A beautiful week in Minneapolis

Masi spent the past week in Minneapolis getting countless excellent images and video for the upcoming Masi catalog and other projects. The weather during the week was about as good as anybody could possibly ever hope to experience and the people of Minneapolis who we worked with or encountered were amazingly warm and hospitable. All in all, it was an incredible week in an incredible city.

The week was filled with very long days of riding around the city from location to location; the rental car was only used for driving to and from the airport and the home base bike shop- Behind Bars. Days began with a quick breakfast and then a full day of getting bikes and riders prepped and ready and then riding through the amazing cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Most days of shooting did not wrap up until well into the evening, with daylight hanging on until close to 9:00PM. Evenings consisted of a nice dinner with the day's crew and then it was back to the hotel to review the photos captured during the day... as well as a few late night rides through the city. Five days proved to be barely enough to get all that we had hoped to, but with a final morning/ afternoon of shooting on Friday we were satisfied with our efforts... and very tired. We wished we would have had more time to get out and see even more of the cities and even more importantly had the chance to ride more.

In the end, we left Minneapolis with tons of great photographs for the catalog and lots of excellent video as well. We're itching to get back to Minneapolis already and hopefully will be there again sooner- rather than later.

The lovely ladies taking a rest between shoots.

One of my favorite icons of Minneapolis- the Grain Belt Beer sign.

Pete Demos- Creative Director- setting up the flashes and getting ready to make the magic happen.

Pete getting the long row of Masi bikes; props and customer bikes combined- a great sight!

Pete getting set up for a shoot on the night we got into town.

One of the more beautiful areas of downtown, at the Mill Ruins.

Spencer with the Speciale CX and a beautiful iron bridge along the river.

Trains are still a big part of the Minneapolis world- innumerable tons of freight come through the city via rail.


Doing my job- I apparently make for a pretty good tripod.


The LGR boys on their Coltello track frames; all three years of the frame represented!

Me with Chuck, Josh and Dan of Behind Bars at the end of a long week.

My very own Speciale Fixed looking quite happy in the Minnesota sun (it was a very happy bike).

Though there are countless people to thank, a few of the major ones are;
Behind Bars Bicycle Shop- our home base during the shoot, as well as our friends. Chuck Cowan and his guys at the shop kept the bikes running and ready for action.
Twin Six Alternative Cycling Apparel- clothing and accessories for the riders and Masi staff as well. Their clothing designs kept everybody looking good.
Banjo Brothers- bags and packs for the bikes and riders. Banjo Bros also helped to get us in touch with Twin Six, so they really did double duty. And the bags were great props for the shoots, as well as excellent tools for transporting gear to all corners of the city.
Lazer Helmets- our friends at Lazer generously provided helmets for the week's photo shoots as well. If you're riding your bike, please wear a helmet... and certainly give Lazer a look.
Spencer Haugh (and his lovely girlfriend Katrina) and the LGR Racing team- Spencer was not only one of the models, but he is also a member of the Masi-sponsored LGR Racing team and served as an excellent scout and guide. His help was invaluable on many levels.

Many more thanks are due, so check the Masiguy blog for more behind the scenes coverage.

Thank you again to all of our friends and fans in Minneapolis/ St. Paul- your help and friendship means more than words can express.

Tim

Masi Bicycles and Chrome Bags Join forces for Velo City Tour Goldsprints

Masi Bicycles teams up with Chrome Bags

in support of the Chrome Velo City Tour Goldsprints.

********

Vista, CA- Masi Bicycles proudly announces their partnership with Chrome Bags to support the Chrome Velo City Tour Goldsprints, or “Chromesprints” as they may grow to be known this summer.

“When the opportunity to work with Chrome was presented to us, we immediately jumped”, stated Masi Brand Manager, Tim Jackson. “Chrome is indisputably one of the most iconic brands in the entire urban cycling world- that griffin and seat belt buckle bag strap is as recognizable as our headbadge!” Masi Bicycles has become a staple of the urban cycling scene over the past few years and this new relationship with Chrome is a perfect marriage of great brands. As Jackson said, “Chrome came to us for the bikes because they’re fans of the products we make and we said yes because we are fans of the products they make- it just makes so much sense on so many levels.”

Masi has provided Chrome with three of its very popular Speciale Fixed LTD bicycles to be used in the Goldsprints roller races that will take place in several cities including the Tour party in San Francisco on June 26^th. When the bikes and Goldsprints set up is not on the road, it will be proudly on display in the Chrome retail store in San Francisco.

The famous Chrome black van will be transporting the Goldsprint set-up from location to location. Check out Chrome Messenger Bags and the Masi Bicycles website (www.masibikes.com) for tour information and details. In-depth details on the entire Velo City Tour can also be found at the Cyclehawk website (www.cyclehawk.com).

Masi Speciale Randonneur in Iowa

Yesterday we received a great email from Vaughan in New Zealand about his happiness with his Speciale CX and today we hear from Bill Graves and his happiness with his Speciale Randonneur;

Masi Guy,

I just want to post a little story about my SPECIALE RANDONNEUR and the TransIowa race I took it on the first week of May 2009.

There are many things about TransIowa but one of them is not smooth surface asphalt pavement (except for maybe 5-10% of the total 320 mile route). I struggled for 6 months in choosing which type of bike to take on this adventure and the final decision was made just 3 weeks before race date. I was visiting Dayton, Ohio and stopped in at a local bike shop and took the Speciale CX out and deemed it the bike that would take me to Iowa.

I drove back home and headed off to my local bike shop that stocks Masi in search of the CX. What I found was the Randonneur instead and was I happy about that. I know the CX would have been a fine steed to take along on my adventure but next summer my friend and I are planning a long cross country trip and that swayed me to make the final “Touring” bike decision.

I did a little post fabrication work – took off the fenders, added a rear rack (which saved my rear end from dropping out at mile 80 because of poor planning on my part!), put some larger tires on it, and hit the road.

Although I did not complete the race: 320 miles, non-stop, non-supported, cue sheets for directions, and on gravel or B level maintenance roads (website: http://transiowa.blogspot.com/) – my bike did not fail me. I am supremely pleased with the decision to purchase the Masi Speciale Randonneur and look forward to many comfortable miles upon it!

Enclosed is a picture of the bike with my breakfast at a local gas station in North English, Iowa.

She served her purpose beyond expectation and I look forward to the return next year and hopefully a successful journey!

Thanks for making such a great bike!

Bill Graves

I'd have to agree with Bill here- the Randonneur IS a great bike!

We love getting emails and testimonials like this. We kinda live in a bubble here at Masi Global World Domination Headquarters- we believe in each and every bike we create and think they're all pretty incredible, but hearing from those of you who have the bikes "in the field" makes our work that much more rewarding. So really, the thanks come from us... THANK YOU!

Tim

Masi Speciale CX in New Zealand

I'm not exactly known for being "a man of few words", in fact... I'm pretty well known for being "wordy". However, sometimes there is nothing I can say better than the words of somebody else. With that said, I'm going to let Vaughan Watson of Christchurch City, New Zealand do the talking here:

Hey Masi Guy,
just thought I'd send in a little story and some pictures of what my Speciale CX and me have been up to over here in New Zealand. You see, over here there is absolutely no such thing as Cyclo-Cross, i.e. no races, nobody knows what such a bike looks like, they're a novelty in obscure corners of foreign magazines for the most part. So what do you do with a steel 'cross bike in New Zealand?

It's done 4 100km+ road races with me placing as high as top 5 in my age group amateur class, and first bunch of amateurs each time in fields of over 1000 people. It's wonderful mixing it up with the carbon boys as many look upon your soulful steel beast with utter disdain!

It's completed two proper XC MTB races in the local Canterbury Summer XC series, first race I got 2nd in sport, then mixing it up with the elite boys I got 6th with a puncture at the next one, despite the mud and slop and many people walking the downhill sections, which the Masi nailed.

It's completed a 106km 'off road' race, consisting mainly of gravel 4x4 road, getting me 30th place out of 700 odd, in freezing cold conditions with a few people getting treated for hypothremia. I tell ya, there is something satisfying about nailing past full suspension bikes downhill in the big ring on your CX bike in an 'MTB' race!

It's done 850 road km in one week, with 414 of those in one day between my hometown Nelson and where I now live in Christchurch City, a goal I've long wanted to accomplish, the Masi rode comfortably for the whole 19 hour (including stops) effort.

It's been ridden through a number of the local MTB trails, some of which get raced in Downhill competition, and the easy line of jumps at the local trail!

It's also been a reliable commuter doing about 80km in that duty each week since I bought it, and has been on a nice leisurely ride with my girlfriend down the local recreational cycle path.

About the only thing it hasn't done is Cyclo-Cross!

Although there is no such thing as Cyclo-Cross in New Zealand, this bike has proven an awesome choice for all types of riding. STEEL IS REAL! I've never had such a comfortable riding road bike, sure rocky MTB trails can be a little hard on the body on this bike compared to the full suss, but sometimes you just gotta suck it up, there is something so satisfying about using such a simple bike to conquer such rugged terrain.

If for some reason I could only own one bike, I would be happy with it being my Masi Speciale CX over any other! Thanks for making such an awesome bike.

Cheers,
Vaughan Watson
Christchurch City
New Zealand
(P.S. those Masi team cycling kits are looking sharp, perfect for getting the word out about your brand at the races!)

Like I said above, there's nothing I can add to make Vaughan's commentary any better.

Thank you Vaughan- we sincerely appreciate your passion for Masi and your Speciale CX... and we agree with you- "steel IS real".

Tim

Masi at Tour de Romandie

Masi is a global brand and we're happily growing that sphere of influence/ domination. We make products that we're very excited about and proud of. In fact, we make products that many people enjoy and love... even Pro Tour riders at the recent Tour de Romandie;

On the podium...

Notice the Francaise de Jeux rider checking out the Masi- obviously wishing he could ride it.

You can almost hear the smile on his face.

Looks like the right size!

See how happy he is?

Even skinny climbers like nice bikes!

I'll bet they're asking him why he thinks the Masi is the best bike ever made.

Throw a little green in that team kit and it's a perfect match!

"Finally! A bike I can love!"

You can see how much he enjoys riding the bike. He seems so happy!

You can tell by all the smiles on the faces of the riders that they are happy to get to ride such a fine machine... finally. At Masi, we believe in sharing the love with riders everywhere around the world... even pro riders on non-Masi teams.

Extra special thanks to Steph and Phil from PIMP in Switzerland for getting the pictures for us. Steph is the happy owner of the Mini-Velo and the one so proudly riding it and showing it off all across Switzerland. THANK YOU!

Tim