Okay, I was out riding my new to me 1974 Masi on a sort of shakedown/getting to know you kind of ride after a thorough tear-down and rebuild. On the way home I stopped in at a local shop to show off the bike. This is Kevin over at Encino Cycles and if you haven't been in to see him you should. He's a wonderful guy to chat old bikes with and is extremely generous with his time and talent. He went over the Masi and commented on the great condition and the matching numbers on this or that part. I pointed to the seat lug cluster with its two holes in the downtube point and said "This must have been Mario's touch" to which he replied, "Maybe, but this is definitely Mario's touch" as he wheeled over a medium blue metallic Confente. The bike had been built for the original owner back in '76 and at that time Kevin had assembled the bike. He knew the owner (the kid was just 16!) and his father personally and told me that at the time to play a joke on them he had placed a ball bearing inside the top tube. He picked up the bike and tilted it and there was the sound of a sliding ball bearing. It was still there 25 years later. The frame had the spade cut-out on the BB shell with '59.5' and '34' engraved into the shell. It had a clover leaf cut-out on in the bottom headlug with more cut-outs in the fork reinforcement tangs. The fork crown appeared to be a chromed Fisher, and the seat stay flutes, chainstay bridge and bottom bracket style was an exact copy of the '74 Masi standing right next to it. It had one set of bottle bosses and brazed on shift lever bosses--and yes, the seatlug had two holes drilled into them as well. It was a beautiful frame and is still in great condition although it had been raced heavily during its lifetime. Parts were Campagnolo NR with the exception of a Shimano EX headset, the one that took the special wrench to remove the locknut. I'm planning on returning to take a few photos (if it's still there) and look forward to sharing them with the list. In the meantime here are a few photos of my Masi. Frame number 679 (which would make it the 879th frame made in Carlsbad,I believe) Enjoy.
Scott Smith
LA