The highlight of Colnago's booth at this year's Eurobike trade show was a limited edition version of their new C59 Italia flagship, dressed in a stark pearl white finish with shimmering silver decals and accents, and limited to just 59 samples worldwide.
Interestingly, Colnago chose to outfit their premier road bike not with a Campagnolo Super Record 11 group but rather Shimano's Dura-Ace Di2 package – a move Italian devotees will lambast as practically sacrilegious but one that admittedly allows for some unique stylistic touches that aren't possible with conventional cables.
Wires are routed internally through the frame so as to not disrupt its beautifully clean lines, and Colnago went to great efforts to conceal them at the front end, too, feeding the lines into the stem and housing the group's control box inside it as well. Naturally, the rear brake cable is run through the top tube, too.
Wiring on the limited edition C-59 Italia is fully internal with even the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 junction box being housed inside the stem
Aside from the matching white carbon saddle, seatpost and integrated bar/stem, the rest of the bike is standard-issue C59 Italia, including Colnago's latest lobed and oversized main tube profiles with wall-to-wall internal ribbing, a new carbon fork with tapered steerer, and newly rectangular chainstays that Colnago claim to add stiffness. Claimed frame weight is right around 1,000g.
The head tube lug houses a tapered carbon steerer tube
M10
Colnago also showed off their new M10, a further evolution of last year's modular monocoque CX-1 model but said to be stiffer and more responsive on account of its more heavily reinforced bottom bracket area and tapered front end. Like the C-59 Italia, claimed weight is right around 1,000g.
The M10 is Colnago's latest modular monocoque model, based on the CX-1 but with even more rigidity, internal cable routing and a tapered steerer
CX-1 Evo
Finally, last year's CX-1 has also been slightly updated, though pretty mildly – the rear brake line is now fed through the top tube for a cleaner look and the name has changed to CX-1 Evo.
The updated CX-1 Evo gets internal rear brake routing for 2011