potus

certainly nothing Dave Stoller would be caught dead on.

noisebeam

Ahhh, no arguement intended. I too think of a rear brake as basically useless on fixed, but recently based on some discussion in this forum am thinking its can be useful. My point was not if a rear brake belongs on a fixed gear, but more so that if this Masi is going to include a (fake) brake lever, brazeons, drilled out brake bridge, they really ought to just instead finish the job and include some cheapass break and cable for practicality at the expense of perhaps image. It is unfortunately all about marketing and instead of appealing to one market or another they compromised with a half finished job.
Al

Learn_not2burn

born on a bus

I like the frame. This may be due to my colorblindness.

trons

tt is tiny!1 that thing in the background though... mmmmmmmmmmmmm

prodigal son

I looks like California Masi.

Kerplunk

why all the ragging on this off-the-shelf ride...but everyone loves the schwinn madison?

potus

schwinn died a long, painful death.

masi went from being awesome to crap in about 5 minutes.

and the new madison looks kinda like the old stuff.

visitordesign

they're all dreadful.

TNCLR

New Madison...snoooze. New Masi...snoooze. They might as well be the same bike. Masi...what a shame.

eyefloater

So much for that thought-out top tube design that was on the prototype.

b-ride

masi/haro is trippin with this p.o.s. garbage parts on, basically, a road frame with track ends. i kinda dig the frame though. i'd take everything off it, including the fork and throw on one of my xtra chrome track forks or the nice straight blade aluminum road fork i have.

sers

where do i sign up for my own personal kind of 7005 aluminum? sers series 7005 small batch sexluminum

Ken Cox

I like it.

Did someone describe this bike as having a Bareknuckle frame?

It doesn't look like a Barenuckle to me.

jet sanchEz

This is a Masi

schnee

Is that a Leader? Looks pretty close to me.

schnee

There is with 40 lbs. of panniers and a hilly road.

jet sanchEz

Yeah, the welds around the headtube are gnarly*

*the bad type of gnarly

12XU

Ummm yeah, Masi only exists in name these days. I don't see any of the orignal Masi crowd backing up the brand the same way Eddie, Kozo, and a host of other high-profile entrepreneurs do year after year. It (Masi) was probably one of the more disappointing booths this year from what I saw..

dobber

As trail approaches zero, rider approaches fakenger.

You're nearly there.

recneps

I know and I'm trying so ****ing hard, I just cant believe it.

SingleSpeeDemon

Actually, I'm the only one that loves the Schwinn Madison...I post something about it in every thread, except this one.


OOOOPS! There I go again!

Masiguy

Wow. Well, I can't say I didn't try...

Ok, here's the scoop on both the frame and bike;
The bike is designed to fit the current market, which happens to largely be in the range of riding around town (not on the track) on a bike that is very fun to ride. A lot of roadies will use it as a winter trainer- hence the bottle bosses and the cable guides. Only one brake is supplied because that is how the bulk of people will ride it. The guides are there for those who do not want to scratch the paint with clamp on cable guides or fight with zip ties that constantly slide around. We felt it was a good compromise. The geometries fall in between road and track- long enough to minimize toe overlap and short enough to be quick and handle well if you decide you want to take it on the track. The steel fork rides very well. Hell, I've ridden lots of track bikes over the years (Olympic Trials Qualifier in Match Sprint), so I feel like I can speak from experience and I can honestly say that the frame rides great. Would I do a Match or Keirin on it? Hell no, but if I were looking to try track racing for the first time, I'd consider the bike. Do we pander a bit to fashion? Well, yes. It's my job to sell bikes and salvage the brand. Honestly, I don't want to see the name disappear. If I don't sell bikes, the brand goes away- simple math really. This bike stopped people in their tracks at the show. Sorry if it offends a few folks, but I think it's a darned good bike. A lot of other people thought so too. Recneps- sorry you are offended by my attempts to recreate a genuine brand of great bikes.

The frame is designed for full-on racing. The top tube looks skinny in the side view, but it is wide from the top with a groove that runs the entire length of the top and underside of the tube. I race Keirin and I can tell you that the front end of the bike is as stiff as the back. I ride steel sprint bars and a super stiff stem and there is ZERO noticeable flex or twist. I have a few sponsored riders who will be racing the bike at Nationals this week and they both are very, very happy with the frames- just ask them if you are Nat's. The bottom bracket is very high and the wheelbase is all about fast. I admit that the bias is a bit more towards sprint events, but I've done a few Points races and Scratch races on it and it is still comfortable enough for those too.

Seriously, we've done a lot to try to remain true to the heritage of the brand. Are we still building in Italy? Not anymore. Why? Too expensive and nobody wants to pay those kinds of prices without the frames being personally sanctified by Faliero (and he's dead so that creates a problem). I will confidently stack my bikes up against any other bike on the market. I can honestly say that if you give them a ride, you just might like the bike. Maybe not. I can't pretend that I can make everybody like them, but I can honestly say that they ride as well as any bike out there. Outisde of personal preference for one kind of ride over another, our bikes are as good as any other brand out there. After doing this for 25 years, I can sincerely say that these bikes are as good as any other- regardless of cost or geography.

Rather than get into a lengthy debate here where people call each other names and hurl insults at other folks, if you have something you want to discuss directly with me please send me an email; tjackson (at) masibikes (dot) com. I'm all ears...

Tim Jackson
Brand Manager
Masi Bicycles

barba

It is always nice to see bike companies come onto the forum.

Learn_not2burn

It actually is very cool, finding out why everything is exactly the way it is.

Thanks masiguy.