[CR]Re: Last Days of the San Marcos Gran Crits

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Avocet)

From: <BobHoveyGa@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:57:21 EST
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, marcus.e.helman@gm.com
Subject: [CR]Re: Last Days of the San Marcos Gran Crits

Marcus writes:

I've been away for a few days, and I apoligize if you have already seen this, but I didn't think Masi was making Gran Criteriums in 1993. The photos aren't great.

No relation to the seller.

ebay item: 7116501021

[Ebay quote snipped]

Marcus Helman Huntington Woods, MI

Yes, there are 1993 Gran Crits out there. Ten years beyond the timeline? Yes. KOF, maybe? Well, our buddy Joe fits into the story here so maybe we can say "yes" to that, though I guess I'll know soon enough if and when an expletive-filled OROBOYZ email appears in my inbox after I post this...

Here's a (somewhat fractured) nutshell history of the last days of San Marcos/Torelli/Masi (any other details welcome please, off-list - just in case). Joe Starck told me he left maybe around 91-92, (last time I asked he wasn't sure exactly when and I think he was moving or something so he couldn't check his records. Hey Joe! Update me!). Around '90-'91, according to Jim Allen, Masi was kind of getting snowed under with 3V orders so they boxed up a buch of GC parts and shipped 'em to Mondonico to be built. These frames still have the typical San Marcos seatstay caps and fork crown crests but can be recognized by the "MM" prefix on the BB frame size stamp. I don't have much info about the next couple of years, but by early '94, the GC was appearing in the Torelli catalog as a closeout, and apparently it had been on closeout for a while because the only sizes left by that time were 48, 50, 59, 60, and 62. Note: I'm not sure if they ever mentioned in the catalog that all or some of these frames were imports, nor do I know if they ever produced any more GC's in the US between 1991 and the time of the closeout. In one of the 1995 Torelli catalogs, the Gran Crit reappeared as a regular item, but this time they did clearly s tate that the frames were imports. I believe these also were made by Mondonico. The latest date I have seen so far on a lugged steel Gran Criterium is 1997.

So yes, Virginia, there is a 1993 GC. Guess I need to write the seller for a serial number and ask him it there's an "MM" on the BB too...

Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA