Originally Posted by
masi61
Well because my black GC is a size "61" I believe my Cinelli stem is only a 9cm one (the frame is too big for me technically). I had the Cinelli #66 deep drop bars help me go lower. It has been a few years since I rode this bike - it is well preserved hidden away beneath my basement stairs. The MASI decal on the downtube is devoid of the "Gran Criterium" or flags but I know for a fact that it is a genuine California Masi and not a Nuovo Strada.
from somewhere in late 1977 to 1979 sometime was the "no flags" period. The Breaking Away bikes were also so decorated.
Most had only masi, a bit low on the tube to the horizon and most often in white, chainstay lettering fill colored varied too. The movie bikes had blue fill on the chainstays... with orange/red? odd choice.
My hunch was that they were using up what they had on hand and possibly saving partially "spoiled" sheets.
Lean times back then. The viability of the venture was on the bubble. A few received sections of tubing cut on an angle as top tube rear brake cable guides.
I had a Black GC from Carlsbad, I specified "no flags", and a number of other off menu changes. There were only two all Black bikes I knew of before 1977.
Then, it was a quiet option and not that common.
In late 1976 the new official color was California Burgundy. Thank Gian Simonetti for that one, and he took the color choice with him when he helped start Medici.
A good number of the "contract" built bikes, by Eisentraut or Lippy were in Burgundy.