In a message dated 3/4/03 3:14:41 PM Pacific Standard Time, chasds@mindspring.com writes:
> Tell me another major italian frame in the 1960s that had the same delicate
> flutes in the seat-stay caps that Colnago Supers had. Did Ernesto start
> doing this before Masi did? Granted, Ernesto's caps were narrow, so the
> flutes are narrow, but quite pretty in their way. The earliest ones are
> quite short, and very pretty.
>
I've seen a 1968 or 1969 Colnago and the fluted seat stay ends are cast
"caps" sometimes called plugs. Masi used a piece of curved sheet metal brazed
to the mitered stay. I would suspect that earlier in his career, Ernesto
didn't use the plugs, don't know when he started. Part of the reason
Ernesto's flutes were narrower is because he favored double taper stays.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA