Mike (and others), Please allow me to respectfully disagree. I've looked really hard at eRitchie's bike, at Cirque and in Sachs's studio. It does speak to me, and I'm not even a Masi-oso. (Masi-ac?) Richard Sachs carries an almost self-mocking motto, "Imperfection is perfection." Any production bike can be improved, and that's what Richard and Joe Bell have done: they have perfected a Masi to contemporary standards. To what a Masi would have been if they were competing with the best contemporary builders today. It was a labor of love, and it shows.
Looking for Richard's email address, I found this post I wrote in November 2004:
"And then, there are restorations like e-Ritchie's Masis, which shows awesome attention to detail, to getting the bike back to in-the-box condition. A true just-out-of-the-box is either a lucky find, or a triumph of the wallet. Ritchie's class of restoration is the result of hard work, patience, time, and a not inconsequential commitment to spending."
In this sense, this Masi is a creature of its own kind. Sort of hybrid sired by Sachs out of Masi. To me, it's not too much of a stretch to group it with Brian Bayliss's incredible reproduction track bike that he brought to Cirque one year. I can't remember the brand, but it was just perfect. Sure, that was a bigger job than the Masi restoration, but there is the same passion and love in both.
Please, folks, I'm a contrarian, but I still prefer embers to flames.
harvey sachs mcLean va.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mike Kone in Boulder CO wrote: While some folks including myself could justify the original high price to a point (need excercise by a major player so to speak) - the reality is that the bike is still a restored bike. Not that that is always bad, but original bikes of the period are out there. Maybe its just me, but when I've seen it the bike never really spoke to me - the bike just didn't have the original feel or smell to it so to speak. And second time around, after thinking about it, I bet folks realized it too.