In a message dated 12/26/2004 7:37:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, gharnold@mindspring.com writes:
<< Holiday greetings all:
and dear Masi experts:
I am trying to convince the wife of the rarity and er, usefulness!, of a 1972 Masi GC in my size that I've come across, and I need your help ... I've read through the archives to get as much info as i could ... I was wondering if the current experts could shed some light on a few of the following questions:
In 1972 - and in that general 1968-75 era - were 60+cm Italian bikes as often produced as the smaller ones? Ive often read that these larger frames (I ride 62-63cm bikes) are less collectible/valuable, yet I find them much harder to come by... curious.
I'm considering a 1972 Masi - no serial number, with a 'V' stamped in the BB. From what I read it has to be Italian because 'all US Masis's had serial numbers'. Is this 'V' any indication of where it was built or by whom?
It has a 'twin plate' fork but it appears to be the Fischer 'faux' drilled plate - which to my eyes is more elegant looking than the normal twin plate crown - is it a more unusual fork?
Were the 1972 Italian Masi's somehow inferior to the 1973 Carlsbads? Seems there is a lot of chest puffing among the US Masi builders(!) of that era - I mean that in good fun please - but how bad were the Italian frames at that time? The one Im looking at looks pretty clean...where was the venerable Mario C. building in 1972?
What color schemes were available in 1972? I recently let a Masi go on ebay with a cool two tone orange-white head tube configuration. Was this a custom paint job?
Finally - when did all the pantography start or stop with these bikes? I've seen some really wonderful examples of Italian Masi's with 'Falerio' cut into the stems, and 'M's cut out of the chainrings - and then later 'Alberto' in the stems ... were these 'one-off' customizations or did the factory offer these options?
Oh - and one other thing - Does anyone know if Falerio and Sante Pogliaghi knew each other? Were in competition? Does anyone else but me think Pogliaghi built as well if not better than Masi? (Is that Masi sacrilege?)
thanks all for your help - and for helping me justify my Christmas present....
Greg Arnold, NYC-currently-traveling >>
Forwarded at Greg's request by
Dale Brown
Greensboro, NC