Masi Dream Bike Build

First off , relax everybody this is not going to be one of those' vulgar displays of wealth' type builds , more a mission to build my dream bike for the least wife distressingly cost possible , so expect much hustling and Ebay sniping.
My current no.# bike is a Cinelli Supercorsa , I bought the frame new in 1993 , it's had god knows how many groupsets over the years and is certainly a candidate for the original retro modern bike , it's a proper keeper . But with some impending rides in high mountains of Europe and the fact I didn't treat myself to anything on my 50th birthday , I think it's time to add a lighter bike to the fleet.
I really don't want your typical mamil chariot , in fact what I really want is something like the Cinelli but lighter , my plan;

Frame Steel , from the late 90's when steel frames reached their zenith.So TIG welded oversized superlight tubes , preferably Italian ( bike snob I know). These frames are a little under valued at the moment , finding a good one is likely to be harder than finding the money, which is surprising when you see how much people are prepared to fork out on boutique built steel road frames made in exactly the same fashion

Forks Full Carbon

Groupset Campagnolo Super Record 11 speed mechanical , I know it doesn't work any better than Chorus , but dream bike remember.

Wheels Very light alloy (not deep crabon)

Budget £1500 which seems as likely as being fellated by a unicorn

Right , so a listing on Ebay caught my eye , 'Masi Tig Intergral reputedly built by Pegoretti , Dura-ace groupset immaculate' perfect size for me , Masi and Pegoretti , Italian high score , but it looked horrible, in the admittedly awful pictures, orange into lemon fade ,and the red tyre , saddle and bar tape combo did it no favors , and it was too much anyway , so I left it . Than the price started coming down , so I got the seller to double check the frame measurements , it's perfect, so an
'out of Ebay' deal is done. All the time I'm thinking of getting the frame repainted , right up till I see it in the daylight - I'm genuinely taken aback, it's gorgeous , Ferrari red into Daytona yellow decor finish and absolutely mint. I won't say how much I payed , but I sold everything on the bike I didn't want , leaving me with frame , forks , headset and Ti seatpost, for more than I payed for the whole machine , result so far then.

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I did a lot of nerding up on this frame before splashing the cash , geo , tubing , is it a real 'Pego' etc coming up next

Good find .. Paint looks immaculate in the pics.

Intriguing...subbed.

looking forward to the build, what does the frameset weigh?

Intriguing...subbed.

This

tubing

Genius?

That is certainly different, seat tube badge, nice.

Frame looks wicked! This has all the ingredients to become a great dream bike.

interesting frame, look forward to watching the build!

Really nice. I saw that on ebay a few months ago and probably would've bought it as it seemed liked a good price. Unfortunately it's a size or so too small. Also, looks far better in your photos than the ebay listing!

Also, needs a yellow saddle and red bar tape

a yellow saddle and red bar tape

1 Attachment

I'm thinking black saddle and tape , tone it down a bit!

He who dares, wins

whilst youre at it, get a yellow tyre in the back, red in the front..;)

More info;

Frame Made from the best steel tubing you've never heard namely Excell , French made tubing , apparently heat treated with very thin walls and oversized ( takes 31.6 seatpost ) , designed for TIG welding , Greg Lemond won the TDF on an Excell tubed frame , Pegoretti's tubing of choice as well , seems to have only been around for a short while. Frame weighs in at 1.78 Kg which is slightly disappointing , it felt lighter , still decent enough for a large steel frame. Nice details include chroming on the rear dropouts , R/H chainstay and front mech braze on together with the 'MASI' panto's on the dropouts and seatstay bridge , a bit of a nod to frame's heritage . Also has a pair of cute little badges on the seat tube as well , and generally the craftmanship and finish are as good as you will see anywhere.

Forks Carbon with 1" carbon steerer , well pleased with this , really wanted carbon forks ,
lighter and plusher ride . These forks were an optional extra when the frame was built, and I think they complement the frame perfectly especially in their matching finish. Forks weigh only .38 Kg.

GEO
Seat Tube CTC 56cm CT 59cm
Top Tube CTC 56cm
Head Tube 18cm
Head Angle 73
Seat Angle 72.5

If I've got the measurements right (!) bang on perfect for me.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I ended up emailing Dario Pegoretti some pics of the frame to see if he remembers ever building it , and fair play to Dario he got straight back to me . Not too surprisingly , it's 20 odd years a go, he can't be sure , he could of built it , but thinks it was most likely built by Giorgio Ferremi . Both top builders , so I'm happy with that.

This looks to be a great build, glad you're keeping the paint! What are you goig to be doing about the cockpit? Shim it for more modern options?

Yep, it's threadless ,and I have a shim, so going to go for same modern Deda cockpit I have on my winter/wet weather cross bike .

That's a pretty good weight for a frame of that size; would be surprised to see something much lighter even in this day and age.
THe headtube's pretty long, hope you're going to use a -17 stem. Anything else looks a bit "off" with a horizontal TT.

Actually you've hit on one of the dilemmas of this build. The fork steerer has been cut short , just enough room for a stem and a 5mm spacer , as the steerer is carbon I want the spacer above the stem. All of this means the stem choice is critical in achieving my correct riding position , made all the worse by me being really fussy on getting all my bikes the same in terms of contact points . After much dicking about with spirit levels , measuring tapes and various stems , a Deda Zero 2 in 13cm hit the sweet spot , it only has slight rise to it.

short top tube+my long arms+Eddy position=13cm Stem

Deda Newton anotomic bars , which I really like , but on one else does , which is why I picked a new pair up for £25, the're actually more compact than the fugly anatomic bars of old and work really well with the new generation Campag levers.

I'm running the gear cables around the front of the bars because this offers a smoother cable exit out of the levers. So I've filled the vacant channel at the back of the bars with some rubber trim glued down with some contact adhesive.

130 is verging on pro length. Nice looking stem at a very affordable price IMO.

It's not a -17 :-(

THis might match your bars though http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Deda-Zero-100-Stem-/172478781879?hash=item28288959b7:g:0IkAAOSwmLlX~Ug8

It's a seatpost BTW

More stuff acquired , so back on with the Masi or maa-zee dream build.

keeping the original PMP Ti seat post , it's a nice piece of kit , 2 bolt cradle means getting the saddle level is real easy. Flite Ti saddle , my default choice , I stumped up for a new one , you have to be careful with used one's , they can sag in the middle .

Managed to snipe a pair of Super Record shifters for £100 , they're mint and the latest generation , good news , although it means I will have to use 2015+ derailleurs, which could be spendy.
Further Ebay wrangling was rewarded with a nice pair of SR brakes , DP on the front, mono at the rear, which is my preferred setup , this pair came with new Swiss stop pads , not sure if this is a bonus or not. Headset is the original Dura Ace , which I'm happy to stay with.

Tidy cable install

Campag carbon top cap . The silver showing in the stem cut out, is the 1" to 1 1/8" shim.

Masi frame protector thingies £2 from China