Steven:
I downloaded that pic and blew it up 400% and I think that is a bog normal British made frame.
The fork crown does not look like a Cinelli SC.. The Cinelli is much thicker 'waisted." See here:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
I bet it is not Columbus tubing either...The blades almost look to be the narrower Imperial oval rather than those of Columbus fork tubing. The fast back treatment is very typically British (Or at least not very Italian.) I agree with you, Masi would never have produced a frame looking like this..
No, I think our British shop owner Beriano saved some transport costs and import duty on this frame!!
Dale
Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, NC 27408 USA 336-274-5959 http://www.cyclesdeoro.com http://www.classicrendezvous.com Giant, Specialized, Orbea, Bianchi, Felt, Litespeed, Landshark, Colnago, Townie and other exotica. National Bicycle Dealers Association Board member
-----Original Message----- From: The Maaslands <TheMaaslands@comcast.net> To: CR <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:35:43 -0500 Subject: [CR]claimed Masi-built Beriano
It would appear that somebody has been reading the CR list before writing their item description. Not long ago, there were some posts regarding Beriano frames. Now there is one up for sale:
Although the sole picture isn't overly useful in identifying anything on the bike or regarding its possible provenance, I am willing to state that the chances of this actually being a Masi-built frame are as good as nil. This does not in any way mean that the bike is not as good or better than a Masi, it simply goes contrary to too many build characteristics of masi-built bikes. Faliero was supposedly against both the steeply sloping fork crown and the Cinelliesque seatlug treatment and supposedly never built a frame without an Italian thread BB. If I were to ascribe it to a framebuilder of renown, it wouldn't be Faliero Masi. Perhaps one could justify suggesting it being a Cinelli product, with which it apparently has more in common.
I don't think that the seller is deliberately trying to mislead anybody and we do know that it was advertised that there were frames built by Masi being sold under the Beriano name in the 50's. My guess is that this frame is either later than the Masi-built frame period or was perhaps a cheaper version. It is a pity that the seller does not have a digital camera, or at least access to one, as it does seem to be quite a nice frame.
Any other comments?
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ