Jon,
I can't answer all of the questions you pose, but I can answer the last one. The Masi trademark issue has not been skirted. The bicycles available from Masi USA are legitimate Masi bicycles. The rights are still a part of the original agreement that was struck with Faliero Masi in 1972 or so. The current rights to the Masi trademark belong to Ted Kirkbride here in the US and it is by virtue of the original Masi/ Roland Sahm agreement that this is so. The Masi tail (tale) is still attached to the head of the original Masi serpent.
So that should explain why there are still Faliero Masi bikes available; the original contract is still in force. Alberto still has no rights to sell Masi labeled frames in the US. I think this information is correct. If not, I'm sure we'll hear otherwise.
Brian Baylis
The son that Alberto never had.
>
> I think a similar question was posted recently, but no replies came.
>
> The Masi bikes currently represented by the website
> http://www.masibikes.com/
> where these are made. Bikes are also sold in the US from Alberto Masi in
> Italy under the "Milano" name. Performance catalog had some Masi frames for
> sale rather cheaply, but these had "Alberto Masi" on them. Where were these
> made, to what quality standard, and how was the trademark thing skirted?
>
> Thanks for any comments,
>
> Jon Schaer