Germany’s best cyclocrosser Philipp Walsleben has been capitalising on last season’s national championship win with a very strong season so far this winter. With an attacking style, Walsleben hasn’t been afraid to lay it on the line when trying to dispatch his big name rivals, and has been rewarded with some hard-won results.
As teammate of double world champion Niels Albert in the BKCP-Powerplus squad, Walsleben races on Colnago bikes, with the Prestige model gaining, er, prestige underneath rivals Albert and Sven Nys, In keeping with the Italian company’s tradition, the Prestige has remained largely unaltered for years. But, as recently debuted by Nys and Albert, Walsleben had his first disc-equipped Prestige on display before the Superprestige race at Gavere.
Walsleben’s mechanic told BikeRadar that at the moment they only have one Shimano Di2 hydraulic groupset, fitted to this bike, but assured us that Philipp would begin the race on it. We did wonder how easy it would be to swap between a single bike with discs and several spares with cantilevers on a course as technical as Gavere, and whether this was a factor or not, Walsleben didn’t use it at all this time.
The disc Prestige obviously differs with its specific calliper mounts, but otherwise retains its classic look, the trademark brace between the horizontal top tube and the seat tube keeping the family resemblance. Shimano’s component arm PRO supply an all-aluminium cockpit of XCR stem and Vibe 7s handlebar, plus the excellent titanium-railed Turnix saddle, which is mounted on Colnago’s own carbon seatpost, that offers up to 32mm of setback.
Shimano's new ST-R785 Di2 hydraulic shift and brake levers
Gracing the bars are the R785 hydraulic brake levers, which are Di2-specific, because electronic shifting requires far less space in the hoods than a mechanical arrangement. The hoods are still larger than on the non-hydraulic levers, but less obvious than SRAM’s equivalent, for those worried about aesthetics.
For those worried about braking, the R785 hydraulics have proven utterly reliable beneath Lars Van Der Haar all season long, and Walsleben’s bike follows suit in having 140mm rotors front and rear, but does have different wheels than the flying Dutchman. The mechanic could only confirm that these 28 hole carbon wheels are from Shimano, but didn’t know the exact spec, or what they might eventually be called, should they reach production. From our observations, we can tell the rims are in unidirectional carbon that isn’t designed with a braking track, meaning they’re disc-specific.
The width doesn’t look much different from current offerings, although we were unable to measure them, the spoke nipples are external for easy maintenance, and the disc hubs have conventional flanges with unknown J-bend bladed spokes, and are finished in a typically Ultegra colour. Rim depth looks to be around 35mm too, but again we weren’t able to verify that.
These 28h carbon rims were only badged 'Shimano', and are obviously designed for disc, judging by the lack of braking track and positioning of decals
The rest of the drivetrain is Shimano Dura Ace Di2, including a 9000 series 4-arm chainset fitted with the pro’s favoured 46/39t ring combination, turning in a BSA-sized bottom bracket with external cups. The notion that more leverage is preferred off road doesn’t hold true, with the choice of 172.5mm cranks, which although the recommended length for the German’s 177cm height, is something that’s often ignored in the quest for extra grunt. As with most of the racers at Gavere, the sticky, dragging nature of the tough climbs meant a change from the usual 11-speed 11-27 cassette to an 11-28 option for Walsleben, and an Ultegra version is used for practicality.
While Dugast Rhinos (or equivalent) were almost the only choice for such a gnarly course, Walsleben had chosen to run the 32mm version, instead of the maximum permitted 33mm width. This may have been with a view to increasing clearance at the rear and reducing mud build up, which is always a priority in Gavere, as even though disc bikes are far less prone to clogging than their canti cousins, on that course, every little helps.
Unfortunately, we weren’t permitted to weigh the disc Prestige, which was made clear to us from the start. There were some development parts (the wheels) fitted, and Colnago aren’t known for prioritising a light frame above durability, so we can only hazard a guess as to the complete machine’s weight. The only snippet we could glean was that this model weighs 540g more than it’s cantilever stablemate, which doesn’t allow for variables in the wheels, but does give us a rough guide. With the steady increase in riders making the tentative move to discs, this could be the blueprint for things to come.
Complete bike specification
- Frame: Colnago Prestige Special Edition
- Fork: Colnago Prestige carbon disc
- Headset: Colnago
- Stem: PRO XCR aluminium 110mm
- Handlebar: PRO Vibe 7s aluminium 42cm
- Tape: PRO microfibre white
- Front brake: Shimano BR-R785 caliper, RT98 140mm rotor
- Rear brake: Shimano BR-R785 caliper, RT98 140mm rotor
- Brake levers: Shimano ST-R785 Di2 hydraulic
- Front mech: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Rear mech: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070
- Shift levers: Shimano ST-R785 Di2 hydraulic
- Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 6800 11-28 11 speed
- Chain: Shimano Dura-Ace 11 speed
- Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 46/39t, 172.5mm cranks
- Bottom bracket: Shimano Dura-Ace BSA fit
- Pedals: Shimano XTR M970
- Rims: Shimano unnamed disc-specific carbon 28h
- Front hub: Shimano road disc
- Rear hub: Shimano road disc
- Spokes: Unbranded bladed J-bend
- Front tyre: Dugast Rhino 32mm
- Rear tye: Dugast Rhino 32mm
- Saddle: PRO Turnix with titanium rails
- Seatpost: Colnago carbon, 32mm setback
Critical measurements
- Height: 177cm/5ft8"
- Weight: 68kg/150lb
- Saddle height BB centre to top: 74.3cm
- Saddle setback: 11.6cm
- Seat tube centre to top: 56cm
- Seat tube centre to centre: 52cm
- Saddle to bar centre: 55cm
- Saddle to bar drop: 8.2cm
- Head tube length: 13cm
- Top tube length: 53.5cm
- Total weight: Unknown - 540g more than same size cantilever version
