I think this has been one of the most interesting and informative threads ever on this list. I have a question, though, that I have not seen addressed. There are obviously marks a ways away from both the upper and lower head tube lugs on the appropriate tubes. Must these marks have come from flexing or bending, though?
I have been told of the qualitative improvement of the Carlsbad Masi bikes after Confente was brought in. At about bike # 100? At any rate, could these marks have been made by an improper brazing temperature and what we are seeing is the limit of travel of too high a temperature? Perhaps even something on the surface of the tube that overheated and caused these marks? If so, it would seem logical that at least some others of that early period would be similarly marked.
Have any of the painters and refinishers on the list who have stripped Carlsbad Masis this early seen similar marks? If it was the result of too high a heat, would the damage be as bad as that incurred by the bike crashing?
I am wondering if everyone is right, here. Perhaps the bike was, indeed damaged, but not by a crash?
I'll bet those expert brazers on the list can provide a definite answer, and if I'm off track, it certainly won't be the first wrong tree I've barked up in a quest for knowledge.
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi