Re: [CR]Confente Labeled as Eddy Merckx Bikes

(Example: Framebuilding:Norris Lockley)

Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 17:52:23 GMT
To: wa2vuy@mindspring.com
Subject: Re: [CR]Confente Labeled as Eddy Merckx Bikes
From: <brianbaylis@juno.com>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Angel,

I asked that question of Brett myself not that long ago. His responce was "Eddy did not remember a framebuilder by that name". Personally, I have concluded that some of the "Mario Ledgend" is fabrication; typical of the "Italian way" of bolstering his position. Mario tried to give a bike to the Pope, but was refused. It's how they operate. Much of what has been claimed by various people about Mario is not actually true; and since Mario is not present to defend the actual truth, some advantage has been taken with this.

I took to checking into much of it and have found that the people close to the operation at the time have consistant details and personal experiences that easily refute much of the fabrication. It is sad that this has happened and that it is now difficult to wade through a lot of crap to arrive at the facts. No one benifits from the innaccuracies for the most part. Those that might are selfishly taking advantage of the passing of a great framebuilder who is not here to tell us many of the facts. Fortunately there are still enough straight up people who really care out there to help us get an accurate and true picture of what really happened. Biased stories only muddy the waters.

Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA


-- "Angel M Garcia" wrote:


Brett Horton recently supplied a list, provided by Eddy Merckx, of the bikes he (Merckx) rode; list below. The list does not mention Confente bikes.

In the Confente history pages (thanks Chuck Schmidt for the links) at http://www.bicycletrader.com/confente.html (mapped) and http://www.bicycletrader.com/confente2.html (mapped) it quotes Confente's wife as saying, "She also recalls meeting Eddy Merckx when they traveled to Italy together. "We went in when Eddy was getting a massage. He was getting ready to ride the Milan-San Remo race. Eddy said, "hey Mario, I love your bikes and I want another bicycle." Mario said that he made many bikes for him but he would always put his own decals on the frame."

So, maybe when someone meets with Eddy they can ask him about this.

Brett's list from meeting with Merckx: 1965 - Superia (stock bike) 1966 - Peugeot (stock bike) 1967 - Peugeot (stock bike) and Masi 1968 - Masi 1969 - Marcel Van der Este (Belgian builder) 1970 - Pella (or Pello) Torino, Italy 1971 - Colnago and Kessels 1972 - Colnago and Kessels 1973 - Colnago and Kessels 1974 - DeRosa and Kessels 1975 - DeRosa and Kessels 1976 - DeRosa and Kessels 1977 - DeRosa

Angel Garcia Long Valley, NJ

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