> as a framebuilder, a masi-watcher, and a just plain
> ol' interested third party, i always wondered why the
> masi legacy in the u.s. (ONLY IN THE U.S.) was pre-
> dicated on the lore that was exposed in that one 1971 article.
> all catalogs/brochures/printed material always highlighted
> the 'merckx owns 20' thing, 'the simpson-peugeot' thing, the
> 'maspes' thing, and all the rest of the text always accompanied
> promo pieces even through to the early '80s. in other words,
> had nothing happened since? please note that i'm speaking
> in reference to the u.s. promo stuff. there were never such
> printed pieces in italy generated by masi milano...
> what was the question?
Richard, Thanks for the very interesting and informative answer on the lugs and color. As far as the copy used to promote the Masi USA bikes, I'm going to venture a guess that to link the Italian and American operations, the ad men used the best hype they could find. To the consumer, the only thing that seems to matter is the brand name. What better way to get the uninformed buyer to part with their money than using the reputation of the parent company to kick start the new venture since the US operation had no reputation when it began, only the name. The reputation was built by producing a quality product. After all, politicians use the coat tails of more prominent politicians to get the voter to notice them. Back to the bicycle. Notice how many manufacturers use the rainbow rings on their bikes even though it may have been years since their product was ridden to a World Championship. Just my two pesos.
David Goerndt