Mario's graphics were designed by Federico Ferrari. "Fred" was an older Italian gentleman living in LA. He became friends with Mario. When Mario was preparing to leave Masi, Fred designed his graphics.
Fred was a graphic designer by trade and he painted as well. I saw a few of his oil paintings in his home and they were quire nice.
Originally Posted by
Doug Fattic
I think it is necessary to evaluate Confente’s work in the context of when he built frames. European frames in the 60’s and 70’s had to be made fast in order to meet the cheap market that would buy them. I visited a lot of builders in the UK and Italy in my quest to learn in the 70’s and there was no magnificence there. In order to be able to sell a painted frame for $100 or so, that required a build time of only a day. When I look at my 1972 Italian Masi (I paid $350 for the complete Campy equipped bike), I am really impressed how nicely it was made. It isn’t fair to compare Mario’s 70’s work to what I and my colleagues can build in 100 hours today.
I was introduced to a Confente bicycle by my cousin that ran Rain Cross Cycerly in Riverside CA in 1976. The feature I saw that I had never seen before was recessed brake mounts. That was the beginning of the end of using a nut that stuck out beyond the fork or brake bridge. I don’t know if he invented the idea but that is the 1st time I ever saw it done.
Another feature of Confente’s compared to us contemporary Americans that started in the 70’s was that his graphics were refined. He essentially modified what Masi was doing but the end effect was really good.There was no known place in the States that understood what bicycle decals should look like, like there was in the UK. Eventually that problem was solved but not before some ugly graphics were used on American made frames in the 70’s.