... I actually put brifters on a bike. Got a complete Campy nine speed group, a mix of Veloce and Mirage, very cheap, and fortunately for me I had a beater frame lying around that some chucklehead had spread to 130, so viola. Rode it around to yard sales today and found some good vintage LPs and VHS, so perhaps I haven't angered the gods to much. I suppose it's the clunky frame I put it on, instead of something really valuable, that has kept me from being struck by lightning and destroyed.

Just as long as the Holy Church of Masi worshippers don't find you, you're ok.

Very nice, dont feel bad about it.. brifters are fun,

I wish I had a 'beater' Masi frame laying round.... the only tall beater I have so far is my 67cm Raleigh, that wouldnt be so bad (nothing on it is original anymore... TA cranks GB Bars and Guidonnet levers) but its been crashed a couple times too many and I cannot let go of the handlebars for fear of death hehe... i still love it though

,by the way how tall is that? it looks over the std. biggest size

Whew! Is that all? I thought you'd gotten a recumbent. :-)

Truth be told, I like the brifters on my much more modern Mercier. I still regularly ride my ancient A/D with all old style Dura ace with the down tube shifters, and I have a Bianchi Campione with Campy d/t as well. But, I like the brifters. I have no complaints with them, although I'd never put them on any of my classic bikes.

Those were 130 mm wide from the factory.
Points for Italian.

The fork don't look right to me though, the upper legs don't appear aligned with the steerer axis.

+1 Looks like it's had a front end collision with a curb..

He already admitted it was a "beater" frame . . .

ah, quit dabbling. Go all da way.

Get a carbon fiber fork to replace that.

Nice job converting that Masi. Yes, the force is strong with those that turn to the dark side. Besides, brifters are the best way to keep up with a 20MPH pace line. 1986 Nishiki Prestige converted to the dark side, literally with these wheels.

Nothing ´dark side´about STI shifters - although I´ve gone the other way this winter for my beater bike, a very nice trash-find Méral, and am going to use DT shifters.

I have STI, Gripshift on aerobars, DT shifters on various bikes, and enjoy them all.

I find the most enjoyment comes when I have sucessfully got the derailleurs aligned and tensioned up so the shifting is perfect. My novice wrenching skills are getting a bit better.

I think the "beater frame" is written with a slight wink, eh?

I don't think the fork is bent, the wheel is turned slightly to the R, look at the slight shadowing where it's back under the downtube.

Perfect example of his ability to put together a cool bike, and what denim does to saddles.

yes, it could be undamaged. Still needs a CF fork to keep the controversy level high.

Hey, you made me paranoid. I went out for a morning ride, and stopped at a coffee shop about fifteen miles from home, checked this thread. Went out and looked at the bike, couldn't decide one way or another, so I rode home, worrying the entire way. Actually, I only worried until I noticed the nice yellow flowers in bloom by the roadside, and then I forgot about it. Ah, the hidden blessings of ADD.

Once home, I pulled out a straight edge and the candlesticks. The fork looks just about perfectly aligned with the headtube, if not perfect (hey, it's not the most exact alignment check), and the ends are perfectly aligned. No cracking in the paint in the usual area indicating front end damage, no buckling in the frame tubes by the head tube. Steers just fine. No binding in the headset. The bike has some issues-- not the least of which is it is in my hands and who knows what I'll do to it next-- but the fork doesn't appear to be one of them. I'd love to have a frame table to thoroughly check alignment, however, so if you could at first opportunity buy one and send it to me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Seriously, this build was cheap. The whole thing-- frame, group, etc, cost me in the 225-250 range (if you figure my labour as being worth $0.00/hour, that is, and that might be a fair estimation) so I'm fine. I bought the frame cheap for fun, partly to tweak Syke off, and partly so I can later rebuild with fenders, a rack, upright bars, and a big comfy seat and give the pics to Syke to post on the CR list. As we all know, the best part of this silly hobby is the fun part.

It's a 63, measuring center to center, 64 center to top.

By a miracle, I have a carbon fork that'll fit in the parts pile-- NOS Nashbar, which is probably about the best addition possible. I'll stick it on with the rack, fenders, upright bar, and comfy seat.

Well, I could send you a chrome unicrown fork, uncut, to really muck it up....

Seriously, though, sorry you went to all that trouble on the fork alignment.

I swear I saw some crookedness in the rear stays, seat tube, and maybe even the RD hangar.

You missed the spokes. Some of them have a pretty definitely wrong slant. Which means that although the wheels may seem true it's only through wildly overtightening some spokes. A sure recipe for disaster.