Amen, Richard, There are bike frame builders who are fine visual artists--a couple being in this group--and Mario was definitely one, sort of a George Gershwin or a Mozart who died before he probably did his best work. David Feldman
> this is my opinion...
> dale has created CLASSIC RENDEZVOUS as a cyber-salon
> in which lovers/appreciators/coveters/aficianados of bicycles
> and bicycling from a 'pre-determined era', an era which
> ended a long time ago, can discuss our interests with
> civility. as such, this salon encourages veneration of
> certain things and the people involved with these things.
> this said, mario confente may likely have forgotten more
> about frames at age 33 than most of us will ever learn.
> he should be put on a pedastal and revered, if for no
> other reason than that it will never be known what his
> full potential could have been, and what impact that potential
> may have had in the subsequent years. i thought he was an icon
> in 1974, and i believe similarly today.
> furthermore, to suggest that all that framebuilders do
> is " stick bits of tubing together....", is like saying, " george
> nakashima made nice coffee tables".
> while some of the recent posts relating to the 3M's, masi,
> medici, and mario may be long, tedious, and/or seemingly
> self serving, i find it to be useful information that has served
> to shed light, (and heat), on an important part of the
> CLASSIC RENDEZVOUS timeline. at times, it has taken
> over my email inbox and has been a real time sink.
> when this has happened, i hit the delete button.
> e-RICHIE
>
> On 7 Mar 2001 14:08:28 -0800 brucerobbins@worldmailer.com writes:
>
> Let's keep a sense of proportion and stop venerating framebuilders
> and treating them as if they were prophets or as if they even
> occupied a place of major importance in the world above the rest of
> us. However well they accomplish it, all they actually do is stick
> bits of tubing together to make a pretty basic form of transport.
> Bruce Robbins