jimmuller 

Today I got my Masi Grand Criterium frame back from the painter, Toby at Hottubes.com. Some months ago I started a thread entitled A friend gave me a bike. I can now continue that story and provide pics and details!

First, some pics:













In case you can't tell from the pics, it is not just red, but RED. FTWelder has suggested I try learning to paint, but there is no way I could have done this. When we first visited Hottubes Toby had a guest, Joe Massaro, there to study frame building. Joe owns two Masis and happened to have his yellow '75 at the shop. So it became the model for this paint/decal job. They even had the decals because Joe had planned to paint his own but had been talked out of it.

This bike is a curious specimen. It was found abandoned in a Harvard dorm about 35 years ago. It has no serial number, so it would have been an employee's build, a practice stopped in mid-77. The investment-cast lugs indicate late '75 or later, and that's the best we can do for dating it. It had been abused, the steerer tube threads damaged, about 2/3rds of the frame rattle-canned white over the original black. When Toby stripped the paint he found a dent in the top tube which had been filled in, probably why it had been painted. One good thing about having a bike builder paint it is he could fix it, push out the dent and fill in the small ripple remaining.

The guy who found it, a Harvard employee and bike enthusiast clearing out the dorms, was allowed to claim whatever was left behind. He died about five years ago and his widow gave it to a friend of mine for helping her clean up all his bike junk and sell a restored Frejus. He kept the frame for a few years then gave it to me. He was originally afraid that it might be a truly valuable frame (he has his own Italian Masi) but this turns out to be (ahem) rather less. The gift included a box of parts, but on further inspection they turn out to be somewhat random. For example, the Cinelli bar and stem carried Suntour bar-end shifters and DuraAce brakes. DA brakes were in the parts collection. The bar clamp size is 26.0 which Cinelli went to in 1998, but the steerer tube fixing bolt is a 7mm hex which Cinelli used up to 1972. The Campy derailleurs were mismatched. The saddle was Unicanitor but the seatpost was a Kalloy 26.6mm. It had no wheels.

I had test-ridden it enough to know that it could be a great bike, which is how it ended up looking like this. The build will use as many Campy NR components as I can manage, but probably Cyclone GT derailleurs so I can run a large freewheel. Campy hubs originally destined for my Bianchi and a NR headset came from BF member bikemore. Pastor Bob graciously donated a set of Campy GS brakes. I may try to replace the Cinelli stem because it is a bit long (I think). The NR crank came with the parts.

Right now it is resting on my livingroom rug. In a day or so I can start the build. First I have to recover from all the excitement!

jimmuller 

Here is what it looked like before the red paint.



















I think the red is an improvement! Oh, and the black MA40s will probably be replaced with Open Pros. And I'm sold on 32-spoke wheels!

bibliobob

Sexy! Give us more photos as you go...

eippo1

I love the repaint. Can't go wrong with red w yellow highlights.

Ed in Toronto

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸Beautiful Repaint¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

auchencrow

Great looking paint job Jim. Now the fun begins - big decisions on the build !

JesusBananas

Wow, that paint job made an incredible difference. Very cool!

repechage

Way back I was surprised that Masi did not have a "Ferrari Rosso Red", "Mars Red" or very similar. Red was just so... Italian Speed vehicle.
This looks handsome, appears to be a 55 or 56 Masi measure....
Go Cyclone if you must but I would go Campagnolo front changer and shifters...

Being a patriot, I would have found the Masi America seat tube bands... but I think Yellow Jersey is the only place that has them and you only get ONE as part of the $95. set! Ouch.
You did however use the heralds without Milano, so props there.

Unstamped Masi frames are few and far between. What is the length of the top tube center to center?

flash2070

That is just a beauty! I would definitely leave the painting to the professionals it is their "gift". Congratulations on your lovely bike!

Flash

jimmuller 

We thought about Ferrari Red, which is actually similar to this but with a bit of black added. Toby and Joe both though t pure red would look better. (That pure-red paint is expensive, $125.00/pint!)

I'm looking. My friend Rich has offered me a set of Campy levers but it will probably be 10 years before he finds them in his collection of stuff. The long cages made by Henry III might make a NR possible. Trouble is, ebay isn't too kind for those items.

Thanks. The non-Milano HT decal was my request. I don't recall whether the decal set they had had the red/white/blue ST bands. Joe M. is a stickler for details (it was his suggestion that the inside edges of the BB cutout "M" should be yellow). Since his '75 was the model for this I would have thought they'd use them if they could. So maybe they didn't have them. I wasn't planning to a restoration originally, just get a nice paint job.

Ah, about 21 3/4in, I believe, which makes it one click shorter than all my other bikes (and the same size as Joe's '75).

mapleleafs-13 

is that the bike's natural habitat, grazing in the green grass all day?

BlueDevil63 

Fantastic paint job on a fantastic frame. Can't wait to see the end result.

photogravity

Jim, that frame is going to make one sexy beast atmo! So, I take it you're going to rock a derailleur gear setup, eh?

jimmuller 

It's being raised as a free-range, organic bike.

pastorbobnlnh 

Jim, it is simply stunning. Can't wait to see it and lay hands on it after it is built. I was able to see the Masi Kurt has in Miami last week. They are stunning. I'm certain your Masi will be every bit its equal.

rootboy 

Very handsome. And, those horrendous "before" pics make the new skin on that frame shine all the more. Great save from an ignominious fate.

repechage

Red toner IS expensive.

I do not think SSInk is making the Masi America seat bands. I have not seen others repro them either. The World Championship bands are interesting, during the Carlsbad period, the "rectangle" went to the left and the joint for the transfer was behind the seat tube. Later in the San Marcos period, they changed it to place the rectangle forward as your frame has, joint at the back. Interestingly the Masi America rectangle faced forward on both types of those transfers.

Probably a Masi measure 56 cm then.

jimmuller 

Many times I have studied all the articles and pics on Bob Hovey's wonderful Masi website and the other sites he references. As near as I can tell there was some variation about the decal placement so I'm not too worried about it. Anyway, when we picked the frame up Toby told us that when they installed decals they used Joe Massaro's '75 as a model for exact position. He had it with him in the shop (and showed it to us when we first visited to drop off the frame). In some cases it meant putting the decals in slightly different places from where Toby would have chosen. I have not gone back to compare them since.

BTW, Joe M's bike is #0143 in Bob Hovey's American Masi registry, and is size 56. Joe's other bike, which he had not brought with him, is #B8311.

ColonelJLloyd 

That's going to be really nice. The wheels will look really sharp on the red frame. Spring for nice tires!

repechage

There was quite a bit of variation on the seat tube band placement, in general the upper band was placed to dodge the Silca pump handle flange.

https://www.bhovey.com/Masi/MasiBits/STPic.htm

Unfortunately, there are a number of close up shots that do not help set the placement in relation to the front or side of the bike. There are some notes below that are more recent than the last time I looked, and do help explain things. If the painter had the later transfers where the band joint suggests the rectangle faces forward, that is the logical thing to do.

jimmuller 

Which rims you talkin' about, those almost-black MA40s or Open Pros? I'm thinking the rims should be silver, but black would stand out boldly. Not sure that's the right thing. They'd match black cabling and bar tape nicely.

As for tires, I'm thinking non-TG Paselas, 23mm, but that's only because I've never ventured into the realm of expensive tires before. Whadyu have in mind?

repechage

Silver Rims, Silver Rims, Silver rims.

Polished even better.

Clinchers if you must.

Martano tubulars if your lucky.

I would even go VO rims,, with Vittoria Corsa EVO or whatever they call them today, the marketing names keep changing, but in natural tan sidewalls with black tread. I ride those everyday, not a tubular, but pretty close in ride and handling. And they LOOK right.

ColonelJLloyd 

I think it'll look great with the grey MAVICs. If you go with a VO rim I'd choose the Raid (wider and double eyeleted). If you go with 23mm tires I'd choose the Vittoria Open Corsa EVO SC (skinwall).





If you want something a bit wider, maybe the Grand Bois Cerf.

jimmuller 

I got assembly started today. Any progress is better'n none.



Made one curious discovery. I had picked up a Campy NR BB with symmetric 110mm spindle for my test build. The small chainring clearance was a bit tight though acceptable for my 42T (would be too tight for a 49T though). So as a fallback I had also found a longer (~113mm) spindle. Both spindles are marked 70-SS so I figured they'd be similar, but no. The longer spindle is asymmetric but also has a narrower space between the bearing races. The only way I could use it would be to screw the adjustable cup in so far the lockring would have no purchase. Clearly it was meant for either thinker cups or a BB narrower than the 68mm Italian I have. Anybody need a 113mm spindle? Don't ask me what model it is, other than Campy. I'm just learning to speak Italian. (My mom's relatives would be so proud, if only they cared about bikes.)

I also found what should be a decent pair of rims. V-O and every other place I checked are out of stock on the PBP rim, and I'd rather have something narrower than the Raid. I wandered over to Harris Cyclery for other purposes and since they carry other V-O products I asked about the rims. Noop, all out. However one of their mechanics had just built up his first wheels with their last set and had to show them to me. Nice wheels, but I wasn't overly impressed with the weld joints. (I'm still having trouble with a joint on a 27" Sun rim, so maybe I'm overly sensitive.) However they pulled out another pair of rims, Torelli Masters, 32 spokes, stainless steel double eyelet. Wow! Not polished but looking very nice and nicely finished too. All four weld surface were clean and flush. Nice Red/white/green "Made in Italy", "Made for Torelli by Ambrosio" labels. Plus the pair cost what a single Open Pro would have cost. (Go ahead, tell me they are junk. I'll believe you only if they show me you are right.) But first, I'm gonna' build me some wheels!

repechage

The 70-SS spindle with the narrow bearing land spacing is for a Nuovo Record BB and cups, they have thick walls and reverse thread rifleing for debris removal. the other 70-SS would be for a Gran sport or other subordinate level bottom bracket, using thin cups.

Depending on the cranks you wish a 113 or a 115 overall width spindle would be the ticket, it depends on the year of the Campagnolo Record cranks, (often known as Nuovo Record) the whole naming thing can get arcane and many do not know what is correct. Date codes on the back of the crank arm or lack thereof help place the design.