Richard,
What you say about looking at a production Masi in its raw state being so interesting rings familiar... It is what makes working on the old machines so much joy for me.
You see how they made them, and you begin to understand them better from a craftsmanship point than you ever could by just looking at them. And they become your own, because you have worked on them.
When refurbishing or restoring an old French bike, this often means reproducing a few parts, like the custom bell attachment for the Herse stem, or in the extreme, a BB eccentric on my old tandem. The latter was an 8-hour job in the machine shop, with special tools we had to make. (The BB uses press-fit Timken roller bearings, the eccentric has large shoulders to locate the bearings and prevent distortion, but is hollowed extremely in the center to save weight. Add protrusions on each side for the dust shields and groves for circlips that hold them in place, and you have a job!)
Seeing how the tolerances of the Herse tandem all were spot-on was definitely an education - to the point where the headset cups fitted loosely after the chrome was stripped. (Did Herse have a different head tube reamer for frames to be chromed? Considering how much precision reaming went into his BBs, I would not be surprised.) A few indentations around the circumference of the cups with a centerpunch solved that one... Comparing to many other builders on whose bikes I have worked, I now understand why Herse commanded so much respect in the old days.
Fortunately, there are more than enough "lost causes" out there to provide ample material for those wanting to see a bare frame or wanting to remanufacture all the special parts that went onto an old bike.
After having gone through one full restoration and working on
another, the amount of work and money spent hardly is worth it. It's
interesting, but it is a painful experience, too. That is why I
prefer an original bike every time - not just for the "salvageable
paint." (Of course, the situation is different for a 1970s machine,
where the only problem parts-wise is paying for the NOS bits to make
it like new.)
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.mindspring.com/