I recently bought a "Masi Prestige". It's by Alberto Masi (or so it says in screaming letters), and for that reason perhaps less respected than those by his late father, or the mystical rare California Masi's I believe were by Alberto's brother. It was repainted by Cyclarts, and while classic looking (downtube shifter, 10 gears, and spray-paint "fades" from white to blue) it's probably a 1980 or slightly later model.
The bike doesn't feel particularly light, esp considering it has decent wheels and old but "record" level Campy. The tubes don't ping hollow, as I would expect double-butted tubes to sound -- but I'm a rank would-be-novice.
The LBS that sold me the Masi told me very gravely the frame is 531, and another time that it uses Columbus tubing, and even I know those both can't be true. Of course, he also said that 531 means the relative percentages of alloys (which probably is correct) but that it means 5 parts manganese, 3 parts chromium and only 1 part steel (which is incorrect to the point of silliness).
Maybe he just means it's Masi so don't ask too many questions...
Any guess what the frame material is or should be? Or is there any way to test? What's the chance this is a decent bike but not Masi? The fact it was painted by Cyclarts makes it pretty, but perhaps inauthentic.
- Charles
cbknyc@aol.com
PS a LBS I really trust confirmed the Campy record parts and made the 1980 estimate, and also found the Cyclarts logo identifying the painter.