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Jun 13, 2023

Eleven historic Colnagos from the company archives

Mad, beautiful, innovative, and historic. Here's a mega bike gallery and a half

Mad, beautiful, innovative, and historic. Here's a mega bike gallery and a half

We've already taken you behind the scenes of the Colnago factory itself in Cambiago, along with the paintworks, so you can get a flavour of how bikes like the Colnago C-68 are still produced entirely in Italy. But while I was at the brand's headquarters, I was also led down a corridor and through an unassuming set of double doors into a room so crowded with historic bikes that I needed a second to have a sit-down. Hidden away out of sight, Colnago has slowly been amassing rare specimens from across the entirety of its history. Limited runs, gold-plated bikes for the Pope, pioneering tech, hyperlight carbon builds; the works.

From this room of hundreds, I picked out ten that were most interesting, eye-catching, historic, innovative, or some combination of all four with the help of Alessandro, the resident Colnagologist. Because I'm extremely indecisive, I then picked out another one to make a total of 11. What follows is what I hope constitutes a virtual museum. Think of each mini bike gallery as an exhibit with a blurb. Take your time, sit and look at the details, make a sketch if you like, and remember this is just the tip of the iceberg of what will hopefully in due course become a real museum.

In the late '90s, carbon fibre was beginning to establish itself as the material of choice for performance race bikes. Before it completely took over there was a short period where titanium enjoyed the limelight at the very apex of performance. Still relatively rare compared to steel and the recently proliferated load of aluminium options, titanium options from Colnago and others never really got a foothold in the same way thanks to high production costs and the cost of raw materials; Ti is expensive and tricky to weld - just see our Passoni factory tour for evidence.

The Titanium Oval Master aimed to provide a more aerodynamic alternative to the Colnago Bititan for riders of the era like Tony Rominger. Despite the Mapei livery this model never really saw much competitive use, nor did it see much commercial success thanks to the high price tag. The pros tended to opt for the carbon Carbitubo and then the C40 due to the weight improvements, and the high price kept sales back. That being said, it was also only produced in very small numbers, so is worth a pretty penny nowadays, and the horizontal top tube keeps the 'Master' look.

Available between 2006 and 2010 the Extreme-C shares a lot of its DNA with the Extreme Power and the EPS models in that it's lugged, much like the C68, but using round tubes rather than shaped ones. Low weight was the aim of this model, aided by the round tube profiles, and thin walls; the main tubes vary from 1.0-0.8mm thick in places. They also taper, with the top tube being a greater diameter at the head tube, and the downtube being broader at the bottom bracket junction.

This build took lightness to a slightly unhinged degree, with an all-carbon saddle, a composite set of Colnago cranks, rarely seen Aerolite pedals, a bottle cage created from a ribbon of composite, AX Lightness brakes, and an extremely bling Lightweight derailleur that retailed at the time for close to $1,200.

That's just the obvious components; the bottom bracket features CNC'd titanium inserts rather than steel or alloy to further drop the overall weight. At 6.3kg, the polka dot motif referencing the King of the Mountains jersey from the Tour is a fitting paint job I'd say.

We take carbon monocoque bikes for granted now. They're ubiquitous, to the point that a lugged construction or anything different is novel or unique. That had to start somewhere, and the Carbon Volo is ground zero. A precursor to the more famous C35, the Carbon Volo was created to offer a racing alternative to steel and was made in one piece from a mix of carbon and Kevlar to aid vibration dampening. The fork, too, is a monocoque construction, though some riders opted for an alloy fork instead.

Thanks to metal inserts at the BB, headtube and dropouts it could take any groupset at the time, and claimed the amateur road race world title in 1987 and the track persuit world title in 1988 under Lech Piasecki. Interestingly in 1987, the professional road race was won by Joop Zoetemelk, also aboard a Colnago, but he opted for a steel Master instead.

The red chain and Campagnolo pedals are head turners, but the real star is the mint condition Delta brakes. Sure, they might not be the best at actually bringing you to a halt, but does it matter when they look like that?

You can still buy a Colnago Master today, but the model has undergone some unusual iterations in the past, with several rare experimental versions out there. What we've got here is the Master Dual, ridden by Giuseppe Saronni, featuring a split downtube to increase bottom bracket stiffness.

In terms of the Master timeline, this slots in after the Master Piu, which added the internal cable routing inside the top tube, but before the introduction of the straight-legged (and controversial at the time) Precisa fork.

Road and track versions were produced but, despite the increase in stiffness, they never really took off thanks to a hefty weight penalty. They did however pave the way for the Carbitubo, which also features a split downtube, but is made from carbon.

CX in this case doesn't refer to cyclocross. "Oval CX" was the name of the tubeset, designed by Colnago and produced by Columbus, which aimed to offer a proper aero advantage over the competition; CX is the scientific notation for the coefficient of drag.

The Oval CX paved the way for the hour record bike used by Tony Rominger in '94, but was initially created for Soviet track teams looking to win the 100km team race. The aero considerations may seem archaic and parochial by modern standards, but at the time they were certainly innovative. Narrower fork legs and a narrower headtube to cut down on the frontal area, a narrow seat tube, and an aero saddle underside all come together alongside ovalised tubing, shift levers atop the tube rather than on the side, internal cable routing for brakes and gearing, and a rear brake tucked under the seatstay bridge rather than above it. The seatstays themselves joined at the rear of the seat cluster lug rather than the sides, so as to create a narrower rear profile.

Considering all of these features have been seen on much more modern bikes it's certainly noteworthy that all of this was created on a lugged bike. For fans of extremely nerdy details, the red finish on the lugs is known as "chromovelato."

Like the Master Dual, this is a rare example of an already rare version of the Master. In order to satisfy the demands of Eros Poli, a tall and powerful rider, for more stiffness the Master Equilateral shifted the seatstay join from the top of the seat tube to some distance along the top tube. The aim was to create a smaller, and therefore stiffer triangle.

While the road-going versions are rare, the track editions, with the wobbly seat tube to reduce the wheelbase and the bulbous disc wheels are very few and far between. Tyre clearance is about as tight as you can get, too!

The Arabesque is another of the steel models you can still buy today, and the original Arabesques were born out of the Master, as evidenced by the Master logos on this bike. The aim was to marry the performance of the Master, with a more intricate, luxurious aesthetic being promoted by other framebuilders at the time. Intricately carved lugs were the main difference.

The Arabesque tended to match the tubing of the Master, eventually also going with internal cables inside the top tube. The 'Regal' version used Columbus EsaColnago tubing, with six longitudinal ridges on the main tubes, and its another extremely rare bike, especially in a build with gold plated Campagnolo componentry.

The Mexico Oro was launched to commemorate Eddy Merckx' hour record in '72. It takes the same basic form as the Colnago Super of the same era, except it uses lighter Columbus Record tubing, with chainstays ovalised at the bottom bracket junction. The frameset comes in 200g lighter than the Super for the same size, and this model remained available until as late as '82, by this point sporting the same ribbed tubing as the Master.

That's not gold paint either, it's gold plating, which only seems fitting for a model which saw one example donated to Pope John Paul II.

The C35 was released to commemorate the brand's 35th anniversary, and is a clear successor in form and construction to the Carbon Volo. It's a monocoque construction too, but in this case it's entirely carbon fibre, rather than carbon and Kevlar. In order to gain some expertise in this field, Colnago collaborated with Ferarri, given the material's established use in Formula 1.

The straight blade forks are monocoque again, and larger than those on the Carbon Volo as well as being straight in an effort to maximise aerodynamics. It was ridden on its racing debut by Saronni, but not using the futuristic 5-spoke carbon wheels, which were radical for the time.

The use of Shimano rather than Campagnolo for this model, and the C35 MTB below, is certainly noteworthy too and indicative of the shift towards a more dominant market position for the Japanese brand.

Released alongside C35, the C35 MTB was perhaps even more eye catching, primarily due to the lack of a seat tube. Again, produced in monocoque fashion in collaboration with Ferarri, but here Pamapaint was given a little more freedom with the airbrush, giving us a mountain scene (in case you didn't realise what the bike was for).

Airbrush paint was characteristic of the era, but it's unusual to see airbrushed monocoque carbon wheels. Sadly it's an aesthetic that's fallen by the wayside, even with a resurgence of tri-spoke wheels for TT bikes.

Remote lockout for the forks, and internal cable routing are all things that are standard on modern mountain bikes, but as ever these things have to start somewhere.

If you think this bike looks slightly oddly proportioned it's probably the smaller wheels throwing your frame of reference off. in the early 90's, with a triathlon boom, the Master Olympic 26 was created to fulfil the demand for Tri bikes. As well as featuring the same Gilco Master tube profiles that continue to be used to this day, the Master Olympic 26 had a steeper seat tube for a more optimal pedalling position while on the included ITM aero bars.

The smaller wheels were claimed to be more aero simply because they were smaller, but are just as eye-catching in this case thanks to them featuring five giant, purple, aluminium spokes. Gipiemme isn't a feature of the modern cycling world anymore, but the brand certainly knew how to make a wild-looking set of wheels.

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Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. There are very few types of cycling he's not dabbled in, and he has a particular affection for older bikes and long lasting components. Road riding was his first love, before graduating to racing CX in Yorkshire. He's been touring on a vintage tandem all the way through to fixed gear gravel riding and MTB too. When he's not out riding one of his many bikes he can usually be found in the garage making his own frames and components as a part time framebuilder, restoring old mountain bikes, or walking his collie in the Lake District.

Height: 182cm

Weight: 72Kg

Rides: Custom Zetland Audax, Bowman Palace:R, Peugeot Grand Tourisme Tandem, 1988 Specialized Rockhopper, Stooge Mk4, Falcon Explorer Tracklocross

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