On the top floor of Colnago‘s headquarters, a museum houses dozens of historic bikes, including this 1980 Olympic champion track bike
When the head tube simply cannot be short enough, you can always go this route to get low
At 82 years old, Ernesto Colnago has enjoyed quite a life with many people, from world champions to the Pope to his wife of more than 50 years
This gift to Mrs Colnago, who lives with Ernesto literally across the street from Colnago headquarters, was handpainted to commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary
Ernesto Colnago presented this bicycle to Pope John Paul II in 1979. After the Pope’s death, the bike was auctioned off to a collector from whom Colnago later repuchased it
Many amateur riders have their names on the top tubes these days. But do you know anyone with self-branded chainrings?
Naturally for an Italian company and an Italian Pope, the bike had Campagnolo
The original hoods are showing their age
The C59 Ottanta celebrated Ernesto Colnago’s 80th birthday
As bicycle supplier to many of the sport’s top names over the years, Colnago often experimented with new designs
This prototype from 1980 featured a few wild concepts
In addition to an incredible amount of handlebar drop, the prototype had a direct drive with an extra mechanical advantage
Long before anatomic cut-outs or split-rail saddles, Colnago tinkered with this design
Before the UCI began banning various designs for excessive aerodynamic advantage, framebuilders were allowed much more freedom
For the world team time trial, Colnago used small front wheels so the Italian team members could ride closer to each other for a better draft
Italy won the world team time trial championship in 1990 with these bikes
If one down tube is good, aren’t two better?
The bikes of world champions abound in Colnago’s museum
Paris-Roubaix is always touted as a convincing proving ground for new techology, and with good reason. While some were skeptical early on about carbon-fiber bikes on the pavé, Colnago’s five victories make a strong case
From the days of quill stems and Ballerini to threadless steerers and Museeuw, Colnago enjoyed a good run at the Hell of the North
If you wash off this mud you will be fired
Tony Rominger’s bike for his 1994 world hour record-setting ride
Rominger used a 60×14 for his hour record. He completed 55.291km in that hour, the same year he won the Vuelta a España for the third time
The 1972 machine of Eddy Merckx’s hour-record ride. The Cannibal set a mark of 49.431km that stood for 12 years. Note the drilled handlebars
Colnago and Ferrari worked on a bike with internal gearing and hydraulic braking
Too early for its time, Colnago said of the Concept bike
Colnago hydraulic brake levers never made it to market — until the recent collaboration with Formula
The way hydraulic brake calipers might have looked
Internal routing? Nothing new here
The internal gearing was functional but not exactly light
The car-racing inspired down tube shifter controlled the internal gearing
A 4.5kg/9.9lb bike is impressively light today. In 1975, when it was produced, it was incredible
The axle and nut were minimized, and the bearings left uncovered for every possible weight savings
Handlebars just had too much material in them. This problem was remedied with a drill
A Colnago-branded Delta brake caliper
The first bike of Ernesto Colnago, as restored and somewhat recreated by the company
File this one under “You know you’re an old-school cyclist when…”
The ‘sticker flicker’ could be of use today
Lugs have long been a part of Colnago’s life. Even today, the top-end carbon machines employ lugs
There are Campagnolo derailleurs on Colnago’s today, but they function a tiny bit differently
The next time you find yourself out of gears on a climb, remember this
The Master line of bikes included a number of prototypes as well as stock machines
On this 1983 prototype, two down tubes were welded together to form a unique split design
Not every bike in the Colnago museum hails from road or track racing
Recently, Colnago’s design work has taken the company into the wind tunnel
The strings were taped on to observe air flow around the bike
The K.Zero was a big step forward, although installing brake calipers behind the fork was done by the company decades prior
Tiny aspiring roadies, Colnago has a bike for you
Many decades of machines, many decades of great stories
Colnago was late to get into mountain biking, but the company is embracing new trends like 1x drivetrains
Thanks to its partnership with Formula, Colnago was the first brand to market with a disc-brake road bike
The co-branded Colnago/Formula electronic/hydraulic levers beat Shimano to the punch
The shifters work similarly to Campagnolo, with one thumb lever and one index-finger lever
One day this carbon-fiber road machine with an electronic 11-speed drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes will look old, too. But not today
For a relatively small family business, Colnago has a huge amount of history. Just across the street from where founder Ernesto Colnago has lived for years, Colnago’s factory and headquarters host a museum with machinery that has been under the ownership of everyone from Pope John Paul II to scores of world champions and victors of the world’s biggest races.
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Wild-shaped prototypes that never saw the light of day sit next to production bikes that won Paris-Roubaix, still encrusted with the mud from the Hell of the North.
Among the many notable designs are not one but two distinct milestones in road hydraulics. Colnago was first to market with a fully hydraulic disc-brake road bike with electronic shifting, the C59 Disc, in 2012. (BikeRadar took a test ride on an early prototype in April of 2012.) But Colnago’s first attempt at hydraulic braking came much earlier, in a collaboration with Ferrari in 1986.
Take a closer look at these bikes and many, many more in the photo gallery at above right.
Colnago hydraulic brake levers never made it to market — until the recent collaboration with formula:Ben Delaney/Future Publishing
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Colnago/Ferrari hydraulic brake levers, circa 1986
