jamie swan wrote:
> This thread is OT but maybe because it is Masi talk we can get away with it.
>
> I was a Masi dealer in the early to mid '90's. The Team 3V was a less expensive model
> of the 3V. Torelli imports was the exclusive U.S. Masi distributor at that time. The
> owner of Torelli, Bill Simeonian (now McGann), said that they were made in
> California.
>
> It came with an SR alloy fork and fast back style seat stays. Those were the only
> mechanical differences. I do remember seeing some with the fluted top eyes. I suspect
> that those were originally built to be regular 3V's. The graphics and colors changed
> from year to year but they usually were adorned with a multitude of "sponsor's"
> transfers. The idea was that Bill got money from various companies to put their
> sticker on the bike and that allowed him to reduce the cost to the customer. Thus the
> team designation. They sold pretty well to Walter Mitty types who were after that
Jamie is correct in that the first Team 3V frames were identical to the 3Volumetrica frames. The biggest difference was the aluminum fork. And, of course, the different decal set. There were only two different sponsor decals for the top tube, I believe the years were 1991 and 1992. After that, no more top tube sponsor decals.
When Bill later had the bikes made in Italy by Mondonico, they came with the fastback seatstays and unicrown forks. Most of these were painted in Italy, so I never saw them except to do repaints and repairs.
>
> NASCAR look.
>
> During that same era Masi also made a few limited edition 3V's. They had special
> graphics and production was limited to 200 (I think). They made one with the same
> transfers as the ones ridden by the Russian national team.
Correct again, the production was limited to 200 for the Russian edition, they were
almost all red.
> Another one commemorated
> the '94 Olympics in Barcelona. It had flags of various nations along the top tube and
> Masi on the down tube was written in Greek (to me at least). I actually still have
> one of those in stock. I think it is #77/200.
>
> Jamie Swan - Northport, N.Y.
Also correct.
Jim Allen
the CycleSmiths
San Marcos, CA