A fine effort, Lou... but you clicked "Send" two days too early!
;-)
Lee Palo Alto
On 3/30/06, LouDeeter@aol.com <LouDeeter@aol.com> wrote:
> This is an incredible story. Last night Jonathan Greene and I went to
an
> old guy's house here in Orlando who used to race in Italy. We had heard
about
> him about a year ago, but our riding buddy, Oscar, hadn't found time for
us
> to meet him. We got to the guy's house and he was very enthusiastic abo
ut
> seeing us. His English wasn't great, but Oscar speaks Italian and was a
ble to
> give us a good translation. He had some old bicycling memorabilia, such
as
> jerseys and trophies, but nothing that I recognized. But, he took the t
ime to
> tell us about every one of them. I'm guessing the guy is in his 80s.
He
> says he raced in the 40s and early 50s in Italy which makes sense. He h
ad two
> bikes. One was his old Legnano, somewhat rusty, but it had mostly
> Campagnolo parts. I'm guessing it was from the 60s and not one he actua
lly raced.
> The other is what might be the "missing link". The old man tells this s
tory
> about how he went to races in Northern Italy all the time after he stopp
ed
> racing. He says he was at a race in the late 60s or maybe 1970 and a yo
ung man
> was introduced to him as a framebuiilder. He doesn't remember the guy's
name
> or where he was from, but just that it was one of the many races he atte
nded
> in Northern Italy at the time. The guy sells him a bike that he had bui
lt.
> He says the young guy needed the money to get home. So, he buys it. So
, he
> takes us into the back room and there is this bike frame with no decals,
> ratty paint, but with Campagnolo bb and headset. Jonathan picked it up
and
> checked it out, telling me that it looked like a very well made frame.
The old
> man says through our friend, "do you want it?" I'm thinking, what is th
is guy
> up to. Oscar tells us, he wants us to have it. He says he rode it a fe
w
> times, but he likes the Legnano. Plus, it is too big for him as he is on
ly a
> short guy and the frame looks to be about a 56 or 57. I tell Oscar that
we
> will have to pay him. The old man understands what I said and protests.
No
> money. For us, his American cycling friends. Jonathan and I left. I b
rought
> the frame home. I remove the bottom bracket to look at the tube ends.
I'm
> looking at them with a flashlight and I see something in one of the
> chainstays. It is a rolled up piece of paper, dry, yellow. I unroll it
and there, in
> script ink, like a fountain pen as it is faded a bit, is what appears to
be
> "M. Confente". I'm floored. I start shaking. I called Oscar and aske
d him
> to call the old man to see if he has ever removed the bb and whether he
> would recognize the name. Tonight, Oscar called me back to tell me the
man
> doesn't remember the name, but he never removed the bb. Jonathan now has
the
> frame. He's going to take some pictures of it and load them on his websi
te this
> weekend. Meanwhile, what do you guys think? Has anyone ever heard of a
> framebuilder doing this--putting a piece of paper like this in a bb? Is
it
> possible that this could be THE Mario Confente? Lou Deeter, Orlando F
L