What has been happening in the shop the last few days ?

 I'm not in the business of making replicas of old classic Italian bicycle frames but I made an exception last week to produce one. All of the materials were new old stock and just about everything was free. 

I have never owned a Masi Gran Criterium and it is likely that I never will......but I'll have this one that is my best effort at re-creating the frame I could never afford. There's a few things that are not perfect aesthetically on it but the construction method and materials along with the geometry are pretty damn close to the real deal. I'll have it painted the classic Masi red and II have nearly all the old Campagnolo '70's Nuovo Record parts to put on it. While I really don't need another old bike to ride , this one kind of checks off a few boxes for me as a frame builder. I need to do a project like this once a year to remind myself of how much work a frame like this -however simple looking -can be.

I did not tally the hours I spent on this-I know that I could spend a lot more if I really felt it would make it a better frame. I'll stop now as I am fairly satisfied with it and of course, I have to go back to building other people's frames.