Cool find! 1989 Masi 3V Pista Joe Starck built
 

Hi! Just wanted to share a recent local find because I think it's pretty special. It's a red Masi 3V pista frame and fork. The BB shell is stamped with a date code 09/01/89 and the name of the framebuilder Joseph Starck. It's 58cm (my size!) and paint is in excellent condition. Photos below.

Does anyone have any additional info they can share about this bike? I looked at Bob Hovey's Masi registry and at a quick glance I did not see any examples with BB Stamps like this. Just curious, thanks!

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Looks promising. He built a sound bike.
there were a few “one offs” that he built.

Joe Starck built all the custom Rivendells (including mine) in the late 90’s / early 2000’s. There’s a great interview with him in Rivendell Reader #12.

Short bio from the interview: He worked at Trek in the late 70’s and early 80’s, where he was one of the head brazers. He figures he brazed about 7,000 frames during his time at Trek. Then he was hired by Dave Tesch to build Masis in SoCal, where he worked for 5 or 6 years, building close to 1,000 Gran Criteriums and Volumetricas. Later he worked for Dave Moulton.

When Rivendell was looking for a new builder, Richard Sachs and Joe Bell recommended they get a hold of Joe Starck, who was working for Bill Hollands at the time. Joe Bell, who as a custom painter gets to see everyone’s work “naked”, described him as “the best unknown framebuilder in the country.”

Hope this helps!

Cool find.

Hope no one at Rivendell minds me doing this, but here ya go:

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Joe has done some fine work, so maybe it's okay to add another bike magazine article where he is featured?
This is from Asphalt magazine, started by some folks that had been at Bicycle Guide. Heck of a magazine! A shame that it didn't survive very long.

Steve in Peoria

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I have a Starck GC.
good bike.
interestingly the geometry is very revamped from the Falerio designs

The elusive Joe Starck. I've got a Joe Starck GC as well repechage. I'm very happy with that one. It seems like the 3V is really where he left his mark at MASI. I recall him talking about a brief foray into bike racing on the track, that ended with him hurting himself. You're really right there in the old neighborhood of MASI. It was not normal to put your name on the bottom of the bike like that. I'd make a modest bet that you have Joe's old bike. Maybe. In the same interview of the track story, he says that he didn't keep any of his old bikes and regrets that. It's a beauty.

Exactly. I was kinda thinking (hoping!?) the same thing. If nobody else out there that we know of has a Masi with Joe's name on the bottom, it does suggest that this was a one off build, possibly for himself or a friend, no? I wish there was a way to ask him, but reading the published interview it sounds like he doesn't want to be bothered with bike stuff anymore.

Thanks all for your helpful input. Those magazine articles are super :)

Pretty sure Joe used a 56cm road bike.
I know of two he built for himself 56.
58 on the track would be going the wrong way.

stamping his name by request or to prove a point, yep.

Wasn’t there some Internet drama with Joe Starck about 15 years ago? He was mean to Dale or some such?

I recall him being on either CR or iBob, and just have hazy memories that he was out of framebuilding and a bit disappointed that he spent so much time in that line of work with so little to show for it. ...although I might be way off.
The only thing that I (probably) remember is Joe asking for a copy of the scanned Asphalt article, which I sent.
Some of this probably sticks with me because he was living in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and I traveled by Sun Prairie when visiting some family members.

Steve in Peoria

Follow up
 

As a follow up to the thread, I sold the bike locally because it wasn't my size. It is actually 56cm, not 58 as advertised when I bought it. The head tube is deceiving. Anyhow, the new owner reached out to tell me that he got in contact with Joe Starck and confirmed that Joe made this bike for himself on the date stamped on the BB. I don't know the buyer well and didn't actually communicate myself with Joe, so take it with a grain of salt. This is the information I have!
thanks all for the helpful info and articles embedded in the thread :)
Steven

Joe lived in Sun Prairie when he worked at Trek, before moving to California, so he had roots there. I seem to recall that he was working on a journalism degree at UW-Madison.