Dear List
A report on the $2350 Masi, Serial #M4, an MC55. The partial bike arrived pushing past four weeks ago, worth sharing a report regarding it. I am pretty certain the frame was built in the first half of 1975. It has most of the attributes that I have found associated with the frames built by Mario at Masi Carlsbad in this period. I closely examined seven frames built by Mario in the period of late 1974 to mid 1975. The ³special builds² as I call them appear to have been created at the rate of about one a month. The seven I know most about started with the two built for Gerald (Jerry) Ash, an accomplished Sprinter who later expanded his horizons into the Kilo and Tandem Sprints (came a collar bone away from a rainbow jersey on a tandem). Late in the ¹74 season Jerry won a Saturday night sprint series at the Encino Velodrome where the prize was a custom frame to be created by Mario at Masi. It was a legal way to gift a frame and maintain his amateur standing. Mario liked Jerry and respected his ability. At the time, Hans Ohrt Lightweight Bicycles was a significant Masi dealer and where we both worked. With the knowledge that special frames could and were being created, a number of the shop staff and a lucky customer got to order a total of seven frames including Jerry¹s pair, a sprint and road. They and the others were all made of Columbus tubing, from to PS to Record. Of this group, two were sprint; two were pursuit and three were road frames all dimensioned to the ordering rider. Jerry¹s were ready in good time for the ¹75 season. The others sequenced in approx. one month apart. I did not go on the order run as I was in school and my considerate co-workers did not want to spoil my education! I was not happy. Fortunately for me, one of the frames, a 55cm Sprint was soon available as Marc Karzen, who it was for, stopped riding. I finally got to make the first of what would be four trips to get measured and if I fit, assume the order for the Sprint frame. I Knew I would fit but I had to be approved first. The other trips were to ferry my road frame for respray, (a Southern California junior racer had to have matching bikes if at all possible) and monitor the progress of My frame. Note: a serial number was stamped when the frame was a main triangle, perhaps to assist in sorting them. It was well worth skipping school to get to see a different aspect of the process each time on my and the other frames. I also saw at Mario¹s work area two other main triangles and one other complete bike, a stunning white road bike with a yellow head tube and full chrome 24mm round blade fork, machined dropouts and stay caps, shifter braze-ons and decaled w/o flags on the down tube. Allegedly for a doctor from Palm Springs that seemingly cut ahead of the queue, we were told he would visit with a Ferrari that he would let Mario drive. Perhaps just a Gian story, sounded plausible to us. My sprint frame is #M5, an MC55. At the end of 1975 I purchased from the Hans Ohrt customer, #M3, a 58cm pursuit, as it was just too pretty and very light, painted white with yellow head tube. Sold the frame about 2 years later. In race trim it weighed about 12.5lbs. Fast-forward to today, comparing M4 to M5. Both have the canted seat stay caps that Brian Baylis has described before, as I was able to note on my visits that Mario worked the caps on last compared to the regular frames where they went on the stays prior to being married to the frame. Both have the extra vent holes through the seat and head tube for better gas venting during brazing. (Mario saw me studying this on a seat tube BB sub assy. And had Gian explain) The chain stay bridge reinforcements are rounded forward of the bridge adjacent to the BB shell. The mitering inside the BB is exceptional, most Carlsbad frames are good here, but these are very nice. The seat lugs have the most variation. Both are nicely worked, but they do not match. Holes on the sprint frame seat lug front tang that plunges down are not exhibited of the road frame. The area under the binder bolt ears is different as well; the road frame gets a triangular window below the binder ears. By the way, I eyed a wax lug pattern on Mario¹s bench, it was a seat lug that made sense to me, as the effort to solidify the seat post binder ears appeared substantial. I only knew what I was looking at because of a jewelry making class I was taking at the time. Both frames have extra work at the ends especially to the rear dropouts, a hole forward of the axle slot on the Sprint frame (seen on all of the batch I am most familiar) and slots milled into the axle land on the road frame with two holes aft. Both are very much reshaped. I have seed variations on this and not all had this work done, the three Hans Ohrt road frames did not, but they were for all bigger fellows and all SP tubing. Braze on shifter stops were not a regular feature on the road frames at this time. Masi had Plenty of banded shifters to go through, what a great walk-in Campagnolo gage they had! The saw cut trench on the fork crown appeared on most of the ³special build² box crowns I have seen. Chrome crowns and ends were not on all of the ³special build² road frames, I suspect time constraints on some, others painted by request. Intriguingly, M4 has a Columbus steerer and 531 blades.
Transfer notes, M5 has no signature, and the seat tube has both styles of Masi America bands, M4 has a signature and has the stars in an asymmetric field rather than the perimeter band of stars top and bottom.
Worth $2350. for a partial bike? Yes. A deal? Well, I wrote the check. Perhaps I should look at it from the perspective of dollar cost averaging, the sprint frame was $295. new. But how often do you get a bike¹s next of kin 29 years later? Especially one that fits! O.K., I could use a slightly longer top tube. Just barely resisted installing a set of wheels and saddle and taking it for a spin before it gets a condition reference rebuild.
Post script: Sprint & Pursuit frames at Masi were considered different animals altogether. Track or Pista was not enough to describe, they did not use the general term. Sprint frames got the PS Columbus tubing less the necked down chain stays. Pursuit frames were PL or Record, or mixed with thinner 22mm fork blades. The angles were conservative throughout; the pursuit frames got a lower BB well.
Now that the bikes are essentially camera ready should have pics avail. Next week.
Coming one day, the story of the Largest Confente.
John Jorgensen
Palos Verdes California