american psycho 

California bike with original group but replacement brake pads, seat post binder, front derailleur, and stem/bars. Paint and decals are original, chrome is very good.

What should I have paid for this? It's a keeper until at least the end of the summer, as I need a bike to ride while I'm in the US on vacation.

big chainring 

That was a chunk of change in '74. My '74 Moto Le Champion with full Campy and Universal brakes was $425.

aixaix 

Your rear wheel is barely in the drop-outs. You need to reposition it further back.
Sweet bike. I'm pretty sure the cranks are later ones as well.

Kactus

I think anything under a $1000 would be a great deal (at least in my area). Do you mind if I ask what you DID pay for it?

zukahn1 

I also think if you got it for under a $1000 your pretty safe value wise. Me personnally I would pic up a a set of basic 700c clincher wheels with a moderate geared freewheel maybe casstte for the summer and set aside keep the nice tubular/sewup vintage race wheels with corncob which aren't really suited for daily riding. Which will likely be cheaper than buying a nice set of appriate tubbies for the current rims.

repechage

I would check the chain line, looks like bad chainsuck scratches or worse behind the inner ring.
Later cranks and probably narrower early spindle, so 2 mm off to the inside.
Later front derailleur, replacement pads and holders (that is the biggie) wrong saddle, wrong hoods, later bars.
In the plus side, original paint, but tired. Earlier frame, before investment cast lugs.
Within the first 100 built. 66 + 25 = 91
Also, possibly original wheels. Maybe original freewheel, (Should be Everest) Martano rims, 4x lacing.
I bought one in a similar overall state, early bike, similar size… just under $2k total landed.

These do not come up very often.

zazenzach

lol. a moto le champ isnt even on the same playing field as a masi gran crit. the masi easily commands twice the resale value

big chainring 

Just commenting on the original price of the bike,(picture of sales receipt). $300 more than what I paid for a Campagnolo equipped bike. And for $300 you could buy a Peugeot PX-10, Raleigh RRA, Gitane TDF etc.

For a bit more perspective - Around 1974 a Gal Mozzi frame was around $250. A Eisentraut Limited $220. $200 got you plenty of really good bike frames. So $730 was about as much as you could spend on a bike at that time. I knew a lot of guys with Masi's and really didn't think that much of them(the bike). They were sort of a "common" racing bike then. So in that respect my view of them is a little skewed.

zazenzach

ah ok, fair enough.

that really is a crazy descrepency in pricing. i think id rather take a px-10 and a gitane tdf over a single a masi.

repechage

1974 was an interesting year. We may forget now but there was pretty rapid inflation. When Masi built in California was first introduced the initial price was $575. in late 1973, then $595, then 626, then 675, then 690, finally $725 all in 1974. A Bob Jackson Medena would start at $195. and by the end of the year was at $235. with a no name headset. A friend bought a BMW 2002 two years later sold it for what he paid for it.
There was rapid inflation earlier especially on bikes, just before wage and price controls (remember those?), there was a special extra 10% import duty on imported products. Since bikes were mostly imported, even Schwinn used quite a bit of imported parts, prices shot up. As a kid I was dismayed that bikes that were one week at the local bike shop, $X were now $X+10%. An interesting lesson in macroeconomics I got at the age of 10.

zukahn1 

Interesting point between the bike boom and the inflation on foriegn products mid level road bikes close to doubled in price around this time.

big chainring 

Yeah I do remember some of that. In Chicago we had Morrie Mages Sports Store. They sold a lot of PX-10's. And always had the lowest prices. They had a weekly ad in the Sunday newspaper so it was easy to track the prices. The price rose from like $195 to 225 to $275 over the course of a year.

The main reason I got the Motobecane was it was about the lowest price Campy equipped bike at the time at $425. The Raleigh International was $475. Funny how that $50 difference was huge at the time.

zukahn1 

At the peak of the price spike a basic 71 px-10 used purchesed for around $180 could sell for $400 used.

american psycho 

Well I paid 550 + 110 shipping to a USA address.

It was on flea-bay for all of 26 minutes.

Kactus

WOW! I can't believe it lasted that long.

Last ride 76 

That was a "good" deal.
Regards, Eric