jmagruder10

I purchased this bike that has been spray painted and has a mix of campy and dura ace parts . Guessing late 70`s or early 80`s vintage . The Bottom bracket has a spade cut out in it as well as the seat lug. Has a Pogliaghi pantographed stem. It came from a bike swap meet with a mid 80`s Colnago The Colnago is in a lot better shape. Please help with ID if you can. Sorry more picture tomorrow if needed. It started pouring down rain so this is all the pictures I got . The bike has some really custom looking dropouts as well.

repechage

Colner most likely.
Not a Confente.

Recently there was a bike identified as a Colner in the appraisals forum, a track bike in Oz.

jmagruder10

Thanks , but after a bit more research I think it is a confente. Same exact fork crown and drop outs as the current one on ebay. I will have to upload more pictures of the bike and get some more input , the dropouts are the give away, but I did not upload any pictures of them.

Kactus

If it IS a Confente you just hit the lottery. The details do seem consistent and even with the thick coat of paint you can see the nice thinning on the lugs.

Bianchigirll 

I agree. I for one would like to see more pics. I think there are people still around who are familiar enough Confente that if you find a serial number they should be able to tell for sure.

I am curious why if you had this bike for 30 some years why are you just now deciding it may be a Confente? Are the cables painted yellow or do they have a plastic coating on them?

According to a Concours d' Elegance article in Cyclist Aug '89 (I really miss that old rag) there were less than 200 Confentes built between 1972 when he arrived in Calif with masi and '76 when he unfortunately passed away.

repechage

That was strange. I wrote a post last night, and it vanished.
The last image of the underside of the fork and head tube region did not come up for me for my initial response.
Here goes my recreation of that post:
The fork is Mario like, but also similar to what Masi was doing in 1976.
The head lugs are the problem, they are Dubois looking, don't know more until the top side is revealed.
There is an alluding that the rear dropouts are modified to how Mario did them.
The paint on this bike has to go, needs to be chemically stripped.
There might be original color under the yellow at the bottom bracket.
From the current eBay offering, the placement of the size and serial numbers by Mario points where to start stripping.
but, if it is a Confente, I suspect it has been crashed and a new front end been made.
That would account for the head lugs.
Jim Cunningham of Cyclart has many of the build cards, a chance that might shed some light. In the past he has stated that he would share info with a Confente owner. Which if still true is much better than having to pay for it.

In studying the metalwork, maybe most of the frame is. That thick paint is terrible. Comparing it to mine, there are a number of things I would like to see beyond what is posted so far.
Interesting areas include:
Front, back and side view of the seat lug.
The top tube, almost all had the "Confente" cable guides, at the very end he did at least one with internal cable routing. I doubt this frame would have it, as it most likely uses above the shell Campagnolo cable braze ones. There are some signature details of how he handled those too, so a shot from above, but real confirmation there might be hiding under the paint.
The inside of the seat tube looking forward toward the head tube.
The inside of the bottom bracket shell, this would be for evidence of a tube replacement.
Unfortunate chance that if the down tube was replaced, the identification stamps got files away or filled, that is why I suggested a chemical strip of the paint.
Along the lines of a possible frame repair, drop the fork and knock out the headset fittings, how the lugs are faced will assist in telling what happened if it is.
My personal guess at this point, a crashed and repaired Confente.
If so, too bad the guy doing the work could not locate the proper BCM long point pro lugs.
The way those lugs are cut out, I think it is near impossible to extract a tube without tearing the lug apart, too little metal where one needs more. I can think of a way to save them, but not easy to do at all.

If it is a repaired Confente, a few names come to mind to set the front end right.
Let's see plenty of more images, after stripping off the paint even better, and if there is original color below, document that too, might be original transfers hiding too.

thinktubes 

I feel like we've seen and discussed this bike before.....

repechage

I could not locate a thread, how long ago?
There is in the valuation thread an inquiry in a Colner pista recently down in Oz.

Bianchigirll 

I got tired of opening the pics everytime I read a new post.

Stem


BB Shell


Fork


Seat lug, top looking aft.

jmagruder10

Here are a few more pictures. I doubt this bike has ever been posted before. I just bought it yesterday and I don`t think it has seen the light of day in many years. I posted some more pictures . I don`t think anyone was trying to make a fake Confente or it would have cost me a lot more. I paid very very little for this bike.

repechage

The seat tube back looks Confente.

Stamped 45 or 045?

The BB cable guides are not handled in the typical manner but if the down tube was replaced, those often get removed.

The aft top tube cable guide appears in trouble, the composition was off or purposefully avoided.

Bianchigirll 

Put the wire brush away and do a search on here for stripping paint. I agree with trying to check out that blue and the possiblility of decals.

repechage

The bike appears over painted with yellow over the probable original blue color, with the bottom bracket, parts of the headset and cables even still in place... Removing the paint will really tell a tale, at the head lugs in particular that have been avoided thus far.

Kactus

If this is a repaired Confente, it is definitely worth the money to have someone, maybe repechage can recommend one, do a full restoration.

Ghrumpy

I shared this with Jim Cunningham and we agree that it does appear to be a Confente. He does not belong to the forum but please contact him via the CyclArt web site. He would be glad to help you verify its identity.

KonAaron Snake 

So what are your plans for the bike?

unworthy1

not that familiar with "true Confente" details but it sure looks like a nice frame. Is that milled dropout face something Mario did? it looks too "modern" for a '70s frame to my uneducated eye.
If you scored a real Confente for "very little money" you truly have a world-class story, here! Even if it's just a Colner it looks like the nicest Colner I ever saw.

Kactus

I'd love to hear more about how you came to find and buy the bike and any plans for it.

repechage

The milled dropout faces are typical but not exclusive.
Richard Sachs did them too, but I think it was after seeing them at the New York bike show.

Mario did versions of them a few times while at Masi.

There are a number of elements that look correct to this yellow bike. There are a few areas that don't look similar.
Things happen, bikes coveted today we're not always.
The really poor repaint is very curious, like tweaker work, let's avoid the bike shop want to hide the true identity kind of work.

repechage

I would go elsewhere for any restoration work.

KonAaron Snake 

+1...Ed Litton's stuff is a little thick and glossy for my taste, but it does look GOOD, and he's a good guy. I was VERY impressed with the restoration from Southwest Frameworks on my Palo Alto. That's probably where I'd go.

Spectrum will be pricey, but there's a reason for that...I'd probably consider them for a bike of this magnitude.

Pogliaghi

Just wondering if you found any other numbers on the bottom bracket shell and if so what are they? Can you take a photo of the number? What is the size of the frame? Nice looking frame!

gomango

If it were my frameset, I'd put it in my little econo car and drive it over to Chris Kvale or Curt Goodrich and let them do their thing.

I won't ever send another frameset out of this area for a refinish.

jmagruder10

I am not sure at this time what I am going to do with this bike. I am a vintage track bike collector and this is kind of out of my league. I will take some time and think about what I am going to do with the bike and If I have it restored who I should have do it. Also the Colnago I picked up at the same time is a sweet bike. I will have to post some pictures of it at a later time to help me ID the year and model of it . As for how I found it as some has asked, it is in my first post. I bought it at a local bike swap meet in Kansas City Missouri area. there were lots of other bike people there and this sat there for a few hours without much interest , because it just looks like an ugly spray painted homeless persons bike at first glance. It started pouring down rain and everyone was leaving and I made an offer and got the bike.

Pogliaghi

If the frame turns out to be confirmed as a Confente and it is my size do you want to trade for a fully restored early 60s Pogliaghi track bike? :-)