New Masi purchase for father's day.
 

MC 55 412 is on the bottom bracket. Not sure if this is, in fact, "trash or treasure", as it is a bit rough. The chrome is pretty good but the decals and paint show signs of age and wear for sure. I hope the pictures can tell the story. I picked this up at a local coffee/cycling shop, that sells some consignments from time to time and I was told that the owner was a woman who, I'm thinking was a racer back in the day. The stem has to go, as it is a very very short specialized thing. I'm thinking of a 110 cinelli-age appropriate stem to take it's place, and of course the bar tape will go as well. Re-paint??? Could be ...seems that, if it has been repainted, it would have been a very early one...I am hoping it is original paint but? No dents and very minor rust. The rims also, have been "modernized" to clinchers, but, I can live with those for sure. The rear campy der. is stamped 1971 which seems a bit odd as I thought this was a bit later machine than that.

It's a Masi. No matter what the paint and decals look like it's a treasure!

What makes you think it's a repaint?

Nice score! I vote "treasure."

If beautiful Masi's are now being classified as trash, I'm really in trouble.

Very Nice

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...6&d=1434931057

Well, the decals look like they have a clear coat over them that seems to be "crackling" or something due to age, but other Masi's I've seen from that time period don't seem to have that problem, so I was thinking maybe they were put on after a repaint. I suppose there are alot of other reasons the decals could look like that..but I'm not sure what. The paint looks pretty well done as it does have the orange/red accents on the "M" cutout on the bb and in the cut outs.

nice pick up. I like the color.

That's a beauty. I wonder if there are any provenance records to show the MC on the BB shell means it was brazed by Mario. Regardless, it's a beaut.

Someone was selling an NOS cinelli 1A in the marketplace recently. Not sure if it's still around.

Well that was interesting, my post just evaporated.

Nice purchase as always Joe.
Probable repaint.
Red accents, signature on the wrong side for the time, no chainstay transfers, odd placement of Masi behind the lower head lug, color looks a bit off in terms of depth, this blue appears better than the factory darker blue that was a bit dead.
I hope that curious Masi transfer it's not hiding frame damage.
Knowing what we know of Joe, it probably can get a proper respray and still be a wise purchase.

Thatsa nica bycicle! Keep it as is don't change anything what a beaut!:thumb:

Thanks very much. No, no frame damage under that masi decal on the top tube as far as I can tell. I'm thinking that the re paint had to be pretty old as the paint and decals look worn...maybe done in the early 80's even. That is funny that the person that repainted it, didn't know the correct placement of the signature decal...don't think either Joe Bell or cycle art would have done something like that. I think I will keep it like it is and not get it repainted, even though, there are some pretty good painters around here in California for sure. Just out of curiosity however...IF I did decide to get a repaint, who would be the best for the money? Ed Litton maybe? or send it to cycle art since Cunningham is the guy that might have been the original painter of this bike back in the seventies. Joe Bell is a bit out of my league as far as money goes.

I think Bob Hovey's site has pretty much put that one to bed. See this for more info

Best bang for the buck is Jack at Franklin Frame. Some of his work below. FWIW the camera did not properly capture the color.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7605/1...59e139db_b.jpgMasi GC 02 by L Travers, on Flickr

I think this one turned out pretty darn nice.
My quibble would be that I just don't like the color of the Masi yellow fill, it was lighter at the time, lighter than a true hue yellow. Later bikes, especially when they made Masi and Gran Criterium the same yellow are closer to this color, which is more "cadmium yellow"
I agree, Joe Bell is not cheap.
Al Wanta in Northern San Diego county.

As to brazing. One reason they ditched the twin plate crown was that no one else could master doing them without too high a scrap rate. The parts are not pinned, so you had to control the heat well to not have regions filled drain out or parts move on you.

I would love/ it just the way it is, patina would let me enjoy it even more......no worries about road rash, ride it hard and put it away wet!
Very nice indeed.
Regards, Ben

I wouldn't paint that bike unless you could somehow confirm that it's not original, and it's bad. It might have even been repainted at MASI. Who knows? It doesn't look bad at all. There could be many reasons it might look a little different than other existing GCs. It would be a shame to wipe away an original paint job. That derailleur date is a perfect example of why you have to be careful jumping to conclusions. Might well be a replacement that came off of an older bike after one was damaged.

Yes, I very may just keep that early paint job the way it is...kind of nice I think. For sure Franklin frame does great work. I would feel better however, if I did get the repaint, I would like to do it fairly close so I would probably go with Al Wanta..that is one painter that I have heard rave reviews about...I didn't remember his name until Repechage mentioned him.

From the serial number and fork, I'd say that's a '74, which would be a grail bike for me. Very nice find. What date/length are the cranks stamped?

I am confident it was not repainted at Masi in California. Two clients of the time did send theirs off for repaint. On one, the hurdle was that it had the original style transfers, but got the current versions with the repaint, at least they put the world champ bands on the seat tube as it was an Italian bike. The finish and transfer placement were spot on. The other bike was refinished in the original yellow. That is when we found out that the yellow took more time to do, so became a special order color only.

About that signature decal being on the wrong side, I recall reading online somewhere that such-and-such somebody (whose name I do not remember) involved with painting Masis used to say that it should be on the right so as to avoid conflicting with the rear brake cable housing on the left. Perhaps that's who painted or repainted it. Or maybe not.

Not sure where you're located, but Wanta is is no longer in Cali. He's now in Florida.

Very nice bike...and am digging the fact that you are leaning against repainting!

Well, that is a bummer. Florida is a lower tax state though...
Thanks.

I found what I thought I remembered
 

From this website (gregfletcher.net):

masi lore, masi frame dates, masi trivia

This page of Masi lore was generously supplied by Brian Baylis, master frame builder* and early employee at Masi Carlsbad.
...
Placement of Faliero signature on California Masis Early CA Masi GC's have the Faliero Masi signature on the top tube at the seat lug. There is a proper side to lovate that decal on as well. We were instructed to place the decal on the left side of the top tube. Many Masis that were painted after Faliero stopped coming to the US periodically have the decal placed on the right side, which is actually more sensible because the brake cable housing goes to the left side to reach the campy brake. I personally place my decal on the right side of the frame, but technically first generation GC's and early CA Masis should have the decal on the left.

Brian Baylis