[CR]Matteo's Masi

(Example: Events:Eroica)

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 13:22:02 -0400
From: "Mara & Steven Maasland" <TheMaaslands@comcast.net>
To: Classic Rendezvous <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]Matteo's Masi

I have been reading Brian and other people's notes about Matteo's Faliero Masi. I will admit to being the one who translated the original email text from Alberto regarding the building of the frame. Matteo was also nice enough to share a good number of photos of the bike with me prior to his purchase of the bike. It is one very special bike! Perhaps I am speaking out of line, but I believe Matteo would be willing to send the photos to others too. I would even recommend that he have them posted on the Masi page of the CR site.

As Brian mentioned, because of the componentry, the frame most definitely post-dates Faliero's time in California. It is also completely different from any other Masi that I have seen elsewhere. Virtually all the frame traits are nonetheless truly Masiesque: it is a mixture of new and old. Given the combo of elements used and knowing how subcontractors work, I would be inclined to believe that it was indeed Faliero who at least partially built the frame. Subcontractors simply do not get the components for a single frame together with their build sheet, they get batches of components. They would also not change their building style for one single frame. The fact the the frame uses the 'M' Fischer BB shell as well as the 'Masi' fork crown shows a high degree of pride in the 'M'asi name. The multiple cut-out BB and two- plate fork crown are both just as recognizable as Masi features for the initiated, but they don't shout it out like the ones on Matteo's frame.

I think that Faliero is typical of so many Italian craftsmen who became business people. He was happy to have others do the work for him but maintained complete control of the production. To do this, he had to stay up-to-date on every aspect of production and know how to do it himself. As such, I think that it is likely that Faliero would have personally selected all the components, then perhaps done the basic building (given the choice of components, it isn't likely a subcontractor would have done the basic brazing with such an odd combination) and then almost certainly had one of the subcontractors do the finishing.

Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ