For those who weren't aware, I recently purchased a 1989 Masi Gran Criterium off of eBay. It was listed on eBay by a pawn shop in Pacoima. $535 and a drive to north LA later and I finally owned a bike that I've wanted for a long time.
If you follow the Gran Criterium listings on eBay you'll know that every now and then a mid-70s Masi comes along. While they're beautiful bikes and I guess for a lot of people they're the Holy Grail, for me after already buying my Colnago Arabesque and keeping it in original condition, I was looking for something that I wouldn't feel bad about gutting and building up with modern components.
When I bought the bike it had Shimano 600 shifters/derailleurs, a real nice set of wheels (Dura Ace hubs with Mavic Open 4 CD clinchers), some odd Stronglight cranks and some weird bars/stem. Here's the before:
For the rebuild I purchased a new Campy Record 10 speed group, a 3TTT quill stem and alloy handlebar, 3TTT seatpost, a Fizik Antares saddle, Velocity Escape tubular wheels and some 215g Tufo tires. Gord at VeloHangar put the bike together. The new wheels arrived today, so all that's left is to glue the tires on tomorrow. Short of a repaint, this is where she stands:
