>> ebay # 120192434318
>> Likely year? Where does it
fall in the range?
The Nuova Strada was a "price-point" model sold by Masi USA in the mid 80s a nd thru much of the 90's. It was subcontracted to Bilatto (not Masi) in Ita ly, a rather large shop/factory that cranks out frames for other companies ( though I believe they do market frames under their own name now). Never saw a photo of the inside of the shop but my guess is these were carousel braze d and probably never saw a file. They were either at the bottom or next to the bottom of the Masi USA range (depending on whether the Gran Corsa was be ing produced yet). Just how they fit in with the CR scheme of things might be debatable... they were all produced after the 1983 cutoff and I'm not sur e the fact that the frames are lugged steel is by itself enough to qualify t hem for KOF status...
On the other hand, I'm not sure they deserve the scorn they get from many Ma siphiles... OK, maybe they're not for collectors but the geometry's not bad and they are said to be nice riding bikes. I had a Gran Corsa myself for q uite a few years and it felt pretty nice, it just didn't have the personalit y or cache one usually associates with Masi.
Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA
http://bhovey.com/
Can the Masisti tell us anything about this bike - ebay # 120192434318?
It's marked Nuova Strada made in Italy. There's a "63" stamping which looks like the size from the pictures. Looks like 7-speed cluster, Campy components. Likely year? Where does it fall in the range?
Nice tall bike. Seems like a lot of bike for the money ($400 w/no bids) if you need a lot of tall bike.
David Bean
Arlington, MA
beandk at are-see-enn dot com
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