[CR]SoCal Masi Ride report

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 11:31:06 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: <chasds@mindspring.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]SoCal Masi Ride report

The Masi ride yesterday was, as always, a very great pleasure, and for those of you who could not come for reasons of distance, or prior commitment... you really need to think about coming next year.

As is often typical this time of year, the day dawned a bit gray, but the sun was out by the time we all arrived at our starting point in beautiful Solana Beach, just south of Encinitas. The Pizza Port makes great pizza (which allows us to anticipate the end of the ride nearly as much as the beginning..) Temps were perfect Sunday, that not-too-hot, not-too-cold thing that has drawn people to California for 100 years. It might have been a bit on the cool side all day, but only a little. The sun managed to stay out until we finished lunch..then the fog rolled in..

I'll resist the temptation to be a stunning bore... (although perhaps I've already managed to be one anyway), and record only a few impressions.

The greatest pleasure of this ride---and the other rides we vintage nerds have around here---are all the other nerds of course. Starting with John Morrison, who is my neighbor in Dana Point, and who showed up in his cap and beautiful Jan-Johnson-designed Masi trainer, at my front door, at 8am, a big grin on his face, saying "is this just vintage road bike nerd heaven, or what?" Yes, John, it was, and is.

I'd been up at 6am trying to get my Sammontana GC from 1974 (s/n 265) ready to go. I just managed to pull everything together, and we set off in John's SUV... he driving back to Dana Point out of habit, into the fog, and me ooooohing and ahhhhhing over his really stunning Alberto Masi 3V in candy blue, with a full early C-record group, including delta brakes...one hell of a bike John.

We finally managed to find the freeway, thankfully.

Down in Solana Beach, at the Pizza Port, all us Masi acolytes were assembling... Most of the bikes were pressed-lug Gran Criteriums from those good years, 1973- 1976 or so. I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite, because, I have to tell you, these were some very choice bikes. One group favorite is Rob O'Callaghan's tomato red Masi, a bike he picked up on ebay in now-legendary buy-it-now moment. This bike was/is *absolutely pristine* as from the factory. It even had the original wheels with the much-discussed Martano wing-logo stickers. I believe the only change Rob made to the bike was the saddle. The lugs on this particular bike are incredibly beautiful.. I forget who made it, but if I remember right (someone will have to clarify this), it was assembled by one guy at Masi, for a friend. What a bike! Jay van de veldt says every time he sees that bike it's like a poke in the eye...because it was his size, and Rob beat him to it..and pulled the trigger on that buy-it-now. Way to go Rob! It's so great to be able to see these bikes...

Another extremely nice Masi in the group is one of a handful of GCs that was built entirely by Mario Confente, from start to finish, and the workmanship on it is something to behold. I guess the Mario GCs had no serial number, but were stamped with an *M* and then numbered in sequence. He built them for friends, apparently. The owner says there were nine of them altogether. This was *M4*. I will leave the owner's name unmentioned, if he wants to talk further about it, he will. A lovely bike.

Then there was Chuck Schmidt's deep blue Masi Special, as restored by Brian Baylis, and built up by Chuck in period-correct fashion right down to the last detail. A truly amazing bike. It looks like it just came out of the showroom window, after being polished and checked over to make sure every tiny detail is right. Hypnotic, is all I can say.

There were too many other Masis to mention..all were beautiful... and what fun to see them all together.

We hit the road about 10am... and motored north along Pacific Coast Highway, in a tight pace-line. This kind of thing always makes me feel like a kid again, especially when I take my 3 minutes at the head of the line, which is about all I can manage anymore. Nut-cases like Mr. Baylis are usually up there, churning away.

We were headed to the Masi America factory building in Carlsbad. Groups of us have visited this site before. The building is just on the other side of the railroad tracks, just east of Pacific Coast Highway. The parking lot of the building has a nice view of the ocean of the tracks and houses... it really is an idyllic spot. In a quiet light-industrial strip east of the tracks in Carlsbad.

The half of this two-story brick building that was used by Masi America is now occupied by a YMCA Gymnastic Center..nice that it's an athletic facility. We all swung into the parking lot as a group, and leaned our bikes on the railing leading up to the front door... we took the obligatory group-photo, and Joe Bell (on his Colnasi for this ride--something better left to others to describe) went up to a window beside the door, to see if the Masi head-badge sticker he'd thoughtfully applied to the window frame last year, was still there. It was. He kneeled in obeisance to the gods of vintage lightweights... and then proceeded to add to the tribute with a Masi seat-tube band, which joined the badge, on the window frame.

I've often thought a little plaque on the side of the building would be fun...the owner would probably put one up with a little urging, and some lucre, but somehow those two stickers on the window are much better.

Whenever I go to that building I can't help feeling how brief that time was. Three years when a bunch of idealistic young americans created some of the most elegant and refined bikes in the world. Standing there in the sun, in sight of the Pacific, the scent of the ocean in the air, you can almost bring it back, like a mirage..a bunch of young guys taking a break on the lawn, at the picnic table that used to be there. A bunch of long-haired idealists, makin' bikes..or, at any rate, trying to make the rent. It was a good time for many of us..too soon over, as all such times are, over before we come close to realizing what is gone..

We took a brisk jaunt up behind Carlsbad, through the hills for a few miles..then back to Solana beach...and pizza and beer! And admiring all the Masis on display.

The jawboning over lunch is every bit as much fun as the ride..although the sight of all those Masis in a pace-line is very pleasant to contemplate.

Thanks to Matt Gorski, as usual, for putting the ride together.... these rides are a real highlight to life, and we hope to have more of them.

For instance.... Ernesto Colnago's birthday is next month, and we will be having a ride to celebrate. More in this space in the next week or so.

I hope someone else will detail all the great bikes that were there... Brian Baylis's amazing early GC, and Joe Bell's extremely rare Colnasi--or is it Masnago?-- (it is likely the only one in existence, and, rather evanescent at that)..

Thanks guys! Another lovely ride, and many more to come, I hope!

Charles Andrews
SoCal