Italian bikes, rightly or wrongly, have a reputation for being stylish, hard to live with, and expensive. Many brands trade on the heritage of Italian cycling, with Colnago, Bianchi, and Campagnolo likely the biggest offenders. Recently there has been a trend amongst Italian brands of marketing their products as much as luxury items as they were sports equipment.
Campagnolo has a groupset costing $5,300 and has not invested in its ‘affordable’ components in years. Colnago, too, offers only high-end products. Basso is another Italian bike brand that caters to the high end - I have the brand's Campagnolo Super Record equipped Diamante SV in for testing too at the moment, with a price tag of over €11,000 - but also unusually to consumers after a more affordable slice of the Italian bike pie (tiramisu, maybe?).
