Colnago C40

ianeverton

Wanted to share my latest purchase with everybody, not planning on building it for a little while as got no more cash but had to have the frame when I saw it.

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae29 ... on/C40.jpg

Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

ianeverton

Is this image better ?

glasgowbhoy

Nice.
What year is that from?
How much did it cost?
Have had my eye on a Colnago frame for a while but cash and an eagle eyed wife has prevented a purchase!

apple15

Yep I find myself in the same prediciment, just picked up an Extreme Power...so all I can do is dream about how I'm gonna kit it out .
BTW Great looking frame.

APIII

That's quality. You can't let a simple thing like shortage of cash stop you building it up, surely?

PostieJohn

Apple15 wrote:

Yep I find myself in the same prediciment, just picked up an Extreme Power...so all I can do is dream about how I'm gonna kit it out .

Now, now, that's not entirely true, is it?
Are you telling stories in front of the big boys, trying to look cool?

Unless you feel the Reynolds carbon wheels, & Campag groupset, that new bling saddle and handlebars, that's currently sitting on your Willier aren't quite up to spec.

FransJacques

Great frame but those aren't stock forks. Those are Giant TCR forks painted and decaled to look like 'Nag forks. The C40 only really ever came with, at first, the steel Prescia fork, then later a carbon thin legged fork (eventually the Star). That said, the aero fork looks pretty good on it.

Why not put some 105 on her (silver only) and just ride it?

ianeverton

Apparently they are Colnago carbon forks off a newer Colnago, the guy sent them to Colnago for re-spray. I have the invoice from Colnago, he only had them re-sprayed last year.

I have just picked up some Athena bits in silver so may start to make it up pretty soon.

FransJacques wrote:

Great frame but those aren't stock forks. Those are Giant TCR forks painted and decaled to look like 'Nag forks. The C40 only really ever came with, at first, the steel Prescia fork, then later a carbon thin legged fork (eventually the Star). That said, the aero fork looks pretty good on it.

Why not put some 105 on her (silver only) and just ride it?

nochekmate

ianeverton wrote:

Apparently they are Colnago carbon forks off a newer Colnago, the guy sent them to Colnago for re-spray. I have the invoice from Colnago, he only had them re-sprayed last year.

I have just picked up some Athena bits in silver so may start to make it up pretty soon.

FransJacques wrote:

Great frame but those aren't stock forks. Those are Giant TCR forks painted and decaled to look like 'Nag forks. The C40 only really ever came with, at first, the steel Prescia fork, then later a carbon thin legged fork (eventually the Star). That said, the aero fork looks pretty good on it.

Why not put some 105 on her (silver only) and just ride it?

I think that I agree with FransJacques - whatever the paperworks says, I don't think that they are Colnago forks and certainly not the original C40 forks. Either way - nice frame and as a C40 owner myself, I hope that you enjoy your bike as much as I do mine.

Evil Laugh

Don't look like any Colnago forks I know.

Your options would be precisa steel , force or star carbon in 1" and none look like yours.

You can often pick up the naked star forks on ebay or whatever then your frame would be properly sweet a la....

Velonutter

I have a C40 as well and love it but it took a while to sort the comfort which was remedied with some Cinelli Neo Carbon Bars (not shown in the photo's).



Your Forks don't look like any Colnago ones that I have seen, but I remain to be corrected.

mrdsgs

First generation C40s were also supplied with a Time branded carbon fork, but it was thin and round and not aero shaped. The one photoed is not Colnago original but so what?!

FransJacques

mrdsgs wrote:

First generation C40s were also supplied with a Time branded carbon fork, but it was thin and round and not aero shaped. The one photoed is not Colnago original but so what?!

Yes, I think most posters agree that:

a) the forks in the OPs photo are not 'nag forks,
b) who gives a crap really,
c) get the thing built up and ride the snot outta it!

I love how the frame is pre-P-stay, pre hole in the chainstays, pre-1.125" etc. Pictures of Tafi, Ballerini, Museeuw dance in my head. Oh, and Bortolami, that guy was like the Tasmanian devil on a bike but all his commotion on the bike did end up with some serious forward motion.

Or, if you're more of the climbing type, Tonkov & Nardello rode these beautifully in the grand tours, as did a very young Cadel evans. Enjoy it. Just make sure your BB is ITA threaded and not English.

nochekmate

mrdsgs wrote:

First generation C40s were also supplied with a Time branded carbon fork, but it was thin and round and not aero shaped. The one photoed is not Colnago original but so what?!

I have the Time forks on my C40. No problem with the non-Colnago forks myself but merely supporting the statement that they are not original irrespective of OP's paperwork. As others have stated - it will still make a very fine bike.

FransJacques

Evil Laugh wrote:

Don't look like any Colnago forks I know.

Your options would be precisa steel , force or star carbon in 1" and none look like yours.

You can often pick up the naked star forks on ebay or whatever then your frame would be properly sweet a la....

Now that is a case of too long or too low a stem:
- bars are angled way too high - bars with long drop sections like those demand that the lower section is horizontal or *almost* horizontal to the ground,
- despite bars being so high, the brakelevers are also quite high.

All the above refers only to asthetics of course, but a 1cm shorter stem with the bars rotated downwards so that bottom section were just a hair above horizontal would look really sweet. The other fix is a £400 new Star fork and not cutting the steerer so bloody short.

FransJacques

Velonutter wrote:

I have a C40 as well and love it but it took a while to sort the comfort which was remedied with some Cinelli Neo Carbon Bars (not shown in the photo's).



Your Forks don't look like any Colnago ones that I have seen, but I remain to be corrected.

As I'm being a gobby sheit, I'll pick on this one as well:

- rider is too short for this bike but he's also not very flexible, why?
- seatpost is too low in the frame, for a Colnago with a size every CM, I'd suggest 1 or 2cms smaller.
- look at the stem length and bars: Stem is way short but the bars are very large in terms of reach.
- This rider could benefit from moving his saddle fwd if his knee was behind the pedal spindle and getting a 1cm longer stem with much smaller curve bars like the 3T ergonovas or FSA compacts.
- Next I'd put the ergolevers much further up the bar so I could rotate the drop section more parallel to the ground.

Look at the photo and picture a moving graphic where the top tube is lowering and shortening with the HT also shortening. The stem and seatpost could both grow and the contact points would be roughly the same.

Indeed finding a 10 year old C-40 2 sizes smaller with such a beautiful paint job would be nigh on impossible.

nochekmate

I'll post a pic of mine in updated mode once I've plucked up enough courage to go through the FransJacques 'rinser' (it's changed a fair bit since I bought it as a secondhand bargain for £720 - now Campag Chorus and Campag Shamals (in gold!!) instead of the original DA7700)

ianeverton

Just been told that the forks are older Colnago steel forks that have been re-sprayed, i think i will try and find myself some Star Carbon forks to go on her.

Is Ebay the best bet or is there a shop that sells them new ?

Cheers,

Velonutter

FransJacques wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

I have a C40 as well and love it but it took a while to sort the comfort which was remedied with some Cinelli Neo Carbon Bars (not shown in the photo's).



Your Forks don't look like any Colnago ones that I have seen, but I remain to be corrected.

As I'm being a gobby sheit, I'll pick on this one as well:

- rider is too short for this bike but he's also not very flexible, why?
- seatpost is too low in the frame, for a Colnago with a size every CM, I'd suggest 1 or 2cms smaller.
- look at the stem length and bars: Stem is way short but the bars are very large in terms of reach.
- This rider could benefit from moving his saddle fwd if his knee was behind the pedal spindle and getting a 1cm longer stem with much smaller curve bars like the 3T ergonovas or FSA compacts.
- Next I'd put the ergolevers much further up the bar so I could rotate the drop section more parallel to the ground.

Look at the photo and picture a moving graphic where the top tube is lowering and shortening with the HT also shortening. The stem and seatpost could both grow and the contact points would be roughly the same.

Indeed finding a 10 year old C-40 2 sizes smaller with such a beautiful paint job would be nigh on impossible.

Cheers FransJacques, this was the bike when first built, it's a 54cm C-C, I'm 5ft 10" with a 31 inside leg, Shoulders have been measured at 46cm and when I first built it it was uncomfortable.

In the old days when we used to race, seat posts didn't stick out and were virtually level with the stem, I'm 51 now and not so flexible so this was built for comfort not racing.

I changed the bars to Cinelli Neo Morphs and reduced the stem to 90cm, it made a very big difference to comfort and now I can ride all day without any problems.

The saddle is set perfect for my knee directly over the pedal spindle, I'll try and do some photo's of the set up as it is now and would welcome you thoughts.

Indeed trying to find a 52cm frame in this condition proved impossible, my other bikes are all 54cm with the exception of my look which is a 53cm sloping.

nochekmate

ianeverton wrote:

Just been told that the forks are older Colnago steel forks that have been re-sprayed, i think i will try and find myself some Star Carbon forks to go on her.

Is Ebay the best bet or is there a shop that sells them new ?

Cheers,

I think that FransJacques has perhaps correctly identified the forks as being Giant TCR. Seen your ad in the classifieds wanted section for Colnago forks - good luck in your search and I hope that they don't prove to be too costly.

...and here's my C40, so at the risk of FransJacques slating it or the set-up (feel free - it only cost me £720 and I then swapped out the DA7700 groupset & wheels for secondhand Chorus & Shamals - still probably only cost me £850 tops, so I'm happy)

nicensleazy

I just love the C40....looks stunning with Lightweights!

FransJacques

nochekmate wrote:

ianeverton wrote:

Just been told that the forks are older Colnago steel forks that have been re-sprayed, i think i will try and find myself some Star Carbon forks to go on her.

Is Ebay the best bet or is there a shop that sells them new ?

Cheers,

I think that FransJacques has perhaps correctly identified the forks as being Giant TCR. Seen your ad in the classifieds wanted section for Colnago forks - good luck in your search and I hope that they don't prove to be too costly.

...and here's my C40, so at the risk of FransJacques slating it or the set-up (feel free - it only cost me £720 and I then swapped out the DA7700 groupset & wheels for secondhand Chorus & Shamals - still probably only cost me £850 tops, so I'm happy)

Oh gosh no, none of this is 'knocking', it's just looking at bikes as blends of angles and curves and colours. They have to fit a human body of course but people do do strange things to them to achieve this. And Colnagos have to be the best bikes to look at as art work. Ernesto certainly puts the effort into the frames to make them so.

This yellow/gold combo is nuts, just stunning. With the black crank, bottle cages and Arione keeping it brutally modern. I've not seen a better application of gold shamals before because there are so few frames that compliment them. And seeing them together here is a bit anachronistic b/c the frame pre-dates the wheels by about 12 years.

Yellow 'Nags were never plentiful b/c I don't think any team rode that colour - blue was always Mapei, orange was rabo, green was Landbouwe, yellow might have been Casino i think for a year or two.

This model to me shows a very early version: 1" HT with Time fork, pre-P stay seat stays etc. Only a steel fork (painted black) would be any older. The steel fork was the only one Tafi, Museeuw, Bortolami et al would ride in P-R until the carbon ones would be trusted. They used to say that pros were not early adopters, but the scientific approach taken in the last 15 years has really changed that, with pros being test horses now for all manner of carbon trickery.