Classic & Vintage - help identify a masi?

i just got a masi frame, and i can't find anything about it on the web, so i thought i'd ask you folks for help.

here's what i was told about it;
it's a custom-built track frame from sometime on the 80's (it's got the name 'johnnie abreu' painted on the top tube).

here's what i know about the frame;
it's got track ends, not dropouts,
it's drilled for brakes (drilling happened before it was painted),
the decals say 'masi gran corsa',
the bb shell is stamped as follows -- 52ML25 on one side, and 15T4 94506 R on the other
the bb shell is solid, no cut-outs

anyone got any ideas? i've looked on google, google-groups, the bates-lee site and come up with nothing so far.

(apologies if this is the wrong forum, but it seemed a little more appropriate to post here than in fixed-gear, and i didn't want to cross-post).

Have you thought about getting in touch directly with Masi?

http://www.masibikes.com/contact.html

Most builders are pretty happy to help ID their children and learn of their new whereabouts and pursuits.

Oh, and gorgeous ride.

Have you thought about getting in touch directly with Masi?

http://www.masibikes.com/contact.html

Most builders are pretty happy to help ID their children and learn of their new whereabouts and pursuits.

Oh, and gorgeous ride.That's the "new " Masi No connection to the old one.

so does the fact that the bb shell has no cut-out mean it's a 'new' masi?

so does the fact that the bb shell has no cut-out mean it's a 'new' masi?No... The US masi name was sold. The new Masi have been made in the orient for the past several years, with the exception of possibly a few frames being made in Italy, but not by 'Masi'.

I'll go out on a limb here, I sure could use
the Masi Afficionado's from CR to help out.
Usually the M_ stood for Masi, City code
(or argueably the province). The 52 proceeding
the M is frame size.
The Gran Corsa was always an Italian made frame.
Probably SL or SP tubing
Manufactured from 88 thru 97.
I'd suspect yours is a 94 if so could also have oria tubing.
that isn't a Haro/oriental Masi.
Nice bike
Marty

I'll go out on a limb here, I sure could use
the Masi Afficionado's from CR to help out.
Usually the M_ stood for Masi, City code
(or argueably the province). The 52 proceeding
the M is frame size.
The Gran Corsa was always an Italian made frame.
Probably SL or SP tubing
Manufactured from 88 thru 97.
I'd suspect yours is a 94 if so could also have oria tubing.
that isn't a Haro/oriental Masi.
Nice bike
MartyI thinks the M_ references the early US made stuff as in Masi Carlsbad.I have a genuine Italian Masi with no M_ code, as well as 2 later USA made with no M_ codes.

I thought the cali masi's had MC (masi Carlsbad? Masi California)
I do know that there are an endless amount of Masi posts on
the CR list (probably more than any other marque).

Marty

I thought the cali masi's had MC (masi Carlsbad? Masi California)
I do know that there are an endless amount of Masi posts on
the CR list (probably more than any other marque).

Marty
I think that's what I said.

you guys rock!


maybe i'll take this over to cr as well.

thanks

Sydney
Brian Baylis (who built Carlsbad masi's and knows the lore)
posted this to CR list a while back


M for Milano
V for Verona
B for Bergamo
A for an unknown city at the moment
P for another unknown city
AV I have seen once and appears to be a Verona frame, don't know why
the "A". I think they were proceded by the M for masi (not totally sure tho)
I missed your "_" in the above post, so yeah we said the same thing.
Dolface, if you do post to CR ( instructions HERE (http://www.phred.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous) )
get ready for TONS of responses.

Marty

lotek, thanks for the link to the cr rules.
i read them, searched the archives, and set an email filter, hopefully i'll get some good info.

thanks!

Sydney
Brian Baylis (who built Carlsbad masi's and knows the lore)
posted this to CR list a while back
I think they were proceded by the M for masi (not totally sure tho)
I missed your "_" in the above post, so yeah we said the same thing.
Dolface, if you do post to CR ( instructions HERE (http://www.phred.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous) )
get ready for TONS of responses.

MartyI wouldn't argue with a real expert,but like I said, none of my 3 have an M_ code and Brians list doesn't have an 'L'. I don't have a functional Masi decoder ring.

i just posted to the cr list, so we'll see if they have anything to say. i'll post it here if i find anything out.

i'd like to thank you both for your help

sydney,

That's really interesting.
I'm not by any stretch of the imagination well
versed in the whole masi lore. It would be interesting
to see what the CR list types would make of it.
Nothing stirs interest over there more than a good
masi question (unless its a debate over file marks).
dolface, Read your post, have you received any off list
responses as I haven't seen a response yet.

Marty

Jim Allen wrote on the CR list:

"Built in Italy under license, not by Alberto Masi!

Marketed by Torelli. It is a 52cm, painted red when new in 1994, probably about halfway through the year.
Johnnie Abreu was probably done after the bike was delivered to the customer.

Jim Allen
the CycleSmiths
San Marcos, CA"

Bob Hovey had this to say off-list:

"I see Jim Allen weighed in on the bike and recognized it as one of the Torelli imports. Torelli marketed Masi, Mondonico, and several others (as well as a Torelli "house" brand) in the 90's and Jim painted ALL the Torelli bikes so his word is gold. Torelli dealt mainly with two subcontractors, Billato and Mondonico, so the odds are your bike is one or the other.

I'm not sure if this will be the clincher, but I'm pretty sure most of the Mondonico bikes used the pinned method of construction (holes were drilled thru the lug and tube and a nail driven in to hold everthing together during brazing, then the nails were cut off and filed smooth). If you stick your finger inside the bottom bracket and feel up inside the seat tube and down tube, you may find the pins... that might nail it as a Mondonico, if you'll pardon the pun. I have a '93 Gran Corsa that was built by Billato and I don't remember it having pins last time I had the BB apart.

I'm still wondering if this bike was ordered in plain red paint and the decals applied by the customer or bike shop... like I said before, the Gran Corsa was not a very prestigious bike and it seems odd that those decals would end up on a custom track bike. And that they'd be applied so crookedly.

BTW, Masi downtube decals were usually done in a single strip... "Masi" plus the model "Gran Criterium" "Nuova Strada", "Gran Corsa"... But when Masi built a track bike, the practice was to cut off the model part of the decal and just apply the "Masi" (see attached pic). Very rarely, someone would modify a Gran Criterium decal by razoring out the "Gran Criterium" part and using transfer letters to write "Pista" in the open space (see other pic). I've only seen this on one bike tho.


Best wishes,
Bob"

i checked for pins, and couldn't find any, so it looks like it was built by Billato.
my next quest will be to see if i can find out what it's made of.

I have a Torelli cyclocross of the same vintage. When I first saw the photos of the Masi I was struck by the fact that the paint was EXACTLY the same color as mine. My BB stamp also corisponds to the Masi. Mine is 62 ML 25. The tubing is ORIA. Perhaps yours is as well. I hope this helps.

all right! that helps a bunch.
thank you very much.