Some people might assume that "built for a friend of mario's" means "built by Mario for a friend" ...
Even so, it's still speculation, since no one really knows the provenance of the frame.
However, I think that Mark was being perhaps overly enthusiastic, rather than intentionally misleading; seizing and believing the possibility that the frame may have been built by Mario as a fait accompli.
I think that everyone involved is over-reacting.
The facts are that it's a beautifully Brian Baylis-restored, but unusual Masi ... this fact alone should be enough to intrigue some buyers.
As to whether or not it was "undoubtedly built by Mario Confente" ... well, only Mario knows for sure, and he's not around to clear things up.
On 04/24/2006 05:44 AM, "Angel Garcia" <veronaman@gmail.com> wrote:
> Am I missing something? The ebay listing says, "Confente Built Masi". I
> don't anything in Brian's note (attached by Mark Flaming) that quotes Brian
> as saying it was a Confente built Masi.
>From Craig Fenstermaker to Mark Flaming:
>> we have completed our initial inspection and have discovered;
>> 1) this is an unusual bike, it does not follow any s/n system that brian
>> or i am familiar with.
>> 2) it had columbus record chainstays instead of the standard chainstays.
>> 3) it has lead a hard life, lottsa rust and several dents / dings /
>> previous repairs
>>
>> 1 & 2 leads us to believe that this might have been a masi employee's
>> bike originally, or perhaps it was built for a friend of mario's.
>>
--
Steven L. Sheffield
stevens at veloworks dot com
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