Jerry Moos wrote:
>> anyone know what became of the CA Masi from Breaking Away?? Was
more than one Masi used in that film?
>From the archives:
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
The part of the bicycle in the film Breaking Away was played by two Califor nia Masi Gran Criteriums and one Sears Free Spirit stunt double.??
The Masi that was ridden the most during filming (and was therefore the mos t beat up) was given to Steve Tesich, the writer.?? He kept it for a while then loaned/gave it to a friend of his who was a racer and was hard up for a bike at the time.?? He had it for a few months and got creamed by a lady who ran a stopsign.?? The owner took it to a framebuilder who replaced the top tube and down tube and repainted it.?? I've got photos of this bike whi ch I hope to have posted soon.?? Unfortunately, the resotration was not ver y well done. Apparently the lower head lug also had to be replaced and inst ead of copying the old one, the builder reproduced the cutout that is on th e upper head lug, which as most Masi owners are aware, was a much different size and shape.?? The paint was pretty sad as well, thick as a candy apple ,?with orange peel and incorrect decals.?? As far as I know, the frame is s itting unbuilt on top of a filing cabinet in the owner's office.?? I don't think he's too happy about the restoration work and he will probably have i t redone at some point, at least I hope so.
The current owner (and friend of the late Tesich) says that he was told (by Tesich) that the movie's star Dennis Christopher wanted one of the bikes a nd was given the backup bike (this would be the one the one in the infamous "small chainring" closeup... notice it has also has a different freewheel and chainstay decals than the bike in the longshots). It is supposedly stil l in his posession.
It is unclear what became of the Sears stunt double that appeared in the cr ash scene.?? It is believed that after a bout with drinking and drugs, it w as thrown off the set of PeeWee's Big Adventure and left the film industry for a stint in rehab.?? Now rumored to be working in a travelling circus an d has been romantically linked to a Peugeot AO-8 mixte.
Bob Hovey Columbus, GA USA