RE: American Masi frames, Brian said: "second batch of frames (56cm) began in with the MC bit and the frame size and then the serial number above as we normally see"
Brian et al:
My nerdy observation is that the second batch began with MC-serial number, with the size above. Watching MC Masis on the web over the past three years has resulted in the following sparse data (hope the mail system doesn't trash my column formatting):
BB MARKING Fork Crown Seatlug Other ---------- ----------- -------- ----------- A57 1S19 ? ? '73 gruppo 58 MC23 twinplate ? repaint red 56 MC32 twinplate tang,2holes repaint blue 61 MC96 twinplate tang,2holes repaint silver,'70 gruppo 172 MC60 twinplate ? 186 MC60 twinplate ? 58ccX57cc,170 crank, 11cm stem 230 MC54 box tang,2holes pat73, 170 cranks 044 MC58 box tang,2holes 58 box ? "L.A.W" sticker! 0296 MC59 box no holes "American" seattube decals ? box no holes Rydjor, "1976", bz-on cable clips
SHAKEY, UNJUSTIFIED CONCLUSIONS FROM SPARSE DATA: 1) the first 200 (actually 26 to 225) were all twinplates? 2) the first batch of 25 were 57cm, the 2nd 25 were 58cm, the 3rd 25 were 56cm, the 5th 25 were 61cm? 3) the "MC-size" numbering started at #100 (the 125th bike)? 4) bikes after #200 (225th bike) had box-section crowns? 5) sometime after the twinplate-to-box switch, the seatlug lost it's extra downward-pointing tang with the drilled holes? 6) where does the 044 fit in? Does it come after 999? 7) where does the '58' fit in?
Brad Stockwell
"keeping track"
Palo Alto