Re: [CR]"Swedish" Masi...and fast eddy??....thanks for the correction

(Example: Bike Shops)

From: <Bikerdaver@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 23:40:55 EST
Subject: Re: [CR]"Swedish" Masi...and fast eddy??....thanks for the correction
To: johan@logicoffice.se
cc: richardsachs@juno.com
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
cc: richardsachs@juno.com

Johan- Thanks for clearing things up for me. Remember, I was only making a "statement" which was really an honest and blatant Question. Thanks again for putting up with me. Cheers, Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT

In a message dated 3/4/03 12:01:53 PM PST, johan@logicoffice.se writes: As of what I can see from my magazines most pics of "Faemino" Merckx (and his team mates) are Masi. No "Molteni Masi: s" - Only Colnago (circa half of 1971 to circa feb/march 1973) and then DeRosa from then on.

Crescent "top bikes" where relabeled Merckx bikes - from circa 1983-4 up to middle of the 90: ies. From there I do not know (and do not want to know).

Let me clarify one thing (if some one thought otherwise) - the Masi: s ridden by the Pettersson clan had nothing to do with Monark and/or Crescent other than the decals and paintscheme. People over here still think that the Petterssons rode the toeclip overlap-badly put together frames when turning pro. Monark/Crescent made a big thing out of it and the Petterssons had to play along with their sponsor.

BUT the fact is that they as amatures won some olympic gold medals on the "real" ones.

To get you all to understand what I am fighting here in Sweden I will give you an example of what one magazine wrote on the "real" Monark/Crescents a while ago. Translated - "In the plant there where tens of thousands of bikes made every year, but the competative bikes where made by hand and by one man mr XXX XXXX. An artisan of unparallelled skill. No expenses barred, all out racing. He was an expert craftsman and a brazing specialist. Finely mitered tubes and filed lugs........". And so on.

Any one who has seen these frames know this is ridiculus! But show an orange Crescent to a swede and he says "Ahhh a Crescent - a world class bike"

They made some really nice race bikes in the fourties and fifties but as soon as they stopped thinking and jumped on the Nervex/531 everyting went wrong. Good material does not make a good bike. I have a really nice early fifties bike made out of straight gauge 0,8 cromo and welded together. Smooth filed and Simplex dropouts. One of these where ridden to a World amature championship in Valkenburg 1948.

Regards Johan Ericson Stockholm, Sweden PS Do not get me wrong - over here the "real" ones are a part of our cykling history and I and every one else loves them (but the others do it for the wrong reasons)

citerar Bikerdaver@aol.com:
> Folk's
> Allow me to muddy the waters of "swedish masi", in the guise of a question.
> If I recall correctly, weren't the earlier eddy merckx frames made by masi?
> (Maybe my memory isn't as good as i once thought it to be.) I mention this
> because I believe that in the 80s and sometime later than that, the top of
> the line Cresent/Monark were just were re-badged eddy merckx frames. In
> fact as late as the mid-90s the Swedish national womens team road re-badged
> eddy merckx. Johan help me out here. Cheers,
> Dave Anderson
> Cut Bank MT
>
> In a message dated 3/3/03 11:13:53 AM PST, richardsachs@juno.com writes:
> agreed. when i wasn't the age i am now, i remember staring
> at race pics of the petterssons and noticed the decal,
> "Brevetatta" or similar on their blue frame's chainstays,
> a mark seen on the early 'non-fluted' chainstays of
> the masi frames of the era. btw, didn't the 4 brothers
> medal at mexico in the 4-man 100k time trial?
> e-RICHIE
> chester, ct
>
> On Mon, 3 Mar 2003 19:40:57 +0100 "Johan Ericson"
> <johan.ericson@logicoffice.se> writes:
> > Hello List
> > While looking thru my pile of old french bike magazines I discovered
> > that Gosta "Faglum" Pettersson, riding for Feretti, used a Masi when he
> > won the 1971 Giro di Italia. Labeled as a swedish Monark. It has the
> > same BB cut out as the right BB at
> > http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/rsachsperiod.html
> > http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/rsachsperiod.html
> >
> > When talking to him he just says he sold it to someone here in Sweden
> > circa 1978-9. .............. Somewhere out there in some ones garage
> > sits a Giro winning Masi! The search is on, very on.
> > My size and would go perfect with my old Feretti-cap.
> > Regards
> > Johan Ericson
> > Stockholm, Sweden