Hi, My name is Jim Norsworthy I live in the Napa Valley California. I migrated to your list after I googled a story on Mario Confente and have read the list and all the entries surrounding this gentleman. My reason for being intersed in Mario is that I believe that my first road bike may have been built with the invesment cast lugs that he designed and eventually went to Bill Recth (sp) due to him financing the effort. I have a 1980 Medici Pro Strada that I ordered through Fulton St, Cyclery SF, CA in either late 1979 or early 1980. I still ride this bike today and although I have several other vintage Bicycles, this bike remains my favorite to ride.
My question is, even though this bike was built postmortem of Mario, how much of Mario's influence, if any, would have gone into the design and building of this bike. Or were just his lug designs used. Who would have been the builders of this bike and how well do the early Medici bikes stand up to later models that I assume were mass produced at some point.
Thanks,
Jim Norsworthy
Napa Ca
1959 Legnano Gran Premio
1964 Bianchi Specialissima
1970 Raleigh Super Course
1980 Medici Pro Strada