Brian- I am not a Brit, but for the life of me, I can't say that I bought the Confente/Masi saga hook line and sinker as many folks do. Yeah, I know that I will emotionally upset everyone who has one of these "wonderful, spectacular, Virgin Manny inspired, hydrogen-infused matrix, diamond/gold-alloyed, Saint Alfonso blessed, amazing world-renowned, bikes gone-wild, south-beach optimized, Allah's favorite, extraterrestrial reversed-engineered, only-bike-that-matters, etc." contraptions, but growing-up in the Boulder/Denver area in the 70s, I was Always told, and it was a Common assumption that the California Masi were Fake Masi!! There, I said it,,,,, Fake American-Made Masi. Now I like the Beach Boys, orange juice, Disney Land, and even saw a concert or two at the Del-Mar race track, but it wasn't until I joined this list that I had to "go along to get along". The truth is, I am not a lemming and I see other people who I greatly respect otherwise, acting as one. I love and appreciate all top quality built bikes, I am neither a professional frame builder, nor bike mechanic nor any other kind of bicycle "expert", and I am saddened to hear about anyone was passed-away in the prime of their life, and I am sure that Mario was a very nice guy, but of the very few California Masi/Confentes that I have ever seen, they looked like very good bikes,,,,,, but that's all. I have Amgen and Starbucks stock in my IRA, not Confente bikes. Call me "clearly out of alignment", but Brian, you point out the "harsh" reality, hype by any other word is still hype. BTW, I can hear the nashing of teeth all the way up here near the Canadian border, but just to add some levity to this posting, I have to confess that I am secretly in love with you. Cheers- Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT
In a message dated 1/20/2004 6:18:27 PM PST, brianbaylis@juno.com writes: The thing that I find most humorous and interesting is that the Brits and others can't for the life of them see what is so "special" about a Confente or a Masi. The actual answer is "nothing" from many perspectives. Since they are looking with their eyes and not from the emotional view that many Americans see these things from, they only see what is there; and that is as it should be. When I discuss Confente amongst other framebuilders and a few who are highly tuned into what makes a quality and/or collectable bike, the foundation is always the same. Why is everyone so taken with Mario? What the educated and unbiased eye sees as compared to the hype, is clearly out of alignment.