Ann,
Having looked at the pictures I can add a few things about this frame. Unquestionably repairable. It should be reassembled using silver braze as opposed to brass; it would be for all intents and purposes functionally as good as new if the repair is done by an expert repairer. If a fork is very slightly bent a realignment will probably not significantly effect its performance; but I personally would not call a bent fork that has been realigned "good as new" out of principal. The bike can be repaired (two tubes replaced with vintage Columbus SL, braze-ons replaced, and repainted as original) for $900. A few points of interest on this frame.
Notice the crispness of the filing on the rear dropouts. Someone put special attention on these. Probably not Mario in this case but actally better would have been Ron Smith, the original painter. He understood the principals and art of filing and shaping lugs, etc. He is actually the person who set my style in motion and taught me painting as well. Take note of how sharp and how graceful and thin the seat stay caps are finished. Again, someones' advanced ability at work. If the caps are slanted ever so slightly "inwards" as opposed to sitting perfectly square on the seat lug then Mario did those himself, and the inward cant is due to his "personal" method of brazing the full length seatstay to the frame and cutting the miter for the caps and so on afterwards.
The TT cable guides are just pieces if thinwall tubing cut and brazed to the tube. That indicates early tt braze-on era before guides were available from Cinelli. Also notice, no chrome on the fork crown. Probably trying to save the time of sending the fork off to the plater since it couldn't come off the rack of already built and plated forks. Mario called the shots for the tubeset, not Bobby Allen. Dan Ulwelling; do you remember my showing you a bunch of early Masi seat lug shapes? Whose style is THAT seat lug? Is it like any other Masi seat lug profile you've seen? I'll let Dan answer that question since we spent some time on how to identify these things while he was here. Then I'll give my opinion who shaped those lugs; and it wasn't me.
Like the seller is stating, the bike got special attention and was a custom order built with Columbus SL tubing. It's not the "after hours" type of frame like the one numbered M6 that Pergolizzi has; but it was a crew built frame which was tagged for "the treatment".
I hope this information is of some use or interest to you. Always remember though, once a bike is no longer "original", it is no longer original. A certain amount of its' provenance is lost. You need to consider the cost of the repair in your figurings. It may be possible to have the work done less expensively but caution must be exercised to avoid any compromise to the outcome and its' ultimate value. I know you could easily pay more for the repair also, so take care to find the right restorer for the job.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa,
When adopting a puppy don't forget the vet bills and dog food for life.
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> ok you all, I need your opinions.
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> If this frame stays pretty low, is it repairable? I feel sorry for it.
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> Ann Phillips
> Atlanta GA - shorts on, air in tires, going for a pedal!
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> http://ebay.com/
> &rd=1