John wrote:
> Mike Howard wrote:
> Yes, I worked at Masi with the original crew in 1974 and went back in
> late 75
> until 77. In my opinion our workmanship was better than the Italian
> Masi's
> at that time. I may be biased but we all felt we had to be better to
> prove
> ourselves to the American market.
>
> Weighing in on the issue of Carlsbad Masis, I would say that the bikes
> we made were very nice bikes. Some were better than others. That would
> be the case with most any bikes. With that said, I think that Masis
> got their reputation and became desireable because they were such nice
> bikes in the first place. Italian Masis that I have seen have been good.
The first Masi I ever saw was a track bike, small frame, pea soup green. It was on the upper tier of the rack at John's in Pasadena. There was a tag on the wheel that said "24 count 'em". That was my introduction to the fact that there could be different amounts of spokes in wheels.
The work that I did at Masi was lug filing. For a spell, I was assembling bikes. As a filer, I did not set the world on fire. A few years ago I saw an original Carlsbad Masi and I knew that I had filed it. It was not a good job of filing. To someone like me, who loves bikes as much as I do and tried very honestly to do the best job I could, it is humbling to see my early work and realize that as hard as I tried, it wasn't that great. All in all, I think everybody in the shop in Carlsbad tried their level best to make great bikes. I doubt if we had "Friday bikes", (ones made on Friday when everybody was only thinking about going home), but some guys had more talent than others at the jobs they were doing.
In closing, I like the +GF+ to show as long as the BB shell is filed flat.
Chuck Hoefer Vista, California USA
> I would agree with that with some further additions. From a visible
> workmanship view, the Carlsbad bikes were more consistent than the
> Italian predecessors. The viewpoint from the shop from which I worked
> back then was that, a Carlsbad bike was going to meet expectations,
> the Italian bike could be great or less than. The Italian bikes were
> sought after still as they were much more frequently of Columbus
> tubing. Columbus was rising in cache in the middle 70's, probably due
> to the assumption that the fork blades were better due to the
> different cross section. There are a few Carlsbad bikes with Columbus
> tubing, but not that many, and they were by special order.
>
> As to if the Faliero oversight made a difference, I owned one of the
> original 25, #9. I took it back for a color change in April 1975, when
> it came back it was pointed out to me how they had (without direction
> I might add) re-filed the Bottom bracket shell, and other parts. To do
> this they must have removed and replaced the cable guides, it was
> noticeably smoother and the +GF+ was scarcely visible after. It was
> stated that the initial bikes were in a bit of a rush to be shipped.
> Images of other original finish first batch bikes confirm this
> charming attribute.
>
> I do think that things were less in control in the post Carlsbad
> period, but there were NOS Carlsbad frames still arriving into late
> 1977, generally in the extreme sizes. We knew that some of the bikes
> were sub contracted out then, and one arrived without the signature
> Masi head tube facing at a slight chamfer to "seat" the headset cup
> and races more closely.
>
> By 1980 things were in back order, this would be the time of Roberson,
> and a bit later Moulton working concurrently at different workspaces.
> Almost forgot Tesch. I think the change to the "Cinelli" low profile
> fork crown often of this period was a step away from the expected Masi
> look. Visually the examples I have from this period are very clean,
> and the inside of the bottom bracket shows very well, much better than
> some Italian examples.
>
> The later Henry James sourced lugs and crowns are even farther away
> from the core Masi look, but that is an aesthetic call. Not a
> structural one.
>
> In 1976 we ran an advert in Competitive Cycling, with the headline:
> Support Your Flag, Buy American, Buy a Masi!
>
> John Jorgensen
> today in Torrance CA USA