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