Jerry Moos wrote:
>
(snip)
> Was Faliero involved in framebuilding after
> returning from California, or did Alberto take that over? And were the
> Italian-made frames sold only in Italy, or all of Europe or even distributed in the
> US by the owners of the US rights? I obviously have a lot of questions and very
> few answers, but someone here probably knows most of this.
What I remember... There were Italian-made Masi 3Vs (Volumetric with investment cast internal lugs and oversized thin-wall tubing) and Prestige (post Masi Gran Criterium) frames in the early to mid-eighties after Faliero's fling with trying to love California.
I think the 3V was Faliero's last project before Alberto took over the reins from Dad. Maybe it was a joint father/son project? Probably. My 3V is an early one (French Accel tubing ? Anyone?) but has Alberto's signature on the top tube (left side rear of top tube for anyone paying atttention :)
I remember an article stating that Faliero discussed using oversized thin wall tubing (supposed to be very close to the ideal wall-thickness to tubing-diameter ratio for steel) with Tullio Campagnolo and Tullio agreeing that it would work. "She is good, yes?" (no, I just made that last part up about the Italian-English).
Does anyone remember French Accel and then later German Manismann tubing being used for the Italian 3Vs? I think the US made 3Vs used True Temper tubing?
Chuck "please don't hate me 'cuz I live in L.A." Schmidt South Pasadena, California http://www.velo-retro.com (for art bike lovers)
ps Incidently my 56cm Italian-made 3V rides like a dream, not like the word on the street rep that they were harsh riding.