repechage

No that was not the timeline.
Wizard was under-capitalized, in a business that needed capital. The lead times to get tubing, lugs and such were long, payment upfront.
They ran out of cash.
Brian went on a walkabout so to speak, went up to Alaska for a while.
Returned and hooked up with Mike who was now part of Medici, he helped - most "notoriously" with paint.
He was painting at the spray booth that had been set up at Custom Bicycles by Confente after Mario was locked out.
There soon after the lockout was the Brian/Jim Cunningham tiff at the door to the shop.
Brian did not like LA, he migrated back to San Diego County.
Somewhere in there also '76 ish Brian helped again at Masi. The order of events is not the easiest to tease out.
Then he set up his painting operation and Baylis framebuilding workshop.

Mike Howard's legal troubles started long after. Post Medici, when Simo Cycles was around. Also, Simonetti cycles, the two may have been slightly concurrent.
BTW, the Medici name belonged to Bill Recht, that relationship with Mike and Gian concluded, the Medici name could not be used.
Remember ElCamino bikes?


Mike was the welder, no Mike, Simonetti was essentially done.

When Mike had served his time, he started a series of Wizards again, the 35th anniv bikes, Brian painted them. Was to be a limited qty, 25? 35? I do not know if the full amount was created.
I suspect not.

Vonruden

masi61

There is no indication of whether this frame is Columbus or Reynolds tubed. I was always told that Masi California mixed and matched tubes to suit the build. I know that the seatstays are very robust.

repechage

Production Carlsbad Masi frames were for the vast majority, Reynolds. It was cheaper and as Mario commented, easier to braze, more forgiving. Note he did not do all the brazing.
Columbus was around and used for special orders, and of extra cost. The upcharge I saw was about 10%.
Later during the "Ranch" era, builds varied. Some Reynolds, some Columbus.
There were some mixed tube brand frames throughout.

gomango

The knowledge base on this forum is really top notch.

Always learning on a cold winter day.

Carry on.

BlueDevil63 

Yes sorry I was mostly just making a joke. The hair bandit incident was in the early 2000's I think so well after the events in question.

repechage

No problemo, just that when just in type, the context is often unknown. Voice inflection is a problem online.

BlueDevil63 

No problem, your information was enlightening. Looks like the Wizard rebirth was in 2009-2010? I hadn't heard of that. Mike was sentenced to 8 years in 2002 so he might of got out early or did the rebirth thing right after he got out? Sorry maybe this is tangential to this thread.

repechage

I am reasonably sure he was released a bit early, but not by a huge amount.
Brian may have suggested the idea to Mike upon release, even prior. There may be a FB page or pages with info more directly.
I don't do FB. Might search under Mike's name in the various spellings and or Wizard cycles.
The "follow-on" Wizards had a 35 cut into the bottom bracket shell.

At some point is might be a good bit of history from his time at Masi, that was longer than Brian's and the Wizard, then Medici arcs.

Mandalor

Good afternoon,
My name is Jake Bevens. My wife's grandfather was an avid cyclist and collector originally from Spain. He has a '77 Mario Confente Pro Strada that he purchased from Mario when he was alive in Southern California. He gave it to us some years back and I almost took it to a thrift store until I looked it up. It is number 46. I have included some pictures. I'm to understand that it is a pretty rare bicycle and I'm trying to get an idea of value and maybe the correct place to list it or auction it. I put new wheels on to be able to ride it, but I still have the lace up tubes and rims as well as several other vintage Campangolo gear sets and parts. Our son had a brain injury a few years ago and the money will be going towards treatments for him. Let me know if anyone can point me in the right direction on how to determine value or find someone that might be interested in it. It will not let me attach the photos, but I can send via PM.

obrentharris 

Jake,
You are correct that your bike is probably worth several thousand dollars, depending on condition of the frame. Components are almost an afterthought. The frame is where the value is. Let us know your approximate location and we can hopefully steer you towards a shop that specializes in classic bikes that might be willing to sell on consignment for you. Otherwise ebay is your best bet to maximize sales price but it has its own difficulties, shipping being the primary one. If you go the ebay route you would be best advised to find someone who is experienced in properly packing valuable lightweight bikes. Again we might be able to help if you give us an idea of your location.

We will be able to give you a better idea of the possible selling price if we can see photos. Post some photos in the gallery on your member's page and we can move then to this thread from there.
Brent

merziac

Standing by

obrentharris 

@Mandalor has updated his information to show that he is in Redlands, California.
Brent

machinist42

OP's Album.


@Mandalor you may be well served posting this over on Classic-Rendezvous where there is also an appreciative informed and perhaps more deep pocketed audience?
No fee to sell there either.

AdventureManCO 

Any chance it is around size 56-57cm? I always imagined it would be great to have a Confente to go along with my, ahem, Confente tribute bike

In any case, if you've got a real Confente (there are ways to tell), it is valuable and will generate a lot of interest! Good luck!

EDIT: Shucks, too tall. But machinist42 thanks for the pic assist! Always a great day seeing a new Confente pop up! Mandalor , NICE bike!!

repechage

Interesting bike. Looks like a 58.5 cm, the .5 bikes usually have other non typical design features.
the paint looks to me as a respray. The primary reason is the braze-on front derailleur. This bracket did not exist until much later, 1983 or so at the earliest. Later if it is investment cast.
As Mario passed in 1979, was renovated later.
‘the seat tube panel is set a bit low. it is however resale white and yellow.
the component updates are reasonable. The width of the rear triangle if 130mm will have been spread.
‘at the time when built, 120 or 126mm was by order.

sell it with the tubular, “sew up” wheels. The changed out parts are a nuisance but marginal to value.

If you were going to keep it, I would write welcome to the club

wipe it off, to confirm the condition of the fork crown chrome plating. The quiet secret was Mario got snookered by the chrome plater, many of the Los Angeles bikes have tragic chrome. The copper layer was skipped.

now, where to sell? The market for these is solid but thin, a bike that could sell for $7-12k maybe more is in rarified air. eBay is the public venue, but if one does not have a track record, there is apprehension.
packing for shipment is a chore, I would consider The Bicycle Stand in Long Beach, they know vintage. The last handful of transactions I am aware of were all private.

P!N20

Good pick up. I was also interested in the lack of cable guides on the top tube, as Mario's saddle-shaped guides were quite unique. Is there internal cable routing and if so, do you think that would be original?

repechage

I should have mentioned, not possible to tell from the one side view image on the top tube cable management. The first internal routed cable I have referenced was on frame #60. On that frame external reinforcements are present, and to be fully accurate, not sure if they were original. Flush exit Internal routing shows up in a few of the NorCal bikes. At Carlsbad on one bike he used chainstay cable stops to interrupt and place the brake cable.

I am a bit surprised with the top of the bottom bracket shell shift cable routing AND possible internal top tube brake cable routing. The under the bottom bracket and through the chainstay routing was known to be a bit higher friction, this was before dieform stainless or Teflon inpregenated cables.

the clamp surfaces of the rear dropouts - masked off? Primer only? Not handled in the typical way.

this bike will escalate the intrigue.

velomateo

How great would the “Thrift Store Confente” thread have been? I dare say Legendary!

I’m glad Mr Bevens found this forum before dropping it off.

repechage

in the article’s published dates for the bikes, both are wrong. Wizard was basically 1974, period and numbers vary 73-113 produced.
the Confente was 1976 at the very earliest, more likely after. There were two Confente branded bikes in 1975, the undecorated frames were Masi appearing and built of Columbus, graphics after delivery. #M6, #M7 serial numbers. Built for the couple that designed the graphics package.

Sedgemop 

Saw that this thread stretches to three pages and thought, "wow, this place is really impressive. three pages worth of Confentes." Turns out, the thread contains four actual bikes. These are some seriously rare and beautiful bikes. Glad to get to see some photos. Keep 'em coming if anyone else here owns one.

repechage

looking at that magazine article of the Confente image, I am not sure it is authentic. Headlugs… top tube guides… I will let the pump painting go, but that was not a period thing.

Mandalor

Thank you for the feedback! I'm located in Redlands, Ca. I need to make a few more posts so I can upload more photos and respond to PMS

Mandalor

You and me both! lol

Mandalor

He rode this bike for many years, hence some of the modifications. I'll try to rack his memory about it, but he's in his late 90's and his memory isn't what it used to be.