say that in my opinion the materials ‘thing’ is overated.
and again …
Tubing itself doesn’t have any connotation of quality. At this end of the business, it’s more about construction and perhaps design than materials. I actually think that material is the least consequential choice.
$1714 aud so far also tells us that peep’s are buying provenance and rate that more highly than actual material used. To my mind there is more integrity to someone buying a bike because it was a colour they liked, or a brand they aspired to own than someone justifying their purchase because it was the highest spec. tubing even though they don’t compete.
Desirability is hard to put a price on. NOS anything gets crazy attention. The ebay Ciocc is a classic Italian frame from the 80’s - never used. What it’s made from matters less than who made it.
As for the cheap and nasty fork? :? It looks par the course to me … internal lugged sloping “Cinelli style” crown with perfect chrome. That’s just a matter of taste and I think most would disagree with your opinion.
fwiw … click on the following Catalogue of the US importer for Ciocc frames in 1984. Check the prices and details between top and bottom frames
Hey +1 spirito, I enjoyed your response! 
And thanks for the catalogue scans- yes I agree those are pretty high prices for 1984. :-o