the company, as it had been one with which I was rather unfamiliar.
The simple story is that Medici was a spin-off from the Masi USA company, but there was far more going on behind the scenes. Master framebuilder Mario Confente, who was brought to America by the legend Faliero Masi to start up his new California-based venture, grew anxious to produce bicycles bearing his own name, formed a close friendship with Jim Cunningham, who was a frame painter in the Masi shop and eventually went on to found CyclArt.
Needing funding for their company, the two connected with New Jersey businessman Bill Recht, who proved to be a bit shady in his dealings. You can read more about Confente and his work HERE, courtesy of a couple articles by Russ Howe, and you can delve into the complications surrounding the Medici company HERE, via emails shared by Jim Cunningham and Medici employee Brian Bayless. Details are a bit mixed between the two accounts of what happened, but it is clear, despite their laid-back, apologetic natures, the men do not get along.
The sad part of the story is that Confente enjoyed a very short time with his name adorning custom-built frames, as he died at the age of 34 from heart disease.
Although Brendan's bike does not have a Confente frame, it is a quality mid-1980s product built of Tange Prestige tubing. My friend did not let my Euro-snobbery affect his decision to have me assemble the bike with an early Shimano 600 groupset. Note that Brendan even came up with an aero water bottle with Medici lettering!
Just as an aside, I've only ever had the opportunity to work with one CyclArt-painted frame, a Team Lemond Pro bicycle, about seven years ago. Jim Cunningham's company was absorbed by the Arkansas-based HIA Velo, but you can see some of his beautiful work HERE on Flickr.
I visited with Brendan last week to drop off his Medici and also provide a bit of service to his collection of bicycles. I ended up coming away with two more bicycles to work on, an Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven bike similar to the one I recently acquired, but in a condition that puts mine to shame, and an '80s Bianchi. The goal will be to swap the Campagnolo and Dura-Ace parts between the two, but more on that later...
