[CR]ah, masis (was re: being played by seller etc)

(Example: Production Builders:LeJeune)

From: "Charles Andrews" <chasds@mindspring.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:19:59 -0700
Subject: [CR]ah, masis (was re: being played by seller etc)

Charles N. wrote:

When seller had no price listed I send him to Bob Hovey web site http://bhovey.com/Masi/index.html and gave him what knowledge I had. Stating California Masi tend to worth more than Italian built Masi of same era. And that his Masi had rust and perhaps needed rechroming. He asked Bob about what is was worth. And the rest is history. I feel frame

and fork worth to me about $500 maximum has I would repaint and rechrome. So blame me but I was only trying to help seller understand what he had and how to determine its value. Charles Nighbor Walnut Creek, CA

!!!!!!!!!!!

A) at 55-57cm, that Masi on Craigslist, as-is, was worth north of 3K, I would guess. Just a guess though. If it had been presented with original wheels, closer to 4K. These are quite rare, and hard to find in decent condition, like this one is. This looked like a 58cm, so maybe it would go for slightly less, but not necessarily.

B) the conventional wisdom is that early italian GCs are worth *more* than the Carlsbad bikes. Not less. As for overall cosmetic quality, the italian bikes were sometimes sloppy, but not usually. I've seen some very nice ones. I have two of that vintage, and both are *very* tidy.

I think the Carlsbad frames have moved up a lot in the estimation of riders and collectors in the last decade. Now there's probably rough parity in terms of value, between a clean carlsbad pressed-lug frame, and an earlier Italian GC.

Charles Andrews
Los Angeles