[CR]Same old ID or date my Masi

(Example: Framebuilding:Restoration)

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:07:21 -0700
From: "Dan Kehew" <dan.kehew@gmail.com>
To: "CLASSIC RENDEZVOUS" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]Same old ID or date my Masi

No intent here to rain on Jeff P's parade -- he just got a lovely, complete bike and he'll be able to show it off without any real additional effort. If I had the dough, I'd have been thinking hard about that bike. Also, apologies to the folks who are plain sick of Masi discussion already.

That said, please take a look at these photos and straighten me out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19157354@N00/?saved=1

I am beginning to allow myself to believe that I've dorked myself into owning an Italian Masi. If that's right, it's dated 12 (space) 71 on the steerer tube -- a December 1971 build. M61 on the back of the steerer tube and the bottom bracket. My size range, this is. The only other mark on the bottom bracket is GF -- the lug maker according to overnight research.

No, the finish ain't original, obviously. As is visible on the non-drive chainstay, the repaint includes "Mike Celmans" brush printed in the same color as the lug window highlights. The archives say Celmans was a framebuilder in Santa Barbara, working through the mid-1980s. My guess is that he added the braze-ons that made this frameset look like an early-1980s bike (bottle and shifter bosses, cable guides, FD bracket). I do understand, of course, that Celmins may also have been replacing original tubing at the same time. Reassuring to learn from the archives that the man knew his craft. The frameset needs another repaint for rust management purposes (unless I'm mistaking unsmoothed sandcastings for rust), so I may be able to find out how far the work went.

This is what I mean by "dorked into": the photos the seller had were from a distance, and I thought it was an '80s bike. Any steel Masi my size at this price, I figured. It's embarrassing how much internet time I spent before I even considered that it was not a 1980s bike, and not a California build. Really, really way too much time.

Questions and/or discussion fodder: Am I right about the serial numbers? Italian Masi, late 1971? If I should shoot another angle and add it to the site, well, whaddya need to see?

What's the model?

Build it up with a Nuovo Record kickstand, ya think? Sissy bar? Yes, I am a touch giddy, thank you.

Does anyone know if Celmins worked at, or with, the Montrose Bike Shop? Their vinyl sticker is on the bottom of the seat tube. Another stray piece of puzzle.

I paid $150. Do I win the lucky dork of the month award, shaped like a Nuovo Record kickstand? Dork of the month? Dork, period, just for mentioning filthy lucre? Does it matter that I really don't have $150 to spare for this, and I spent it anyway? (These questions are all rhetorical, of course, since my "complete dork" status has long since been established.)

Anyway, until someone tells me different, WHOO HOO!

Dan (dork before, dork again) Kehew Davis (dorks-on-bikesville) California

Wishin' I was coming to Cirque so I could, ya know, whoo hoo in person. Next year!