The green Medici serial#640 is already on your list:D. Yes it is a early one with no slot in the brake housing guide. I do not know the age. The grey one I bought in 95-96 at CycleArt look like it was repaint with a Joe Bell sticker. Will update pics.

I do not think Mike & Gian are the bad guys in the story, nor Brian Baylis that participated as a minor character. William (Bill) Recht was the culprit and he had the capital, without that Custom Bicycles by Confente or Medici may not have happened. Basically everyone else just wanted to make bikes and make a living. Prior to Medici, Wizard had failed, and lack of capital was a big part. One could fault Gian perhaps as he knew of Bill financing both operations and Mario did not. Bill also underestimated Mario's reaction when Mario did learn of the full business plan and most probably did not know that relations between Mario and Gian were more Italian than American.

I find many aspects of the story intriguing. Adds to the mystique of the brand. (I own a California Masi as well. Masi was a big part of the story as well, at least by originally bringing all the parties together.)

Skip

I did swap some components to make a complete "classic bike"

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7...2566ab2c_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/7...cc845a7a_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8172/7...46f205d4_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7...54a6033f_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5332/7...319049a8_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8040/7...8acc153d_b.jpg

Looks sweet! I'm far from a purist, but if you're trying to make it "complete 'classic bike'" I gotta ask/suggest:

1. Why use top tube cable clamps in addition to the braze-on cable housing guides? I've never seen them both used, back in the day or now, should be one or the other, not both: clamps if no braze-ons, no clamps if braze-ons are present.

2. Seatpost looks like a later/cheaper Campy aero post, really should be a non-aero Nuovo Record or Super Record post; Super Record ideally to match the other parts.

3. Chainrings should be Super Record.

4. I can't i.d. the shifters, but they look black? Should be Super Record...

I've owned two Medici Pro Strada, still have one of them. I sold a fairly early one for a friend some years back. I like 'em, I like the back story, I like that Bill Recht was from Jersey.

I don't know of any companies with pure karma. We're all free to apply whatever moral standards we want, of course, but I doubt there's any bike company you can look into that didn't have corporate back-stabbing, financial shenanigans or whatever somewhere in its history.

Velometao,

Were you racing in LA back in the 80s? I purchased mine from Magic Mushroom used after I crashed my Gios in Torrence. Remember the Torrance Classics? They don't care about the Jr riders, so they let a car into the course. I went through the side window along with three others tring to go through the same hole.

jeff

I only crash them back then. I has a black one. it died during a training ride in the late 80s. Miss that bike a lot.

Gee, I am surprise you didn't szy anything about the white pulley (s?).

Speaking of Medici


http://dayton.craigslist.org/bik/3227363420.html

"bottom bracket has been painted" okay, rust addressed.

"seat tube has been cut down" what does he mean by that?

Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, I can only swap around whatever available from other bikes or extra old, used parts I have. Nowaday, It's hard to justify the price of campy supper record. The chainring is Galli and the shifter look like a Simplex.

Uyle,
Those are two seriously beautiful Medici bikes you have. The green is beautiful, never seen a bike in that color before, shade of green but not that one on a bike. Welcome to BF/C&V not too many members from Viet Nam, actually none I can recall. Hope you and Candid stick around and keep us posted on how Candid's bike comes along.

What part of Viet Nam are you from? I have friends that served there in the war, glad our countries can get along now.

Bill

Hello qcpmsame,

I' m too young for that war, maybe your friends had to fight with my father. I am from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam now.

I just started my hobby of cycling with a vintage Australian road bike name Malvern Star.

Ihope I will get a Medici soon

Those bikes would cure many a bad day with a good ride!

Both are very nice bikes! Welcome to the Forum.

I travel to Thailand regularly and am very happy to see that there are a lot of vintage bike collectors there.... It's always great to see the international nature of our hobby..

Cheers,
Bob

Hi Bob,

Here in Vietnam, there are bike collectors as well, there are some clubs. The French vintage bike are common here. The vintage japanese road bikes are also popular. More and more people ride bike now, but they want to buy new carbon MTB or road bike.

Here are some of mine photos about of bike in Vietnam
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2576/3...41386aba_b.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3527/3...19f7bb88_b.jpg

Another one has recently been listed on ebay, I don't like the seller, and it is overpriced for the Medici market... but it is red/white/blue.

Did that guy who was attempting to produce penny fathering bikes in Vietnam ever get into production?

http://www.tallbike.com/tall/bikes.html

Color scheme reminds me of this. Probably mid 90's and not sure where it was made. Wish I had kept it.


http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/z...20Corsa/DS.jpg

Well that war is in the past, I'd like to see Viet Nam, and the places they described to me and the north around Hanoi and Haiphong. Regardless, your bike will be appreciated here, please post pics when you finish it completely. Ride safe in Hanoi and ride lots.

Bill

That Mercier is beautiful....

@repechage: I know nothing about it.

Here is my beauty. Can't wait to see her. Thanks Mr.uyle!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8034/7...0f16696e_b.jpg

Hi Medici folks. This is my first post on Bike Forums, but I have viewed the Forum via searches over the years. I'm here after a desultory search for decals for the Medici I'm working on, and i thought I'd add to the history/lore.

I got my Medici Pro Strada Osso (#63 OS 73) through 4 Seasons Bike shop in Yorba Linda CA, probably in 1992. It was my first real good bike. Steve Abrego(?), the owner of the shop, brought me to the Medici shop in Chino Hills where I met Gian. Steve brought me there so I could pick out my paint color, and probably to show off, too. There were a lot of black and white LA Sheriffs team frames hanging up in the shop. They were being repaired and built up because it was mid-season. I believe that when Chevrolet came on to co-sponsor the team with the Sheriffs that the colors went to green and yellow and another bike sponsor came on.

My bike is made with Tange Prestige OS tubes. I got metallic gray DuPont Imron paint. The top tube has an internal tube for brake cable routing. I got it with Shimano 8 speed STI Ultegra 600 components and it came with Campy Lambda wheels. And I just remembered, they had 20 mm tires mounted on them. What? I was 6' 2'' 190#, pretty close to Gian's size, and it's a big ol' bike. The black 3TTT stem is etched MEDICI. It came with a brazed-on frame pump peg and a plastic Silca frame pump painted the same color as the frame. It also came with two water bottles with the lion logos. Some of that stuff might still be bouncing around somewhere. Not in museum condition. I paid $1,800.00 cash no tax for the bike.

I've been working on the bike lately. But I apologize to the steel is real vintage restoration enthusiasts. I'm just getting it back in good enough shape to serve yet another winter on the CompuTrainer. I moved to a north suburb of Chicago in '95, so I spend many winter hours dripping salty sweat onto that poor Tange top tube. I just wire brushed the body rot off of it and the seat lug. I'll tape those off and spray paint them. The rest of the paint job is still intact, including the starburst Medici decals. I expect to get my 8-speed Ultegra shifters back from a guy who rebuilt them earlier this week for $100.

Maybe I can get it road-worthy enough to ride it with the boys on our recovery Friday retro-jersey ride one of these days.

Also, I saw a guy at Northbrook Velodrome a couple of months ago riding a Medici track bike. He said he bought the frame on line a couple of years ago.

Welcome... I'm just down the road in Evanston. Drop me a note sometime (skip@pobox.com). I can see by your post count that you won't be able to send me a pm. I'm just getting my Pro Strada frame built up. I also saw and older fellow in Highland Park a few months ago with what looked to be a nice one. Bibliobob here has a Gran Turismo. He lives I'm the city.If you post to the Classic Rendezvous list (it's a google group) about your dearth of decals, Mike Howard might chime in. He might be able to help you find some replacements.Skip

I live in Deerfield. Another Medici sighting for the record: I saw a guy riding a Medici on the Alberto's Sunday ride out of Hubbard Woods a long time ago.

My repair progresses: I got the shifters back today, Friday. I had put them in the mail on Monday. Fast turnaround! $103 with 2 new hoods shipping included. That seems pretty like a pretty good deal to me. Assuming that they work.

I wire brushed the body rot spots on the top tube and seat lug, and I'm surprised at the high polish of the tubes, almost to the point of suspecting that some chromed tubes were used. The polished part did get scratched by the wire brush. My knowledge about steel bike tubes is obviously limited. I did see that there were some reports of Tange Presige tubes feeling "whippy" compared to Colombus SL (and SLX?). I think that the slight oversize and ovalizing of this "Prestige OS" tubeset stiffened it up pretty much.

Thanks for the note Skip. I'll resume the search for those decals if I ever end up painting the whole bike. John