Oh, one other thing that's a big deal to me but may mean nothing to anyone else: sometime in the late 70s or early 80s the fork bend in Masi GCs changed. For the worse from an aesthetic point-of-view, although I make no claims as to the relative handling of the old bend compared to the new.
The classic Masi fork-bend was a thing of beauty, about the most beautiful looking forks I have yet to see, other than maybe on an old Pogliaghi, which had a similar bend. The arc of the bend starts right at the fork-crown, and curves down very gracefully to the drop-outs...the 60s/70s Masis had forks that were/are just exquisite. That was gone by the 80s, replaced by what looks to me like a more conventional fork-bend that is not nearly as pretty, although it might be more functional for some.
Charles "appreciates useless beauty" Andrews SoCal
> --- Matthew Gorski <bikenut@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > I'm with Charles and Jay here-
> >
> > Italian or early Carlsbad examples are it...Period.
> > Even Eisentrout and
> > Lippy built Masi's are well into the twilight of the
> > Carlsbad days.....
> > Once you get to the San Marcos GC's you have, as
> > Maxwell Smart would
> > say,
> > "missed by that much!"
>
> Missed WHAT "by that much?"
>
> Joe Starck
> Madison, Wisconsin
>
> **********
>
> Joe asks a fair question, and at the risk of evoking in
the
> group the feeling of wanting to throw rotten vegetables,
or
> worse, in my direction, for prolonging this thread beyond
> all reason..I'll say this much: for some of us (and I say
> that deliberately, I have no intention whatever of
speaking
> for anyone other than myself and a few like-minded souls I
> know, or know of), the cast-lug Masis just do not have the
> same mojo as the pressed lug Masis.
>
> I've owned, and ridden, a few cast-lug Masis, one from the
> early 80s--Joe might even have built it, I don't know for
> sure when it was made--both rode nicely, although the
> geometry of those later frames seems somewhat different
from
> the 70s vintage frames...I've never been able to figure
out
> when the geometry changed, if it did..the difference may
be
> in my head, I never measured to make sure.
>
> But, besides some change in the geometry of the 80s frames
> to make them a little quicker-handling--those cast-lug
> frames, and all others I've seen, just did not have the
same
> charm for me as the pressed-lug frames. The pressed lug
> frames, at their best, appear more delicate because of all
> the hand-work on the lugs, and the overall feeling of a
> hand-made, one-off frame makes a mojo in the Italian and
> Carlsbad Masis that the later cast-lug frames, for all
their
> tidiness, cannot match.
>
> And the geometry of the older Masis gave them a plusher
> ride. The old geometry persisted in the cast-lug frames
for
> awhile..how long I don't know, though.
>
> It's the sheer, hand-wrought charm of the pressed-lug
Masis
> that makes them a pleasure to own, ride, and admire.
>
> Like I say, that's just me. Purely a matter of personal
> taste.
>
> Charles Andrews
> SoCal
>
>
>
> __________________________________
>
>
>
> Concerning Carlos Kleiber
> one of the greatest of all
> post-war conductors:
>
> The glamour often associated with a
> conductor's life held no appeal for him;
> he preferred to stay at home in Munich.
> He once told Leonard Bernstein:
> "I want to grow in a garden.
> I want to have the sun. I want to eat
> and drink and sleep and make love and
> that's it."