I have been reading the flood of emails regarding the strength of Masi tubing and the referencing of Masi frames specifically constructed at the Carlsbad facility.
To begin, I am in no way a Masi expert. But the current discussion prompts me to ask the following question:
Were the Masis built in Carlsbad built with the same tube-stock as were the ones in Italy? Another way to put it would be: Was Masi of Italy shipping and or supplying the identical tubing that they (Italy) were using to construct frames to the Carlsbad plant? Or did the Carlsbad plant obtain their tubing from a separate source?
To answer "well they were both using Reynolds 531 so what's the difference who used what tubing or where Carlsbad obtained their tubing?" is not the answer to the question I am looking for.
I worked at a (I KNOW, I KNOW, AN OFF TOPIC) bicycle suspension fork company for three years here in San Jose (before it was "out-sourced" to Taiwan) and saw first hand how critical it is to check every batch of tubing. I have seen tens of thousands of stanchion and steerer tubes "rejected" for failing strength tests, having cracks, inconsistencies, and so forth. What I am getting at here is this: Was there a high level of quality control at the Carlsbad plant and were inspections performed routinely to the same high standards as those of the Italian base? Or did the tubing just come in the door and the builders made the paramount mistake of "eye-balling" said tubing so as to speed up production?
Ted Baer
Palo Alto, CA