[CR] Confente

(Example: Framebuilders:Cecil Behringer)

Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 15:50:16 -0500
Subject: [CR] Confente
From: "Doug Fattic" <fatticbicycles@qtm.net>
To: 'Classic Rendevous' <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


I'm always fascinated by people's opinions of what they consider to be the best frames and in particular the value of a Confente. I doubt it is possible for most to agree on what makes the "best" anyway. The ride, the way it looks - and if it is the ride, what one likes another won't.

I've always had a bit of a grudge against Confente. Not him personally (I can't remember if I talked to him at the 1977 New York show) but this attitude got started when I was visiting my relatives in Southern California in 1976. I have a cousin (once removed) that started Raincross Cyclery in Riverside, CA. I was showing him the bikes I made for my wife and I thinking there might be the possibility of some business between us. He seemed only politely interested. I was expecting him to look close at the lug work and say something nice and find that I had apprenticed in England of real interest. Isn't that what family members are supposed to do? But no, he wanted to tell me about Confente instead. He wondered if I could do brake attachments like him. So he had one of SoCal's nationally known racers (a name I've forgotten now) come and show me his Confente. That was the first time I saw recessed brake bolts.

In retrospect I can see why my cousin had such a high opinion of a Confente and held it up to me as the standard. His impression was formed by the combination of decals, paint, lug cut-outs, the trick brake bolts and the fact that the rider he most looked up to rode one. He wasn't looking closely at how my nicely my lugs were filed, etc. That in fact didn't matter to him because he wasn't about fine details but rather the overall effect. I doubt he paid much attention to mine after looking at my plain decals (which I refined a year or so later).

Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan