satbuilder 

So I was looking for another project, and found one. Now the homework starts.

From what I have been able to gather from Hovey's site and the FB Vintage Masi group, it seems 1971 was a year of a lot of changes with Masi's. Bottom bracket cutouts of several styles, finally settling on the M.

It also appears decals changed during that year as well.

This frame had been crashed and is in need of repairs. The previous owner had purchased it in that condition, where it was stripped of its parts and used on another Masi of similar age. It then hung in his shop for the next 25 years, until I picked it up a couple weeks ago off the auction block.

A couple things I am noticing about the frame. First, is the presence of the brazed on shifter bosses and bottle bosses. I have been told both were options, but not standard equipment. This seems to be the case with most of the other bikes I have of similar age. Both shifter and bottle bosses didn't seem to show up with regularity until around 1972/3.

Second thing is the decals on the head tube and seat tube. The small figures of the dragon and fleur de lis are outlined in white, which, according to Hovey's site, didn't exist until 1973.

So I'm reaching out to some of the people with greater Masi knowledge than I possess, and asking for your input.

Thanks,

Kurt

3alarmer 

.
...what sort of "repair" do you envision ? Wrinkles like that in the top and down tube might pull out relatively OK, but they might just as easily not. Fork looks sort of, kind of, OK in your photos, but you should get someone to check it with an alignment gauge. I have one Italian made Masi and two of the California made ones. I haven't the knowledge to answer your other questions. But I'm not sure I'd pay to have both those tubes replaced. Sounds like a lot of work for a frame repair.

ctak

That's a real bummer about the front end - hope the auction price didn't set you back much

repechage

There were two bidders who were very interested, that’s all it takes.
repainted of course, a ‘71 might have had the nib for the pump under the seat lug. Masi did that to secure Silca pumps to the frame.
This was before the frame fit style.
strip the paint and look, also look for material used to attach the shift bosses and waterbottle bosses. The waterbottle bosses are probably original. The shift bosses? If they were done with silver definitely not. Same with the waterbottle points, but from my experience as this frame was so close to 1972, probably had them as original.
needs two tubes of course.
I think good chance this had the downtube graphic with the hairline dividers.
seat tube band “box” with the white field.

a worthy project but not cheap to do correctly.
the problem of not many “early” Gran Criteriums around. When one comes up there is demand.

repechage

Note how the brake mount hole is cheated up near the crown. The concave washer for the brake might need to be filed back to clear the headset crown race, early bikes all seem to have this. Fork might really want a short reach caliper to get the pads to match the rim best.
the short reach caliper did not arrive till later 1974, so ahead of its time.

satbuilder 

It's done. Will unbox and look her over this evening. If all looks well, I'll post up photos.

repechage

Exciting. Hopefully All you need and more.

Who did you entrust the metalwork to?

satbuilder 

I planned on sending it back to Milan. Covid really screwed up postal service and shipping rates would have run $400 each way. So that wasn't going to happen. RS told me he's backed up 2-3 years.

Jack Trumbull at Franklin did the work. Jim Allen graciously sent me a paint chip of the tomato soup orange.

repechage

reasonable shipping is gone now.
So far, reads like sound choices.

Unwrap the frame already...

satbuilder 

Battery in the camera was dead, so Iphone photos will have to do for now. The general consensus was the shifter bosses and water bottle bosses on the frame were add-ons sometime during it's previous life. I went with the "no-braze-on" option.

repechage

Appears like a nice job.
the original pump would be before frame fit, but hey its a pump.
The original Masi pumps of the period were painted by silca for some colors, foil stamped after with the Silca crest and MASI below in the Masi font.
The metallic colors got "matching" paint, no clearcoat, the opaque received whte or Yellow plastic unpainted with the foil stamping.

personal taste, but I would have specified the seat tube bands a bit more spread apart and the herald in the middle between.
Bonus points if the herald on the pump matches the displacement of the seat tube.
Most painters seem to compress the seat tube bands, maybe due to later bikes all having seat tube waterbottles. Maybe a sense of relation to the head tube.

Digital paint fidelity is not. And the Masi orange-red and a few other colors Masi offered drifted over time.

The chrome also looks good.

John E

My one-and-only collision with a motor vehicle (classic left cross) resulted in a frame bend-back of my first Capo, not to mention a concussion, a double break of the left clavicle, and a permanent "dueling scar" on my left cheekbone. I had the frame straightened (cold-set on a jig) at the local bike shop, and I was able to ride it for a few more years, until it finally started to rupture around the bottom of the downtube. I gingerly rode it home, removed the components, and gave the frame to a friend who taught auto shop and bicycle repair. It did illustrate nicely how butted tubing works, as does your Masi.

Yours came out great.

satbuilder 

Thanks. If I had to do this all over again, I would probably put the transfers on myself. But I’m not about to change anything now that it’s completed.
The pump is a flat top Silca, it just looks long. Heralds do line up. I may pick up the seat band transfers from Softley or Gus Salmon so everything matches on the seat tube.
I asked Jack to lay the paint down thin, similar to what would have come out of Italy at the time.

repechage

I would leave the pump as is.
I missed the “flat top” pump handle

columbus tubing on the fork

should look very good when built up.
always though an urge to get super pretty parts as fresh paint contrasts with worn components

masi61

What an inspirational project!

Did Jack @ Franklin cycles replace the top and down tube or did he just cold work the tubes back into shape?

Could I ask what he charged?

I also have a Masi Gran Criterium with similar crash damage and I live in Ohio so I might take mine to him too!

jnbrown

I had a Masi very much like that around 1980. I think I paid $300 for the frameset used.
I believe it was built in the Carlsbad, CA factory, yours may as well have also.
It was my main racing bike and my friend had one the same color as yours.
It ended up breaking at the down tube near the shifters after a few years.
I suspect the previous owner who I knew as a local racer may have crashed it.
I ended up taking it to my local shop and just gave it to them and bought a DeRosa to replace it.
I did not like the DeRosa as much it had a harsher ride.
If only I knew what I know now I would have had it repaired and kept it.

Andy_K 

I feel like this thread needs a trigger warning in the title. Opening it up with the expectation of seeing a beautiful Masi and then the first thing you see is that bulge in the downtown is very traumatic.

I'm very glad to see you were able to rescue it. The latest version looks great!

repechage

The Carlsbad bikes were almost all Reynolds. This has Columbus fork blades.
The stampings M60 and style of the bottom bracket socket windows are consistent with Milan built bikes.
The steerer has the date 11 71
Carlsbad did not open till 1973
The Carlsbad bikes were possibly more consistent, with few exceptions, the Italian bikes get more attention.

They handle pretty well. One could argue for a early 70's Colnago as a better race bike, but neither will regulate you to second place, your legs will.

satbuilder 

Jack replaced both tubes, alignment, paint, decals, lug windows, pump, everything. PM me for more details if you're interested.

satbuilder 

Finally got started on building wheels for this project. Martanos.

The truing stand I picked up a couple years ago from the auction block. It had been used as a paint mule and was pretty trashed. I cleaned it up and gave it a coat of paint from some stuff I had leftover from other projects.

repechage

Green monster.

some projects just are reluctant to come together. I had a Masi painted and I waited near a decade to assemble it.
I provided exact instructions on transfer placement. They were followed.


the bike in the foreground is a much later purchase, American Made.

darkmoon

satbuilder

Is your Masi's color same as Breaking Away Masi?

The movie's Masi
↓
https://www.flickr.com/photos/461955...n/photostream/

It looks same to me.

I'm looking forward to completion of your Masi!


Japanese version of BD

repechage

The "Breaking Away" bikes were just after the Masi color pallet was revised.

Digital color fidelity is terrible.
as it was noted that a paint sample came from Jim Allen, it might have been the revised color.

The turquoise was also revised.
the yellow fill of the Masi text was also reworked. My repainted Italian bike has very good quality transfers but the yellow is different. A bit darker.

one can go crazy chasing the correct colors.
on another brand of bike, I bought another whole bicycle to get the correct colors and graphic placement. Not crazy, but determined.

satbuilder 

The color is a close match to the sample Jim Allen had provided me. I'm not planning on making a "Breaking Away" clone, as those bikes came out considerably later. But the colors will be the same. Tomato orange with yellow trim. The frame as received was not original paint, so I had little to go by.

iab

Lovely bike!

I got caught up in one of these money pit projects. Enjoy!