Mike Howard wrote: Yes, I worked at Masi with the original crew in 1974 and went back in late 75 until 77. In my opinion our workmanship was better than the Italian Masi's at that time. I may be biased but we all felt we had to be better to prove ourselves to the American market.
I would agree with that with some further additions. From a visible workmanship view, the Carlsbad bikes were more consistent than the Italian predecessors. The viewpoint from the shop from which I worked back then was that, a Carlsbad bike was going to meet expectations, the Italian bike could be great or less than. The Italian bikes were sought after still as they were much more frequently of Columbus tubing. Columbus was rising in cache in the middle 70's, probably due to the assumption that the fork blades were better due to the different cross section. There are a few Carlsbad bikes with Columbus tubing, but not that many, and they were by special order.
As to if the Faliero oversight made a difference, I owned one of the original 25, #9. I took it back for a color change in April 1975, when it came back it was pointed out to me how they had (without direction I might add) re-filed the Bottom bracket shell, and other parts. To do this they must have removed and replaced the cable guides, it was noticeably smoother and the +GF+ was scarcely visible after. It was stated that the initial bikes were in a bit of a rush to be shipped. Images of other original finish first batch bikes confirm this charming attribute.
I do think that things were less in control in the post Carlsbad period, but there were NOS Carlsbad frames still arriving into late 1977, generally in the extreme sizes. We knew that some of the bikes were sub contracted out then, and one arrived without the signature Masi head tube facing at a slight chamfer to "seat" the headset cup and races more closely.
By 1980 things were in back order, this would be the time of Roberson, and a bit later Moulton working concurrently at different workspaces. Almost forgot Tesch. I think the change to the "Cinelli" low profile fork crown often of this period was a step away from the expected Masi look. Visually the examples I have from this period are very clean, and the inside of the bottom bracket shows very well, much better than some Italian examples.
The later Henry James sourced lugs and crowns are even farther away from the core Masi look, but that is an aesthetic call. Not a structural one.
In 1976 we ran an advert in Competitive Cycling, with the headline: Support Your Flag, Buy American, Buy a Masi!
John Jorgensen
today in Torrance CA USA