In a message dated 6/28/02 5:37:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Patrick@aardvark-pro.com writes:
> Personally, I have a two Jacksons and
> they are quite nice, but I accept that the quality can be up or down, given
> the specific time period.
>
I concur, many people saw one at the store, ordered one, and got something
different.
As far as Masi was concerned no, it relay did not change hands that much,
Ted Kirkbride was involved in the very beginning, when his bicycle shop in
Escondido, Ca. was involved with various aspects of building wheels, and
later was drawn into the whole deal, as Medici came to be, and Mario went to
work for them, and do his own thing. and as I have heard a million times, was
on his way back to build in San Marcos with Ted K. and Jim Allen as his
painter. As long as Masis were built here, Ted was involved. To my knowledge,
Roland Sahm always owned the rights, and as far as I knew, the rights were
not for sale. Yes, there was a few people building them, but I know first
hand, that great pains were taken to insure that "Masi Quality" was
maintained, as well as "Masi style." Yes, they evolved into a slightly
different look, as innovations were added. For example, an investment cast
lug is far stronger, and therefore technically superior, however, the
Prugnant DuBoise lugs that were used gave the builder a far better canvas to
work with. If you compare any Ca. Masi to any Italian Masi from a given time
frame, you will find that the Ca. Masi meets or exceeds the quality of the
Italian Masi.
I challenge anyone to show me a company who built as many bikes as Masi, for
as long as Masi, who kept the same help for the duration.
Dave Tesch
Milwaukee