List,
My Christmas find may have promoted me into the Premier League of bike collecting. Unwillingly I might add. I also could have started this post with the poetic 'The Masi that wanted to be a Gazelle'. It will start me off on another restoration project I guess. But, since I sofar have steered clear of Masi's, and have almost no knowledge of them (I did search the usual sources) I'd like some assistance here. The Masi in question is probably mid-70s (cranks are Campy Record '74 date stamp), but has been much used/abused. New paint job, Gazelle decals, added brakecable through toptube, broken off righthand gearcable guide on bb shell, plate welded or brazed on the bb shell where the open 'M' is, and maybe the gearlever bosses and bottlecage bosses were added too.
Numbers on the bb shell: VE58, '30' on one of the chainstay lugs of the bb shell, and a small 'z' or '2' on the downtube lug of the bb shell. The same numbers VE58 and '30' are stamped on the steerer tube. I cannot make out if this is 531 tubing or Columbus, although the shape of the fork legs seem to point to 531.
All the pics are here:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
I would appreciate any info as to the model, year of build, tubing used, etc., of this frame. As luck would have it, the frame is exactly my size, at least the toptube has the right lebth, so I could very well ride it (as if I don't have enough bikes already!). So a restoration is in the cards. The right colour and decals would also be nice. So if anyone could point me towards a similar bike, i'd be grateful
Thanks all,
Freek Faro
Rotterdam Netherlands