[CR]RE: Confente Colors

Topics: Framebuilders:Mario Confente Racing:Jacques Boyer
(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

From: "Jim Cunningham" <cyclartist@home.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2001 00:43:10 -0700
In-Reply-To: <CATFOOD7j1HaKtKufVm00000791@catfood.nt.phred.org>
Subject: [CR]RE: Confente Colors

I painted Mario's personal bikes white with yellow head tube, topped with gold pearl. One of Mario's personal track bikes had vertical 1/4" wide stripe in alternating pearl yellow and pearl orange on the headtube. Pearls are not Imron colors. We had an Imron chart for customers for select from and I don't recall any color besides the pearl white or a chart color being requested. Mario did have a clear favorite chart color however, "light Continental Blue" and I think I did more of that color than anything. There was only one color choice in the decals, and the one color I resisted was black, because the black outlines on the decals disappear on a black bike.

One of the few fancy Confente paintjobs I recall were the 4 frames maintained as LeJeunes for Jaques Boyer. These were painted to match Boyer's team bike which was red with white headlugs and Blue headtube with stars on it, as befitted the "cowboy" as he was sometimes called in France. The team bikes had small green and yellow panels on the seat tube. On the Confente's I added a matching strip on the seat stay cap and for crown, as custom pluses, but also to accent two frame features which were clearly not LeJeune. I was given an assortment of main decal colors. Since Mario built two stage frames, one mountain frame and one time trial, the stage frames got yellow, the mountain was blue and the TT frame gold. I'll scan and post links to photos of these tomorrow.

So, there was no official equivelent to Bianchi Celeste or Mercier Pink, but pearl white with yellow head tube are Lt Continental blue would be good choices. I did work up and get approval form Mario for a Jersey design which was white with orange and yellow stripes and black letters, that may be as close as we got to any thing official.

Incidentally # 50, on Ebay, is a frame I painted. Looking at the original design card, (I have them all, along with many Confente records) I can confirm it appears to be it's original Continental blue. Originally built for Tim Daley, Tim offered this bike and it's matching road bike to me in 1986. At the time the bike were both in excellent condition and his firm price was $3,500 for the road bike and $2,500 for the track bike. I bought the road bike, even though that was close to half of my gross earnings that year and had hoped to buy the track bike as well but could not muster the cash at the time. Currently, I own a Confente track bike which fits me better than this one. It is black, and I still don't like the way the decals look on it, but as the bike is somewhat a memorial, I suppose black is OK.

JFC
Jim Cunningham
CyclArtist