Re: [CR]Yes, (shudder!) more Masi input.....

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 21:28:30 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Yes, (shudder!) more Masi input.....
References: <20010228.142613.-194735.13.richardsachs@juno.com> <3A9D7B33.1667F6AA@penn.com>


Jerry Moos wrote:
>
> I'm not a Masi fan any more than I am a fan of any fine bike, but I think
> the fascination of the story is that a remarkable number of outstanding,
> mostly American, framebuilders were connected with Masi in some way. When
> I first saw the Movie "Breaking Away", I was contemptuous of the hero's
> California Masi as "not the real thing". Only years later, when I learned
> of some of the people involved in the California operation, did I change my
> opinion.

I have owned several Masis. One was a early-70s Masi built in Italy, dripping with all the "Milano," Faliero, shop under the Vigorelli Velodromo mystic that that implies. The other two were Masis built in Carlsbad, California in the early-70s. The Carlsbad built bikes were clearly more cleanly built as far as brazing and filing, and of course had nicer paint. Other Italian and American built Masis I have seen from the same period have reinforced this impression.

So there you have it... the undeniable mystic of the Milan-built Masi, or the better quality Carlsbad-built Masi.

Mario once told me one of the things he liked about building bikes in the USA was that he could get better materials here than in Italy, and build a better bike.

Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, California