CONFENTE Registry Announced

Do you have a Confente? Do you know someone that does? A registry for Confente bikes has been announced. Email info@confente.org for more information, or for registering your Confente (should you be so lucky!). The registry will be at http://www.confente.org/.


The announcement made by the organizer of the registry:

"For some time vintage bike collectors have lamented the lack of a Confente Registry. A Confente Registry is now being established. The Internet Domain Confente.org has been acquired for this purpose, and factual as well as photographic information on Confente bicycles, and on Mario Confente himself is being sought. For the moment, the Confente Registry will be limited to only those cycles made by Mario Confente and labeled as Confentes. The Confente Registry will not currently include bicycles made by Mario Confente and sold under other names. The information received will be available, gratis, on the internet. The format of the Confente Registry will be similar to that currently used in other vintage bike registries.The Confente Registry will also publish original information and photographs relating to Mario Confente, some of which have only recently become available.What is now sought from owners of Confente bikes is: the bike's serial number (if apparent), the date manufactured (if known), the dimensions and type of bike (strada, pista, etc.), the color(s) of the bike, the gearing group, and any special features (pantography, etc.). Needless to say, any other information on Mario Confente and his bikes will be gladly accepted. The name(s) of the owners of the bikes inserted into the registry may be listed or kept confidential if so desired.The Confente Registry will be non-profit, however, links to other relevant sites and organisations maybe made available.Any and all information should be sent to info@Confente.org"

Artwork: from http://www.ciclisucarta.it/

You can search my blog under Confente to find the three part story of my visit with Mario Confente's sister in Verona, Italy

Mario Confente, Part II

If you missed the beginning of the story Part I is a must read; see http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2008/02/mario-confente.html

Part II(from the "Custom Bicycles by Confente" brochure; this brochure was produced by Rexart Cyclery)

"Mario Confente has gained international recognition as the master frame builder with the Masi Bicycle Company in Italy and, more recently, in the United States. He is now designing and manufacturing custom bicycles under his own name.

A Division of Rexart Cyclery of Jersey City, N.J., the Confente bicycle operation is housed in a new, specially designed plant in Los Angeles. Made-to-order road and track bicycles are produced in the plant.

Confente is believed to have produced more professional bicycles than any frame builder in the United States. After serving an apprenticeship with Bianchi, a widely known bicycle company in Italy, he joined Masi. Here his skills matured to the point that he became known as the craftsman of champions. During a seven-year period when he was master frame builder for Masi he produced about 1,700 bicycles. Many of them were ridden by winners of national and international races including such events as the Tour de France. In 1972, Confente came to the United States with Faliero Masi to establish Masi-U.S.A., he supervised production of more than 2,000 bicycles.

As his fame as an expert frame builder grew among experienced racers in the U.S., he was frequently asked to design custom-order bicycles. Responding to that demand, Confente joined in an enterprise with Rexart in 1976. Within a few short months, nationally known U.S. racers such as Jerry Ash, Skip Cutting and Xavier Miranda began riding Confente machines.

Confente has developed a number of technological innovations for his new plant. Among the equipment he has designed for the plant are specially fit and case-hardened steel jigs to assemble and join both road and track frames. Used to hold the frame angles and tube lengths to exceptionally close tolerances, the jigs assure production exactly according to the designated geometry of each frame. This results in frames that can be said to have excellent geometry.

Simply stated, excellent geometry in a custom frame means not only that the frame is absolutely straight, that the tubes, stays, and fork achieve exactly the desired angles; but that such lengths and angles are those required for the specific rider for whom the bicycle is custom-designed.

After a frame configuration has been determined, the first step in manufacturing is to cut the tubing to the desired size. These tubes are then fit to specially designed investment cast lugs, bottom bracket and crown before being shaped to the desired angles.

Special attention is given to joining the tubes, stays, and lugs. Confente has developed a particularly precise method of brazing to insure that all components are joined with no pin holes or voids that could lead to possible failure under extremely demanding service.

The key to the Confente brazing technique is using a temperature that is just below the melting point of the steel in order to not damage, distort, or crystallize the tubing by subjecting its molecular structure to too much heat, thus weakening the metal.

A pure brass brazing technique is used rather than a brazing alloy since this procedure results in the strongest joints-another critically important characteristic of high quality frame building. A special flux, developed by Confente to insure proper wetting (brazing) of all joints, is used.

After the frame is assembled, sandblasted, and carefully inspected, it receives a pre-painting acid bath. This operation removes all impurities and oxides from the surface of the steel. In addition, the acid bath insures that all the flux remaining would eventually permit a corrosive action to take place.

The acid bath is followed by an oven drying procedure. Then two baked-on coats of primer are applied. This step is followed by two applications of primary color., both of which are are also thermal cured. The decals are then applied and, as a final step, the frame is given two coats coats of clear lacquer.

Confente uses a special acrylic paint because it provided a much harder surface than epoxy or urethane-based paints that do not stand up under demanding service conditions of racing without wearing, chipping, or corroding.

Just prior to the painting operation, the front and rear drop-outs and fork crown are sometimes plated with a tri-metal combination of copper, nickel, and chrome to prevent rusting. These parts are masked during painting operations.

Only the finest components are used for Confente bicycles-Fully Campagnolo equipped; Cinelli handlebars, stem and saddle; Clement silk tires; Regina freewheel and chain; and, of course, either Reynolds or Columbus tubing.

Confente frames are produced in all types of Columbus and Reynolds tubing. Because each bicycle is individually fabricated, it is possible to mix Columbus and Reynolds main tubes and stays according to customer preferences.

For customers who are unable to come to the Los Angeles plant, Confente has developed a special skeletal form of the human body. Its use insures that the frame size and all other design parameters conform exactly to the customer's height, leg length, arm extension, waist attitude in the down position, length from seat post to stem and all other critical variables involved in custom frame design."

Note: a fully equipped Confente cost $995 in 1976.

The next blog entry will be about my very interesting visit with Mario Confente's sister, Gianna Confente.

Mario Confente As a Young Racer

While Mario Confente's bikes are very well known in vintage bike circles photographs of him as a racer are rare. My thanks to Gianna Confente, Mario Confente's sister, and Gabriele Alloro from the Comune of Montorio Veronese for making these photographs of a young Mario Confente as a racer available. Please mention the Italian Cycling Journal should you use the photographs.


Confente having won a race as a member of the S.S. Aquilotti Veronesi cycling club

Confente as a member of the S.S. Aquilotti Veronesi cycling club

Confente as a member of the G.S. Bencini cycling club

Confente as a member of the G.S. Bencini cycling club

Mario Confente

Mario Confente on a Chesini bike

Mario Confente as champion of Verona Province in 1960

If you are not familiar with the Mario Confente story and wish to learn more I suggest you read these previous stories:

Mario Confente, Part I

Mario Confente, Part II

Mario Confente, Part III

Mario Confente, Part IV

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,100 stories in this blog; the search feature to the right works best for finding things in the blog.

Mario Confente, Part IV

The following article appeared in WORTH (a publication of Sandow Media which reports on issues related to comprehensive wealth management) in March, 2005; written by Brendan Quirk.

"Few photographs exist of Mario Confente. Those that do are in black and white and coarse throughout. Viewed together they offer a blurry, unstaged portrayal of a man attending to the mundane details of his life’s work. They serve as proof positive that labor is at the root of all art, and that, as an artist, Confente toiled in relative obscurity.

Confente was a master builder of bicycle frames. The backbone of a bicycle is its frame, upon which wheels and all other components are mounted. Nothing is more vital in determining the ride quality of a bike—its smoothness or stiffness, its springiness or rigidity. Bicycle frame making is a craft equaled perhaps only by the handmade production of musical instruments or firearms in the way in which aesthetic detail directly impacts the performance of what is, in essence, a functional object.

Confente trained under the legendary Faliero Masi in their native Italy during the early 1970s. Today Masi remains a patriarch of the modern road-racing frame and has the distinction of being the personal frame builder of the greatest bicycle racer in the history of the sport, Belgium’s Eddy Merckx. Confente showed such skill at the torch that Masi chose him to head his new American facility in Carlsbad, Calif., in 1973. Confente built Masi frames there for a few short years before the American operation slowed down. He then seized the opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of building frames with the Confente marque, and opened his own workshop in Los Angeles.

Confente made his public debut at the 1977 New York City International Bike Show, where his frames stopped cycling purists in their tracks. His bikes represented a masterful combination of two schools of obsession: the Italian fixation with style and artifice, and the puritanical American mania for manufacturing processes and structural integrity. Confente historian Russell Howe interviewed America’s premier frame builders for the Classic Rendezvous website (http://www.classicrendezvous.com/) about that now legendary show, and their impressions are remarkably consistent.

Mario made beautiful stuff, and he pushed the American builders beyond a look that we all had, which was kind of simple, plain lines,” said Tom Kellogg of Spectrum Cycles in Breinigsville, Pa. “He forced us to class up our act.”

“After seeing Confente’s bikes at the New York show,” said Ben Serotta, a frame builder in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., “it was clear that he raised the standard.”

The effort required in producing such gorgeous frames was evident in their price. While a custom frame made by Kellogg, Serotta or one of the other American elite in 1977 cost less than $200, a custom Confente ran $400.

Two years after the New York show, Confente died of heart failure. He had built 135 frames: 124 for road racing, 11 for track racing. In the 25 years since, the unparalleled craftsmanship of his frames have become intertwined with the immutable laws of supply and demand. No other brand of bike has seen such a precipitous increase in value. A $400 Confente frame in 1977 required an additional $400 to equip with components. If pristine, this $800 complete bicycle commanded $3,000 to $4,000 in the late 1990s. As recently as 2003, Confentes sold for well over $6,000.

Given this consistent and dramatic climb in value, would it be wise for the investment-savvy cyclist to hunt down a Confente? The fact that there is no such thing as a clearly defined vintage bicycle marketplace complicates the answer. Rather, vintage bicycle cognoscenti have a few favorite gathering points, the best-loved being the Classic Rendezvous website. But Classic Rendezvous is hardly commercial; it is a not-for-profit site maintained, it states, “to encourage those interested in enjoying and preserving vintage lightweight racing-style bicycles of the period from the early 20th century until 1983.” Its goals are to identify makers, present pictures of fine bicycles and information about the marques and their history, offer information about resources and offer “camaraderie among the buffs.”

But commerce follows close behind. Classic Rendezvous has both an email list and a classified section to provide the closest thing to a solid marketplace for vintage bikes that an enthusiast can find. One collector, Douglas Brooks of Rochester, N.Y., lovingly describes it as the kind of place where you see “devotion usually reserved for religious zealots and neurotic dieters.”

The passion of Classic Rendezvous devotees, though, cannot obscure the fact that the vintage bike market is by all accounts both small and thin—a truly esoteric cul-de-sac of a marginalized sport. Buying a bike in hopes that it will appreciate is inherently risky, in light of the size of the market. If, like millions of Americans, an enthusiast has caught the bug by watching Lance Armstrong win six consecutive Tours de France since 1999, and is determined to purchase a bicycle as an investment, a few absolutes apply.

To begin with, the buyer must invest in a proven marque. Beyond Confente, the other solid bet is the French cyclotouriste bikes of Rene Herse. What Confente has become for collectors of road-racing bikes, Herse’s bikes of the 1950s and ’60s are for the touring crowd. While Confente made frames alone, Herse took a holistic approach to bicycle manufacturing; he crafted proprietary lights, fenders, stems, bars and drivetrain components. Each bike was a comprehensive solution for getting riders from point A to B in a comfortable, elegant and completely self-sufficient fashion.

Collectors must also purchase a bike that is as close as possible to its mint original condition. As Brooks says of Japanese Herse fanatics, “There is no price they won’t pay for a perfect French bike, which may send my children to college.” Michael Kone echoed this sentiment in an article in the Vintage Bicycle Racing Newsletter: “Because the original proprietary bits are nearly impossible to find, missing parts can severely impact value. Theoretically, really mint examples in small sizes with all the right bits may have values much greater than $4,000 . . . .”

Among the details required to manufacture an exceptional steel frame, bicycle aficionados pay attention to two above all others: the ornateness of a frame’s lug work, and the quality of the brazing that mates the steel tubing to the lugs. Think of a lug as a socket into which the builder inserts various tubes of the frame in order to make the bike whole. What distinguishes a lug from a socket is that a socket is a bland interface with no cosmetic virtue, while each lug—a bike sports five or six separate lugs—is a minisculpture. Gorgeously detailed tendrils of steel snake from the body of the lug and encircle the ends of a bike’s various tubes. A frame builder uses brazing heat and molten metal to marry each tube to the lug itself. The more intricate the lug, the more difficult the brazing process.

Some collectors treat their bicycles as objets d’art. But Confente owner David Novoselsky of Chicago suggests that there are fundamental differences between bicycles and traditional aesthetic collectibles. He also sports a fine coin collection, of which he admits, “The thrill of the chase gave me more pleasure than the collection itself. But riding my bikes is the best part of collecting them.” Brooks is of the same school of thought. “Some, like me,” he says, “won’t keep any bike that isn’t his size and isn’t meant to be ridden. It is true that I rarely take out the four-speed Cyclo rear derailleur 650B Rene Herse, but it does ride perfectly, and it’s my size.”

The majority of bicycle collectors are, first and foremost, cyclists. Not unlike the crisis of an oenophile, the bicycle collector is forever tempted to savor his object of desire. Bicycles are designed as functional art, and nothing would be more natural on a warm spring day than to take a spin on a mint Confente or Herse. For the investment-minded collector, however, it is best to put aside function. Bikes with obvious signs of use might not dissuade a buyer with plans to ride the bike, but, as Kone writes, “If it isn’t of interest to a hard-core collector, then it may only be worth a fraction of what the really desirable ones fetch.”

The best possible solution for the financially motivated bicycle connoisseur is to locate a mint Confente or Herse and delight in it as pure art—make it a treat for the eyes, rather than the quadriceps."

Photo: accompanied article

Confente no. 39, Now in Verona

One of Mario Confente's 135 frames is now back, for the first time, in Verona. Gianna Confente, one of Mario's sisters, sent me the photo above. The Confente family is extremely happy to have finally acquired one of Mario Confente's creations.

Confente no. 39 was first purchased as a frame and fork. It was originally blue, painted by Jim Cunningham (current owner of Cyclart) but the owner didn't like that color so had it painted white by Gian Simonetti at MASI. The build is with Campagnolo components with the shift levers and brake levers being pantographed with aces, matching the cutout aces in the lugs and bottom bracket. The stem is pantographed with the Mario Confente signature, and there is a matching pump. Wheels are Mavic SSC (Special Service des Course).

A story about my visit with Gianna Confente in Verona appeared in this entry:

http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2008/03/mario-confente-part-iii.html

You can search "Confente" within the journal for other related stories.

Photo: Confente family with no. 39, Gianna Confente is 2nd right

Stories, including cycling trip stories, for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact veronaman@gmail.com

A Verona Built CONFENTE

If you are not familiar with the Mario Confente story you may wish to first read "Mario Confente, Part I" (Part II is text from a Confente brochure).

In March of 2008 I visited Mario's sister Gianna where I learned of Mario's racing career and eventual transistion into framebuilding.

This brings me to the point of this story. I knew that Mario Confente had built frames in Montorio (Verona) but I was never successful in finding one. A famous racer from Verona had also given me a copy of a Confente-Verona decal set so I suspected a bike such as this might exist.

With thanks to Mauro, who writes www.ciclorestauri.it (a website about vintage bikes and restoration) we now have photos of a Verona built Confente. Here is how Mauro tells his story:

"Sometimes life is really strange. I tried for so long to find a clue that would lead me to Mario Confente, someone who had known him in person, a small hint, but every time my research seemed vain. This is strange, I kept repeating to myself, because he lived just a few miles from my house. Maybe Mario still didn’t want to reveal his life to me.

Then one day, seemingly by coincidence, I read an article on the Montorioveronese.it website that switched my hopes back on. Maybe Mario had decided to reveal his most intimate story, through those he knew, loved and appreciated. Right after this, I met his sister Maria Gianna. Incredible, I even discovered she lived 200 meters from my house!

What next? Thanks to Maria Gianna I had the opportunity to meet Paolo. But who is Paolo?

Paolo is a man that is all integrity and substance and no exterior looks, a real man, a man of belonging to another time. Joy and liveliness pours out from his blue eyes and his every gesture. Paolo welcomed me into his house and property where he protects with love and care the story of his life, which is represented by bicycle frames, vintage motorcycles and bicycles, wheels, cups, gears, derailleurs, shirts, photographs. Bicycles of U. Dei, Bartali, Juventus, Chesini e. .... is “the bike”! A Confente! Guess what? It isn’t one of 135 Confente built in the U.S., this one was built in Montorio, for friends! It was built by Paolo and Mario. Yes you read right, Paolo had also worked with Mario.

Paolo did many jobs in his life and among his jobs he also built motorcycle frames for some important companies. This remarkable dexterity and skill, now allow him to build certain components with precision, which would otherwise be unavailable, bringing to life examples of human expertise. Inside Paolo’s workshop you breathe the history of the cycling and motorcycle production from the 40’s to the 80’s. His tools, even those strictly historical, are lathes, grindstones, clamps and anything else useful to a human hand to create or restore objects made of steel, steel like Paolo.

Paolo is as skinny as those who walking and cycling have worked so very hard. Paolo is fast and lively when going from one corner to another of his large room, to show me a picture, a wooden wheel that he is building and a bike that he is restoring.

Dear Paolo, I have very much to learn from you. I sincerely hope that our new friendship will be useful to keep alive the memory of an époque where the human being was bound to authentic creations, where virtual left space to imagination and creativity of the mind and soul.

Bye Paolo, until we meet again."

Paolo and the Confente built in Montorio immediately before the departure of Mario for the U.S.:










Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,500 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

Mario Confente, Part I

One of the best framebuilders in the world, an innovator and artist, was someone virtually unknown to most cyclists. His name is Mario Confente and was from nearby Montorio, only a few miles from Verona. Due to his tragic death only 124 road bikes and 11 track bikes bear his name, all considered masterpieces. The full story of Mario Confente is yet to be written but the piece by Russell W. Howe, written in 1998, tells part of the story. This blog entry comes about as I rode today with Pietro Guerra, and we discussed over an espresso topics ranging from Mario Confente to his days on the Bianchi team with Felice Gimondi.

By Russell W. Howe
Mario Confente is certainly one of the finest frame builders that ever put a torch to steel. Tragically, Mario died on March 8, 1979 at the young age of 34. He left behind a legacy that includes 135 frames bearing his name. Most frame builders spend years and build a thousand frames to achieve the recognition that Mario garnered in such a short time. The respect that he achieved is a testament to his devotion and passion for the bicycle. His standard was nothing short of perfection.

Mario Confente was born January 29, 1945 in Montorio, Italy, a small town a few miles from Verona. He was the third of five children and the only male child. His sister Gianna Confente recalls, "his infancy was not rosy because we were a modest family and only our father was working. It was a difficult period following the war."

As a result, Mario began working at an early age. He first served as an apprentice in a hardware store. His mechanical aptitude soon captured the attention of a family friend, Mr. Tiberghien, who gave Mario a job in his wool factory. Mario worked as a mechanic and often repaired the looms. As he grew older, he furthered his mechanical education by attending the state trade school, the Leonardo Da Vinci. Displaying his artistic side, he also made religious crosses which he sold to the Vatican.

Like most young Italian boys, Mario was captivated by bicycle racing. He was just thirteen when he joined the Aquilotti club, his town's local club. His prowess on the bike was evident due to his numerous victories. At the age of fifteen, he won the provincial championship as a junior while riding for the Gaiga club.

When he turned eighteen, the Bencini bike club invited Mario to join their ranks. The Bencini team was the best Dilettanti (semi-pro) team of that period. Local riders from Verona filled the squad's roster. The director sportif was Guido Zamperioli. From 1963 to 1966, the Bencini squad members produced impressive results:
1963: Gold medal, Amateur World Championships, won by Bencini rider Flaviano Vicentini
1964: Silver medal 100km team time trail, Tokyo Olympics with Bencini riders Pietro Guerra and Severino Andreoli
1965: Gold medal 100km team time trial, World Championships, Bencini squad members, Pietro Guerra and Severino Andreoli, are part of the quartet.
1966: Bronze medal 100km team time trail, World Championships, Pietro Guerra is a member of the quartet.

Due to the demands of this higher level of competition, Mario chose to quit his job and race full-time. Soon he was traveling with the team to Torino, Milano and Switzerland. He supplemented his income by building frames. Mario's father urged him to give up racing because it paid poorly and the risks were high. His father even remodeled a small workshop adjacent to their home to enable Mario to build frames. Soon, he built himself his first frame. Before long, his teammates were requesting frames as well.

As a semi-pro, he placed well in several races and even won a few. One teammate Severino Andreoli recalls, "Mario was a strong rider, not too much of a winner but often among the first places of the classification. He sacrificed a lot for the team during a break away or to block, while a companion took a flight for victory."

Renzo Ferrari, another teammate of Mario's from the Bencini club remembers, "I met Mario when I was 17 and he was 16. We were in a gym and we became friends even though we raced for different clubs. Mario was of good character and he got along with everyone even when he was racing. He was generous and highly esteemed for his passion of cycling. He distinguished himself from the other fellows for the attention, maintenance and care that he had for his bicycle." He adds, "Mario was always adjusting my bicycle and he even taught me how to pick wild mushrooms!"

In 1963, during a race, Renzo and Mario broke away together and rode the last 20 km together. Renzo won the race and Mario had to settle for second. However, they remained friends long after. Bencini rider and former World Champion, Pietro Guerra recalls, "Mario did not win a lot of races but he was strong, generous, and always ready to help everyone."

While racing on the velodrome in the fall of 1968, Mario sustained a severe injury from a crash. Once he recovered, he gave up racing and threw his energy into frame building. Mario's work was impeccable and his reputation grew, thanks to his friends and teammates Pietro Guerra and Flaviano Vicentini. Both riders won numerous races and World Championships on Confente built frames.

Pietro Guerra remembers, "When Mario stopped racing, he didn't know what to do. The passion he had for the bike was still strong so he learned right away how to build racing frames. He became a specialist in building racing frames and to make himself known in the field he gave me a track bike. It was a real jewel! With it, I won three Italian professional individual pursuit championships, 1970 at Varese, 1971 at Milano, and 1972 at Bassano del Grappa."

From 1968 to 1970, Mario continued to build frames in his home workshop. During this period, Ditta Bianchi asked him to build frames for his company under a piece work agreement. Soon, Mario had more work then he could handle by himself. He quickly outgrew his facility. In 1970, Mario hired several apprentices and was forced to relocate his frame building business. The new shop, though modest, was expansive and he lived above it in a small apartment with his parents.

His reputation continued to grow and Pietro Guerra adds, "We presented Mario to the famous Masi of Milano. In the beginning, Masi brought work to Verona for Mario. At the time the bike market was slow in Italy, so with the Masi project he transferred to California in search of better luck."

In the early seventies, the US experienced an energy crisis and a subsequent bicycle boom. Roland Sahm, a wealthy business man from San Diego contacted every Italian bicycle manufacturer on licensing their name and building frames in the US. According to Sahm, Cinelli, Colnago and Bianchi all refused him. However, one Italian bicycle manufacturer recognized the potential of the growing US market. Falierio Masi sold Sahm the rights to produce a Masi bicycle in the U.S.

Mario arrived in Los Angeles in October 12, 1973. As evidenced by the following letter he did not expect to stay long. Dated October 21, 1973, Ernesto Colnago wrote to Mario in California:

Dear Mario, A few days ago I passed your house to say hello but I was surprised to see your mother and father a little demoralized by your leaving. They assured me that you will be back in 20 to 30 days. This pleases me because as we agreed I was going to propose a business with large profits. Come back soon and when you arrive in Milan, give me a call and I will come and get you and bring you home. Write to me. Sincerely, Colnago

Although Colnago and Confente never engaged in a joint venture, it would certainly have proved interesting. Confente did build for the Masi California project and eventually built under his own name. His impact on the U.S. bicycle market was profound and he quickly established a new standard for U.S. custom builders.

Faliero Masi sold the rights of the Masi name to San Diego businessman Roland Sahm. Under their agreement, Masi bicycles would be built in the United States. Failero came to supervise the start of the new venture. He brought Mario with him to initiate production.

At the US Masi factory in Carlsbad, Mario oversaw production of some 2,200 bicycles over the course of three years. To reach that level of production, Mario was required to train a number of Mexican workers. They were hired to do the majority of the preparation work that goes into building a frame.

Mario's widowed wife, then girlfriend, Lisa recalls, "Mario respected the Mexican guys who helped him. They would often have lunch together, Mario enjoyed the tortillas. These men would come up from Mexico and make a sacrifice to take care of their families, send home every penny. These were the people that Mario admired, people who worked hard and took care of their families. He was so Old World."

She also recalls meeting Eddy Merckx when they traveled to Italy together. "We went in when Eddy was getting a massage. He was getting ready to ride the Milan-San Remo race. Eddy said, "hey Mario, I love your bikes and I want another bicycle." Mario said that he made many bikes for him but he would always put his own decals on the frame. One thing that was sad about Mario being in the U.S., is that he did not have a strong command of the language. In Italy, he was like another person, he was so strong over there. We went to see Signor Campagnolo, Eddy Merckx, Signor Cinelli and all of these people. They way he spoke to them was so different then how he was over here."

However, when it came to building and marketing bicycles Mario was anything but "Old World". In an effort to conquer the US bicycle market, Faliero Masi and Mario went to the Encino velodrome one evening. The reigning sprinter of the 70's, Jerry Ash was at the track working out. He was offered a Masi track frame.

Ash recounts, "Before I received the Masi, I was riding a Rickerts and before that, a Paramount. I went to the Masi factory at Carlsbad and I was measured for the frame which Mario then built. I wanted an all-around track frame that would be good for sprinting. The ride of the bike was tremendous."

While it was encouraging that top riders were bringing recognition to the new Masi venture, Mario was not content. The one thing that eluded him up to this time was the chance to build frames bearing his name. As the Masi California operation struggled, a New Jersey businessman, Bill Recht, attempted to buy the business from Roland Sahm. Unable to reach an agreement, Recht did succeed in hiring Mario away from Masi. Mario would finally build a bike with his name on the downtube. It was a dream come true, or so he thought.

Custom Bicycles by Confente was located in Los Angeles. One of the first things Mario did was contact Jerry Ash and offer to build him a road and track bike. Ash went on to ride the Confente track frame in the World Championships in 1976, 77, and 78. In 1977, he finished seventh in the match sprints, the highest finish for an American in over a decade. Before long, other top riders, including Jonathan Boyer, were traveling to Los Angeles for a Confente frame.

Lisa recalls that Mario poured his heart and soul into this new venture. "He worked like a fiend. I would have to tear him out of the place in LA. He would not leave until it was spotless clean. I would help him sweep the floor - anything to get him out of there!"

Confente frames were the rage at the New York bicycle show the first year that they were unveiled. Tom Kellogg, of Spectrum Cycles, recalls, "Mario made beautiful stuff and he pushed the American builders beyond a look that we all had, which was kind of simple, plain lines. He forced us to class up our act. Mario's frames were the first to combine American quality and the Italian look. That had never been done before. Fairly rapidly after that the Americans made their frames look slicker."

Ben Serotta adds, "After seeing Confente's bikes at the New York show, it was clear that he raised the standard." Richard Sachs recalls looking at the Confente brochure and shaking his head in disbelief that someone could charge $400 for a custom frame. At the time, Sachs was charging $180 for a custom frame. Sachs notes, "I remember asking myself, what could a builder possible do to a frame to make it cost so much more?"

As beautiful and skillfully made as the Confente frames were, they were also expensive. Recht decided to capitalize on Mario's name and innovations. Unbeknownst to Mario, Recht was preparing to launch another, less expensive bicycle frame. When Mario ordered 100 dropouts for the Confente bicycles, Recht ordered 200. The Medici frame was to be unveiled at the next New York bicycle show. Prior to the show, Confente learned that his name was going to be used to launch this new frame. He perceived the Medici frame to be an inferior product. He promptly handed in a letter of resignation and was immediately locked out of the factory. Unable to retrieve his tools, Confente headed north to the one place where he knew he could continue to build frames, Monterey.

Mario had traveled to Monterey previously to meet with Boyer and a sponsor of Boyer's, George Farrier. Farrier had a machine shop in his garage and Confente was impressed by the size of the shop. In the year that followed, he worked without distraction. Farrier recalls the day Mario showed up at his property, "Mario pulled into the driveway in his car. I was surprised to see him. I asked him what he was doing here and in his thick Italian accent he said that he was here to build bicycles."

While Farrier's accommodations were first class, Mario still longed for his own shop. He and Jim Cunningham put together a business plan. In addition to developments in his career, Mario's personal life was taking a new step forward. Mario proposed to his longtime girlfriend and the two were married shortly thereafter.

Lisa remembers, "I left Mario. I went to Houston for a while. I wanted to get married and I knew that he would never marry me. He sent a lot of money home to Italy. Yet, Mario thought you had to have a lot of money to be married. I had a little house in Encinitas and I believed that we would be all right. When I realized it wasn't going to work out, I said that I'm out of here, we've been together for five years and there is no future. Mario was bummed out and very lonely after I left California. Six months later, when I returned from Texas, he asked me to marry him."

The newlyweds settled into Encinitas and Mario renovated the garage into his new shop. Sadly, as Mario was on the verge of achieving his dream, he abruptly passed away. Mario and Lisa were married less than two weeks. An autopsy later revealed that he had an enlarged heart and suffered from heart disease. Lisa remembers Mario on his last morning, "He was going to go back to Masi to work for a short time, just to make some cash. He was supposed to meet with the Masi foreman that morning. He was really upset and stressed about going back there. I felt like it was something he didn't want to do, yet he felt he had to."

The next thing she remembers, "This biker guy found him... a Hell's Angel kind of guy. He banged on the door, it was 5:30 or 6:00am. , he says, "Lady, lady there is a man out here and I think he is dead." I went out there and saw him lying in the road. I just lost it. All I said was, "are his hands okay? He works with his hands." He wasn't breathing or anything. For some reason my car was in the middle of the road. He may have been trying to move my car. He was found beside the car, sort of out in the road."

The cycling community was stunned by the death of Mario Confente. In his all to brief career, he was transforming the cycling industry. With the talent and passion that he possessed, one can only wonder about the frames he would be building today. One can only wonder about the man he would be today.

Drawings: the beautiful drawings are by Stefano Dragonetti and are published at his website http://www.ciclisucarta.it/. Photographs of several Confente bikes can be seen at http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Confente_Mario.htm

Confente, the "Stradivarius" Bicycle

The following article was written by Gabriele Alloro for the Montorio community website. Montorio, in Verona province (abbreviated VR), is the birthplace of Mario Confente. The article was later translated by Carol Saito. Mr. Alloro interviewed Gianna Confente, Mario's sister, as part of his research for the article.

Note: The search feature to the right works best for finding previous articles, of which there are many, in this blog Mario Confente.

MARIO CONFENTE, the "Stradivarius" bicycle

Mario Confente: an unknown name for many, which conceals a talent, a mechanical genius, yet at the same time, a humble, hard-working man with a big heart that deserves to be remembered and treasured.

The “love story” with his bicycle began when he was thirteen when he started racing and later producing bicycles of the highest quality that he was defined him by his friend and team-mate Jim Cunningham the “Stradivarius" bicycle.

Mario Confente was born in Montorio Veronese on 29 January 1945 from a modest family. Third son and only boy of five children, he didn’t have an easy childhood; he began working very young as an apprentice in a local hardware shop owned by Mr. Carli in via Olivé 26, but his nature and passion for mechanics were soon noticed by Antonio Tiberghien who, knowing Mario because he was friends with his kids, offered him a job as a frame repairer in the large wool mill he owned. Some time before this he enrolled in the professional school “L. Da Vinci” where he had the possibility of learning more on mechanics.

As many of his friends, racing bicycles fascinated Mario. He was only thirteen years old when he became part of the “S.S. Aquilotti Veronesi” team and a few years later he won the provincial junior championship with the CS Gaiga Verona shirt. Seen he was a very good passiste, at eighteen he was called by the G.S. Bencini team, the best “amateur” category team, under the guidance of the sports director Guido Zamperioli, obtaining great results in the 1963- period 66:

*1963: Flaviano Vicentini wins the “amateur” World Championship;

*1964: Pietro Guerra and Severino Andreoli win the Silver medal at Tokyo Olympics in the 100 km team time trail specialty;

*1965: Italy wins the gold medal in the 100 km team time trail World Championship: Pietro Guerra and Severino Andreoli are members of the quartet;

*1966: Bronze medal 100 km team time trail, World Championships, Pietro Guerra is a member of the quartet.

Due to the demands of this higher level of competition with G.S. Bencini, Mario chose to quit his job and race full-time. Soon he was traveling with the team to Turin, Milan and Switzerland. He supplemented his income by building frames in the “Grandis” lab in Verona. As semi-professional he obtained good results and placing winning a few races. His team-mates remember him like this:

“Mario was a strong rider, not strong enough to always win, but enough to always make it among the first classified. He sacrificed a lot for the team during a break away or to block, while a companion took a flight for victory” (Severino Andreoli).

“I met Mario when I was seventeen and he was sixteen. We were in a gym and became friends almost immediately even if we raced in different teams. He had a nice personality and got along with everyone even during the races. He was generous and highly esteemed for his passion for cycling. He distinguished himself for the attention, maintenance and care he had for his bicycle. He usually was the one to fix my bike and he taught me also to pick wild!” (Renzo Ferrari).

“Mario did not win a lot of races but he was strong, generous, and always ready to help everyone” (Pietro Guerra).

When G.S. Bencini closed Mario became part of the U.C. Veronese CSI team up to 1968 when racing on the track, he seriously injured himself and had to give up races. Overcome and deluded because he had to give up his life’s passion, he started building frames in a little lab his father built him in a small room near the kitchen. At that time the Confente family lived in “Casa Vaona”, a manor of the seventeenth century in the beginning of Montorio in Via Olmo 73, which now has been demolished (too bad!) during the first years of the 70’s and where they built a modern housing area and a small supermarket (that later became a pizza hut).

From 1968 to 1970 he built frames for the famous Bianchi company; and since work kept flowing in, he moved to a new workshop hiring apprentices to face the growing requests. The Confente family therefore left Casa Vaona and moved to via Olivé 17: the garage in the basement, even if modest, was transformed in a mechanical workshops, while the small apartment above became Mario and his parent’s home. Some time later, his old team-mates Pietro Guerra and Flaviano Vicentini (who raced with bicycles built by Mario) introduced Mario to Faliero Masi, of the Cicli Masi Company in Milan, who was greatly impressed after having personally viewed the frames of the two champions. Faliero Masi and went to Montorio, accompanied by the famous TV commentator Adriano De Zan, to talk business Mario. Masi, witnessed the slow growth of the Italian market, and was thinking of opening a company in the United States, which was experiencing a deep energetic crisis and the bicycle market was living a moment of glory. Faliero Masi sold the trademark rights to Roland Sahm, rich businessman in San Diego, who had previously contacted some Italian companies to produce bicycles under their licence. According to this agreement Masi bicycles would have been produced in the United States. Mario was offered to manage the production in the new establishment in Carlsbad near Los Angeles, where he arrived in October 1973. In the overseas Masi establishment, Mario Confente supervised the production of approximately 2200 bicycles during the following three years.

Mario’s widow Lisa, who was his fiancé at that time, remembers: “Mario had great respect of the Mexican boys working for him. He had lunch with them and became fond of tortillas. These men came from Mexico to work in the States and send the money they earned to their families at home. These were people Mario admired”. She then remembers the trip to Italy (April 1976), and when he came across Tullio Campagnolo and the champion Eddy Merckx: “He was being massaged before the Milano-San Remo race when he said ‘Hey Mario, I like your bicycles… I would like one made by you. Mario told him he would make many bicycles for him, but he would have had to sign the frames with his name”. Lisa also remembers: “In the United States one of the things Mario disliked most was the fact that he had problems with the language. In Italy he was another person: he was so strong there …”.

In 1976 Bill Recht, a New Jersey businessman, contacted Sahm offering to buy his bicycle production business. The two did not reach an agreement, but Recht was able to take Mario away from Masi California opening a lab in Los Angeles where written on the signboard was “Custom Bicycles by Confente”. Mario had the occasion to make his dream come true: from that moment his frames had is signature and the “Confente USA” trademark. One of the first things he did was contact Jerry Ash, great sprinter and track US national champion, offering to build him a custom-made frame. The result was that Ash during 1976/78 raced with a Confente frame in the World Championship and classified in 7th position in1977, result that an American hadn’t obtained in the last ten years! In the meanwhile, other top riders tried the Confente frames and went personally to Los Angeles to have them custom-made. In short time Mario’s frames became a reference point, a new construction standard.

Lisa remembers: “Mario threw himself body and soul in this adventure. He worked so hard. I would have done anything to get him out of his Los Angeles workshop, but he never came out before he finished and perfectly cleaned his lab. I would have helped him clean the floor if he would have accepted”.

Tom Kellog of Spectrum Cycles declared: “Mario built great things and pushed American bicycle builders to look beyond those simple and plain lines, making them change their way of working; his frames were the first to represent a fusion between American quality and Italian style”.

Ben Serotta added: “After having seen the Confente bicycle at the ‘New York Bicycle Show’ we noticed Mario had raised the standard”.

In an interview Mario said: “A frame has to come out perfect under all points of view. You cannot make even a half centimetre mistake. Riders would notice it right away and this would mean I’m not a serious frame builder. Therefore, maximum perfection. Frames must be precise. They have to correspond to leg, body and arm length. They mustn’t be over a kilo and a half. My frames are exactly 1,490 kg”. The secret of his welding technique was working at a temperature under the steel melting point in order not to damage, distort or crystallize the tube, to avoid exposing the molecular structure to excessive heat that would have weakened the metal. To assemble his bicycles he used only the best components: complete Campagnolo equipment, Cinelli handle bars and saddles, Clement tubular tires, Regina transmissions and chains, Reynolds and Columbus steel tubing.

As any object that is beautiful and well-made it is sold at a high price, also Mario’s frames were quite expensive and Bill Recht decided to make even more profits using the Confente trademark. Without Mario knowing this, he prepared the launch of a new less expensive frame produced in lager number and signed Confente: “Medici”, would have been presented at the following New York Bicycle Show. Shortly before the opening Mario realized that Medici was a substandard product and immediately went to Recht to give him his resignation letter; consequently he was left out of his industrial unit and deprived of his equipment. He therefore decided to move north in the only place he knew he could continue building his frames: Monterey. Some time before he had gone there to meet the American cycling rising star Jonathan Boyer and one of his sponsors, George Farrier. Now he was going there to look for a place to work. Farrier lodged him in his workshop inside his garage, which impressed Mario because so big. In there Mario and his faithful friend and collaborator Jim Cunningham (that he met in Masi towards the end of 1975) set the basis of their business. On February 12,1979 Mario married Lisa, and moved to Encinitas, a city north of San Diego on the coast; at the same time he restored his garage and opened a new shop.

On the morning of March 8, 1979 he woke up early; he had decided to go back to work for Masi for a short period of time to put some money together. He had to meet with Masi’s foreman, but as he was walking out the door he had a heart attack and fell to the ground. Mario was 34 years old and had been married for less than a month; his talent and passion, after years of bitterness and delusions were ready to open him a bright career. But, as some like saying, his task in this world had probably ended.

Mario Confente left us a precious heritage that includes 135 bicycles (124 road and 11 track bikes) with his trademark; they are appreciated for their exceptional technical and aesthetic qualities that exert a strong influence and innovative push on the market. They are considered true masterpieces and have became cult objects for collectors."



Note: I have been contacted by Russell Howe who points out that this article contains text and information from an article he first wrote. Howe's article, with appropriate credit, was published here in 2008.


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Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondos, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,600 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog. There is also an Italian weather widget along the right side and a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page. What I'm riding.

Confente no. 39 Purchased by Confente Family

Confente no. 39, built by Mario Confente and pictured above, has been purchased by the Confente family of Verona. It's becoming more and more difficult to acquire one of the 135 that exist as collectors become increasing reluctant to part with theirs. The Confente family is delighted that a Confente will finally come home.

The owner of this bike purchased it as a frame and fork. It was originally blue, painted by Jim Cunningham (current owner of Cyclart) but the owner didn't like that color so had it painted white by Gian Simonetti at MASI. The build is with Campagnolo components with the shift levers and brake levers being pantographed with aces, matching the cutout aces in the lugs and bottom bracket. The stem is pantographed with the Mario Confente signature, and there is a matching pump. Wheels are Mavic SSC (Special Service des Course).

If you are unfamiliar with the Mario Confente story please search within my blog for the multi-part story.

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact veronaman@gmail.com

Mario Confente, Part III

Sometimes it's a small world. Since-he-read-my-blog, new found Italian cycling friend from Verona, Alessandro, was curious as well about the Mario Confente story. He in turn spoke to one of his cycling friends, Francesco, and incredibly, Francesco, knew Confente. Not only that, Francesco's wife, Ilia, grew up next door to Mario and his sisters in Montorio. Through Francesco and Ilia arrangements were made to meet Gianna Confente on Thursday, March 27, 2008. The four of us went to Gianna's home where we were very warmly received.


I brought along most of the Confente materials that are available on the web, and photographs from the CR list (http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Confente_Mario.htm). Gianna was very grateful, and was more than gracious in sharing the information she had about her brother. She had many old newspaper articles about Mario's racing career and frame building, and many, many photographs (some recently received). There was a tremendous amount of information in the albums, too much to digest in a relatively short time.


I explained carefully, and with the help of Alessandro speaking in Italian, the esteem in which Mario's work is held. I believe that Gianna, although having an understanding of it before, now has a much better appreciation of how highly Mario's work is regarded. Mario Confente's story is far less, very far less, known within Montorio and Verona (they are adjacent) than it is in the United States. In fact, neither Francesco or Ilia were aware, until this evening, of the details of Mario's work in California.


As you can imagine, there were times during the course of the evening, that Gianna was quite moved by the discussion. It wouldn't have been appropriate for me to act like an investigative reporter.


Over wine, followed by torta and coffee, the following is what I learned that would be of interest:

-the original family home and frame building workspace was demolished in the 1970s.

-the second, and larger workshop in Montorio was located at 19, via Olive. The apartment above the Confente workshop is still there but the workshop area has been converted in garages. Gianna owns Mario's workbench from this shop (her husband and son have used it through the years so things have been added, etc).

-Mario's cycling accident resulted in a hematoma, which later caused a more serious medical condition requiring surgery. At that point in his life all of his sister's were married and it was because of his accident, plus the need of greater income that his father suggested that he focus full time on frame building. Gianna said that despite this Mario did continue racing for awhile. Gianna also displayed a letter of invitation from the Italian Olympic Committee inviting Mario to tryouts for the national team.

-Gianna knew nothing of Mario having ever made crosses for the Vatican. However, he did do repair work for the local parish priest in the church in Montorio; if he ever made any crosses it would have been for the parish priest.


There were many interesting photographs and old newspaper clippings that we will try to have scanned in the future. In the mean time these photographs of the photographs will have to suffice:


-with Eddy Merckx (photograph at the start of the blog)


-riding the first bike he built according to Gianna, photograph is dated May '66

-race photo and wearing Bencini team jersey

-The "Custom Bikes by Confente" workplace

-Mario working at MASI


Late into the evening, Gianna brought this out; it was very moving. It was suggested she save it as a family heirloom. The photograph to her right is the last one she received from Mario.
Three hours passed very quickly. It was a beautiful evening that will be long remembered. Sincere thanks to Gianna Confente, Alessandro (standing), Francesco and Ilia for making it possible.

Season's Greetings from the Confente Family

The Confente family sent their season's greetings along with some new images of Mario Confente. The last image I had taken a photo of but this is much better; Mario Confente is in the center with Jim Cunningham of Cyclart to the right. The cyclist on the left is well known but his name escapes me at the moment.

Note: two emails have been sent to me after posting the above regarding the rider on the left as follows:

1. "Looks like it might be Jonathan "Jacques" or "Jock" Boyer?"

2. "The rider is well known with good reason-he was the first American to ride the Tour de France-Jock Boyer. However, the bike here isn't a Confente-it's a Lejeune. Mario was interested in the bike's geometry." submitted by George Hollenberg MD, of http://www.confente.org/

Wikipedia has the following, as of December 24, 2008, about Jonathan "Jacques" or "Jock" Boyer:

"Jonathan "Jacques" or "Jock" Boyer (October 8, 1955, Utah, USA) was a professional bicycle racer who, in 1981, was the first American to participate in the Tour de France. Boyer grew up in Monterey, California and was a member of the Velo Club Monterey there.

Boyer raced as an amateur in Europe from 1973, after joining the ACBB club in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt. The club frequently provided riders for the Peugeot professional team, which had had English-speaking riders since the Briton, Tom Simpson, led it in the 1960s. Boyer, however, turned professional in 1977 for the smaller Lejeune-BP team, sponsored by a Parisian cycle company and an international oil giant. He first competed in the Tour in 1981, when the organiser, Félix Lévitan, encouraged him to wear not his team jersey but a Stars and Stripes design which suggested that he was the American national champion. Many have said that Lévitan, who looked after the financial aspects of the race while his colleague Jacques Goddet managed the sporting side, saw Boyer as a way to attract further American interest and money. Boyer rode the Tour de France five times and finished 12th in 1983........"

Search within my blog for Confente for other entries about Mario Confente.

Confente no. 57

Confente no. 57 came up for sale in an ebay listing this past week with a starting price of $13,500. The listing was ended, it's unknown if the bike sold at that price or was sold at all.

The listing text:

Mario Confente, bike #57
55.5 frame
Cinelli bar
Campagnolo Super Record
Colnago
Saddle: 3ttt SL

My step dad’s brother (second generation Italian-American) was an enthusiastic rider. Living in Long Beach, California, my uncle apparently heard of the young Italian frame builder. I came to own the bike in December 1982 when my uncle passed away. In clearing out his apartment, my wife and I saw over seven bikes in various stages of assembly. Clearly, the most impressive of the four or five fully assembled bikes (except for tires) was the Confente USA. I remember being struck by the colors, amazing frame quality, impressive cutouts and attention to detail. I remember my uncle riding his bikes down to Garden Grove from Long Beach on a somewhat regular schedule but never saw the Confente. I don’t know how often he rode the Confente but I do know he took great care with all his bikes. The bike has been displayed in my home since 1982 and NEVER been back on the road. To say it’s in exceptional condition may be a true understatement.

Photos: photos from ebay listing

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