This was a question asked on our forum and we thought we’d respond here so we could share some pictures.
The Giro and the Café have about the same speed potential because they share the same wheel set and their seat to bottom bracket differential are virtually the same. Overall speed for both bikes can be improved by upgrading the tires/wheels and reclining the seat a bit more but neither design is optimized for speed like our dual 650c bikes are. That said, the seat to BB relationship on both the Giro-20 and Café are very similar to bikes with reputations for being very fast, such as the P-38 and X-stream. (pictured below with their BB’s lined up) Granted, this one design characteristic alone does not make a speed bike but it does show that the Giro-20 and Cafe have, at their core, the potential for higher performance. Don’t be fooled by the fact that they are great recreational bikes as well. 
Hope this helps! Mark Bacchetta Bicycles
Originally posted on bacchettabikes.com on Sep. 9, 2009.