Actually I don't own that Confente anymore - sold it to help finance RH Bicycles - made me very sad that it had to go. Perhaps was the last unbuilt Confente?
The last name of the brothers who had these bikes was Fuller - one was an olympic team member I believe?
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> Doug,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Are you speaking of Darrell Hand of Raincross Cyclery? I know him well b
\r?\n> ut haven't seen him in years. It would be interesting to know where he i
\r?\n> s and what he's up to.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The Confente you saw belonged to Ken (can't remember his last name now;
\r?\n> but it will come to me right after I send this email), who was one of So
\r?\n> Cals top riders at the time. His brother had a Confente also. Mike Kone
\r?\n> owns that bike now if I'm not mistaken; he may remember Ken's last name.
\r?\n> He bought the bike from Darrell at Raincross Cyclery I believe. It was
\r?\n> a dark blue metallic frame, no?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Brian Baylis
\r?\n>
\r?\n> -- Doug Fattic wrote:
\r?\n> I'm always fascinated by people's opinions of what they consider to be t
\r?\n> he
\r?\n> best frames and in particular the value of a Confente. I doubt it is
\r?\n> possible for most to agree on what makes the "best" anyway. The ride, t
\r?\n> he
\r?\n> way it looks - and if it is the ride, what one likes another won't.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I've always had a bit of a grudge against Confente. Not him personally
\r?\n> (I
\r?\n> can't remember if I talked to him at the 1977 New York show) but this
\r?\n> attitude got started when I was visiting my relatives in Southern Califo
\r?\n> rnia
\r?\n> in 1976. I have a cousin (once removed) that started Raincross Cyclery
\r?\n> in
\r?\n> Riverside, CA. I was showing him the bikes I made for my wife and I
\r?\n> thinking there might be the possibility of some business between us. He
\r?\n>
\r?\n> seemed only politely interested. I was expecting him to look close at t
\r?\n> he
\r?\n> lug work and say something nice and find that I had apprenticed in Engla
\r?\n> nd
\r?\n> of real interest. Isn't that what family members are supposed to do? B
\r?\n> ut
\r?\n> no, he wanted to tell me about Confente instead. He wondered if I could
\r?\n> do
\r?\n> brake attachments like him. So he had one of SoCal's nationally known
\r?\n> racers (a name I've forgotten now) come and show me his Confente. That
\r?\n> was
\r?\n> the first time I saw recessed brake bolts.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> In retrospect I can see why my cousin had such a high opinion of a Confe
\r?\n> nte
\r?\n> and held it up to me as the standard. His impression was formed by the
\r?\n> combination of decals, paint, lug cut-outs, the trick brake bolts and th
\r?\n> e
\r?\n> fact that the rider he most looked up to rode one. He wasn't looking
\r?\n> closely at how my nicely my lugs were filed, etc. That in fact didn't
\r?\n> matter to him because he wasn't about fine details but rather the overal
\r?\n> l
\r?\n> effect. I doubt he paid much attention to mine after looking at my plai
\r?\n> n
\r?\n> decals (which I refined a year or so later).
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Doug Fattic
\r?\n> Niles, Michigan