I have been researching a bike found by a friend of mine for the last while and thought that it might interest a number of CR listmembers. The bike turned up in Italy with Confente decals, in the hands of a former team-mate of Mario Confente's. In fact they used to race together. The owner wasn't able (or perhaps willing) to tell my friend much about the history, apart from the fact that the bike had been shown at the New York trade show in the 1970's. The first photos that I received were rather poor and certainly didn't show much detail. I contacted a number of Confentologists to hear their ideas. All said that the bike appeared to be something special, while at the same time most said that they wanted to see more detail before pronouncing themselves any more.
The first thing of note is that the fully built bike weighs in at 7.34 kg (less than 16 1/2 lbs!!!), so this is obviously not your everyday bike. It would seem that the bike has been made with first generation Columbus Record straight gauge tubing (0.3 mm wall thickness!). Mentioning this, a lightbulb went off in Richard Sachs head, helping him recall that Mario had indeed displayed a naked, unpainted frame on the New York show Masi stand in about 1975. To confirm this memory, he asked for me to have my friend check the venting of the seatlug joint (he colorfully described it as being reminiscent of the business end of a urinal), to photograph the lever bosses, as well as brake bosses... All details corresponded exactly. Brian Baylis then commented that he was not aware of any other Record tubed frames being made at Masi, and that for Mario to have displayed the frame naked, would indicate that it was without doubt one of the nicest pieces of work that Mario would have done. After the show however, the tracks seemed to end for this particular frame. Now it would seem that Mario ended up with it (I wonder whether officially or not). My guess is that Mario had either built it specifically with his friend in mind, or decided that it would make for a nice severance from Masi. In either way, the frame ended up in Italy.
How it ended up being labelled as a Confente is still not known. As many people who have seen the photos of the built up bike have already stated, the workmanship of the bike components are not quite up to the level of the frame. It would almost seem as though the paint, decals and build were done subsequent to the rest of the bike. A number of people who knew Mario and his work habits have suggested that it is unlikely that mario was directly reponsible for the selection of the build components. The components are simply not perfect enough. More than likely it could have been built up after his death or perhaps using 'seconds' from a machine shop that was contracted to handle the pantographing and milling of the components. The person doing the build must however have been sufficiently close to Mario to get the decals, frame and pantographed parts.
I tried to label the photos so that special features could be recognized, but I am certain that you will be able to find extra details that I have not mentioned.
http://www.wooljersey.com/
All the components have undergone weight trimming. The bike is fitted with a first generation Campagnolo Super Record seatpost, rear derailleur, chainset and pedals (all with drillium treatment). The front derailleur and brakes are Campagnolo Record with drillium treatment. The BB and headset are both OMAS extralight components. The toe clips and straps are the lightweight Christophe Z (when did they come out?) The stem is a first generation Cinelli 1R that is an obvious msimatch for the 3TTT super leggera bars. The milling of the brakes and cranks are scary, as are the radially spoked 24 spoke wheels, which likely explains why the bike has never been ridden.
If nothing else, the bike is unique!
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ