Masi Dream Bike Build

Carbon sculpture! , Record mech fitted and adjusted . New Campag cables naturally , rear set up is straight forward , but the front is a lot different than previous 'ratchet' versions , a visit to Campag's website's tech section a must to get this right. As a bit of an experiment, instead of using traditional alloy cable crimps , I've slipped on a bit of clear heat shrink. Campag Record chain, but connected with a KMC quicklink, as I find them much easier to use ( and I don't have a Campag 11 speed tool either!)

Expensive Ti bottle cages ?, nope , nice springy stainless steel wire cages that last and don't drop bottles .
Anyway , hold tight , gratuitous 'readers wives' pics coming soon!

Anyway , hold tight , gratuitous 'readers wives' pics coming soon

I am excite!

clear heat shrink

That's a brilliant idea, lemme know how it holds up

You tease, looking forward to the drive-side money shot.

Look like Nitto R80s... but aren't branded(?)
What are they? look classy

Yep , Nitto clones http://todayscyclist.co.uk/sprint-cage.html

Good find! Looking forward to seeing the photos of this build

don't hold out on us - pictures please!

Two months ago someone already asked for a driveside shot... you tease!

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A pair of Exustar carbon peddles and it's finished!
A very pleasing 7.74kg at the official weigh in , that's a tad over 17 pounds , now if this was weightwankies , I'd sling in a carbon seatpost to make it a 16 pound bike. Anyway the important weight , the bits you actually have to push round , revolving weight, are purposely very light.
Gave it a quick test ride , and it feels really very, very special (and I test ride a lot of bikes), a more grueling test is immanent , good or bad, I will report back.
Now you may remember , way back at the dawn of time when I started this project , the idea was to build my dream bike , a serious bit of kit , for under £1500 , well I'm happy to say mission accomplished , with enough over to take the Mrs out for dinner , which is only fair as she took most of the photo's (the good ones , not the dodgy iphone one's!).
For what it's worth , I couldn't be happier , it looks even more stunning in the flesh than the picture's , genuinely stoked with the way it's turned out , can't wait to do it justice.

That's bloody good - glad you're so happy with it. Thread has been a great read too!

Lovely build, well done.

Superb

10/10, beautiful bike and a lovely read indeed. Love your craftmanship!

Great build and read. Thanks for sharing and enjoy!

Really like it too! Particularly the way the blackness of the build makes the colors stand out so much!

Well done.

Even better than I expected! Must be a lovely ride.

So nice, thanks for the pics :)

round of applause

Thanks for your interest and comments , this is my 3rd build on the forum , they're all slightly left field, just to keep things interesting (https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/220415/ ,https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/241503/ if your curious) always great to share my endeavors , after all this is the worlds most friendlyist forum , what could possibly go wrong?

I've been itching to get out on the Masi , and finally managed to get out for 2 hours this afternoon , for a 'shake down' ride , hardly a stern test , but reasonably objective as it's along roads I've ridden on a thousand times on various machines . I have a view if a bike looks right , it usually rides right , and the Masi's set up looks absolutely perfect , so it's really no surprise that it feels spot on all most immediately . A few miles warm up, and a quick stop for some tweaks. Firstly , the pedal tension springs need a bit more tension , next the brakes need more balancing , er what?, well with a Dual pivot brake on the front and a mono at the rear , both brakes have different cable pulls , to get both brakes to pull equally , you need the pads closer to the rims on the front brake than the back , get this right and you're rewarded with brakes with the best feel and modulation in the business .Right, back on the bike and we hit the first test , Brockley Hill , North of Edgware, about 1 K long , steady climb with a nasty 12% kicker ramp at the top. Being usually the first climb of the day , it's never a pleasant experience , especially when riding into a head wind like today , but off we go, hitting the ramp on the 39x21, with a slick out of the saddle gear change onto the 23 sprocket we're over the top , done, and into the lanes of Hertfordshire.
Into the 2nd hour , riding roads I know so well , it's becoming very clear that the Masi is a thoroughbred , not a modern aggressive stiff racer, an Italian thoroughbred, soaking up the bumps like no other bike I've ridden , perfectly neutral, safe handling , I'm loving it , getting dangerously over stimulated, I attack the last hill of the day , Black Lion hill up to Shenley , on the big ring, WTF , I haven't done this since my racing days nearly 30 years a go ,sprinting over the top on a 53x20 , magic stuff , with a Schwalbe one tubeless tyres at 120psi making that lovely 'swooshing noise' on the tarmac , just like silk tubs.
OK, time to calm down a bit! with some proper evaluation , right the wheels, they flex , not badly but more than my self built Ambrosio wheels , but they are so light and spin up so quickly!
The new Campag SR gears , work like the old ones , nice solid audible click followed by a solid clunk as the gears engage, can't say I noticed much difference at the rear , but the front is quicker and cleverly designed to eliminate the chain dropping of the inner ring.
Anyway , not the toughest of test , but enough to know I haven't wasted my time , it's not a dog for sure , if anything it rides better than my Cinelli , which trust me, is praise indeed.

Great write up and shout out to Black Lion Hill, used to bomb down it in my youth trying to break 30mph on the speed camera. Glad the bike seems to be living up to everything you imagined 👍

It is of course not a comparison at all, and I am no racer at all and haven't been in the bike business long, just a few years, but I get exactly what you meant ! I get the same feelings (albeit at surely a lower...intensity) when riding my Leader AX compared to, say, the Somec.

Lovely write up, lovely looking bike and, now we know, a very nice machine indeed!