Is this a real Confente?
 

A friend sent me this picture. He thought I might appreciate the bike. He stated that the owner of this bike has it on display at his hotel.

He said, "The guy who made it worked at his father's shop." He also told my friend that this was bike #7 .

I've got no more info or pics to share.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...613_182102.jpg

If it is that's great to see another one of these rare bikes....
But then I wish the view wasn't a bit spoiled by the not so classic looking Mavic "Lego" style clipless pedals, which unfortunately was Mavic's least attractive designed component.... clunky, boxy and heavy. The yellow plastic parts don't help either. Totally at odds with that beatiful bike.....
Campy SR pedals would have been so much nicer on the bike....
Possible good thing about those pedals though, it might be a sign that somebody actually rides the bike....:thumb:
Is it real? Hard to tell being that it almost looks too minty fresh perfect. I'd have an easier time getting convince if the bike at least has a little bit of "patina" on it, more than the Bacon hoods which can be cooked in just a couple of years in a dry climate....

The fork crown looks consistent with Confente #5 (pics on Classic Rendezvous). Ditto the scalloped stays. But the aero cable routing would have to be a later (and unfortunate) mod by the owner. Is the RD cable routed through the chain stay as well? Hard to tell in the pic. Some other details (inner fork tangs, seat cluster, BB shell, dropouts) would help and be welcome.

I like that Cinelli stem with the badge on the side and nice lines around the stem bolt.

DI agree the forkcrown and headlugs look the part, but ...I'd need to see more to be convinced. It would be unfortunate if somebody added internal cable routing to it, but...stranger Drewing has happened...

That would also explain the fresher than expected paint.

There are a fake or two and a "tribute" bike too… that color even to very close… the tribute frame is marked as such on the bottom bracket to proclaim what it is.
The top tube cable routing might be original IF the serial number is 07, not just 7.
If 07 , then the bike would have been built up in Monterey Ca at George Farrier's (sp) home workshop.
There is another example from the Monterey period that has that cable routing.
Mario started over with the numbers and used a leading 0 when he resumed building after being locked out of the Los Angeles shop.
I would expect the brake levers to have a few very small spades milled into the front of them.
If #07 , then the only hiccup is the chrome fork crown, most of the Monterey bikes had painted crowns.
Only one image, so that is the best I can do.

Is your friend's last name Farrier?

[MENTION=57478]repechage[/MENTION], thanks for the good info regarding possibility of internal cable routing & reset of the serial numbers.

Rereading my post I realize that I wasn't clear about this.

My friend isn't the owner of the Confente. My friend recently stayed at a hotel and the bike was on display in the lobby.

The owner of the hotel is the owner of the bike. The hotel owner is the gentleman who said that the guy who made the frame worked in his father's shop,

I love a mystery. Where's the hotel?

Is this a real Confente?
 

Northern Michigan.

But wait….who's on first?

This casts a cloud over the bike's provenance: AFAIK, all the shops in Northern Michigan make fudge.
;)

That's the best picture your friend sent you? What kind of friend is that? ;)

Such a tease. :(

Auchen has taught me well.

A non C&V friend. They do exist. :)

At least on the UP, yes. Northern MI, not so much. ;)

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island??

Is this a real Confente?
 

Somewhere near Traverse City.

That bike is way too big for whoever is riding it. I'll be there this weekend to get rid of it for them. I'll give 'em 100 bucks for the parts value....

Need more pics.!

I hope it's chained to a column in the hotel lobby........
A slick bike thief can poof away with it when the front desk is distracted with customers.....

After he stole it what could he do with it? Assuming it's genuine, Confentes are rare enough that it would attract lots of attention if the thief actually rode it in public.

You know rare, expensive and world known artwork is regularly stolen from museums and kept away from many years or forever from the public eye by "Dr. Evil" type art collectors..... I assume there are equivalents in the bike collector world..... that Confente would make such a nice wall hanger in a villain cave hideout under a fake volcano.....:rolleyes:
Heck!, the Dr. might even have his own underground velodrome to ride it on.....:D

Who's this confetti guy?

Mario Confente

Mario Confente was a framebuilder for Masi in Italy who moved to California to build Masi frames in the U.S. He then built frames on his own and had a reputation for superlative craftsmanship. He died young, so there weren't many Confente frames built.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps11c51208.jpg

Eddy and Mario.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps90c76198.jpg