Colnago

secretsam
secretsam Posts: 5,098
edited December 2007 in Workshop
When I were a lad (cue "Hovis ad" music), I lusted after the classic Colnago wine red-with-white-panels in good old Columbus SLX...with Campag Record and other nice bits

I saw a nice Colnago in Condor a couple of months back, but on their website it seems they've sold their handmade soul and get bikes made for them as well... :evil:

Are they still ultra-cool or over the hill?

It's just a hill. Get over it.
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Comments

  • SDP
    SDP Posts: 665
    i too always wanted a colnago mexico slx in red......
    when i finally got one...i was so disappointed .....it P/exd it so quickly i didnt even need to relube the chain....

    unless you are buying a C50 or similar ...& paying for some splendiferous paint etc....i think they are way overrated ( the cheaper ones ) ....

    why pretend its an italian when we all know it was made in Taiwan ( i ride a Giant so no snobbery ) ....

    a cat could be taught to bark ...but it will never be a dog
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Do you mean one of these? http://www.windwave.co.uk/colnago_frame ... xlite.html
    Colnago are making the Masterlight again with a retro-paintjob based on Sarroni's 1992 World's victory. I have a CT1 and its a fantastic ride - great combination of suppleness, feel and rock steady handling. For a bike that's over-rated there are an incredible number of people who still ride them - particularly in vets races where often people have pretty well a limitless choice. I've no experience of the Taiwanese-built bikes so can't comment, but the fact that in the last 3 years the C50 and it's variants have been consistenly rated as one of the best bikes in test, it can be no bad deal.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • Monty Dog wrote:
    Do you mean one of these? http://www.windwave.co.uk/colnago_frame ... xlite.html
    Colnago are making the Masterlight again with a retro-paintjob based on Sarroni's 1992 World's victory. I have a CT1 and its a fantastic ride - great combination of suppleness, feel and rock steady handling. For a bike that's over-rated there are an incredible number of people who still ride them - particularly in vets races where often people have pretty well a limitless choice. I've no experience of the Taiwanese-built bikes so can't comment, but the fact that in the last 3 years the C50 and it's variants have been consistenly rated as one of the best bikes in test, it can be no bad deal.

    Even I think that is bloody beautiful I reckon it would make a nice frame for Paris-Roubaix next June. How much? a grand?..................

    Craig
  • juggler
    juggler Posts: 262
    i have seen that frame as well. Elsewhere on this forum you may have seem i am undecided as to my next frame...still undecided on that high end carbon jobby. But for looks the Masterlight beats them hands down...
    OK for you more knowledgeable guys out there, what's the downside on kph etc for a classic steel frame vs a carbon cervelo etc?
  • juggler
    juggler Posts: 262
    BTW: when i look at it i just want one to hang on the wall in the lounge... modern frames are really ugly....
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Hopefully the newer "retro-Colnagos" will be better built than the Italian-made frames of the late'90s. Three friends of mine purchased Master Olympics while working in Italy about a decade ago. In every case the build quality was sh!te. The chrome must have been applied with Pritt-stick and the frames all rusted from the inside-out, especially where the internal brake cable guide was welded in.( I see that the Saronni replica now has external cable stops.) It was interesting at the time that when my friends complained to Colnago about the rusting of the chromed forks, Colnagos excuse was that they didn't make their own forks - they were subcontracted out.

    (I have a Graham Weigh Columbus SLX and an Arthur Caygill Columbus Neuron of approximately the same vintage, which lived in the same conditions as the the Colnagos yet didn't rust or even pit the chrome.)
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • colint
    colint Posts: 1,707
    juggler wrote:
    i have seen that frame as well. Elsewhere on this forum you may have seem i am undecided as to my next frame...still undecided on that high end carbon jobby. But for looks the Masterlight beats them hands down...
    OK for you more knowledgeable guys out there, what's the downside on kph etc for a classic steel frame vs a carbon cervelo etc?

    this may help

    http://www.smartcycles.com/bike_weight.htm
    Planet X N2A
    Trek Cobia 29er
  • juggler
    juggler Posts: 262
    guess we have to remember that Italian workmanship produced the Fiat Panda, but we should also be reminded of those thin elegant chainstays.... like i said ok to hang on wall maybe not to ride
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    juggler wrote:
    guess we have to remember that Italian workmanship produced the Fiat Panda, but we should also be reminded of those thin elegant chainstays.... like i said ok to hang on wall maybe not to ride

    Fiat Panda is built in Poland
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • SDP
    SDP Posts: 665
    juggler wrote:
    guess we have to remember that Italian workmanship produced the Fiat Panda, but we should also be reminded of those thin elegant chainstays.... like i said ok to hang on wall maybe not to ride

    have had a few fiats & alfas.....not one was as bad as the Master SLX !

    the top end colnagos are excellent C50 etc.....asaik...
  • tony_s
    tony_s Posts: 237
    I picked up an unused late '80's Technos frame on ebay a couple of years back. Always thought it was nice but not fantastic (s'pose it was never a top end Colnago anyhow). Recently I replaced the forks with carbon ones (Colnago Force) and the bike is transformed: It has become an absolute joy to ride and constantly brings a big smile to my face, finally I see what all the fuss is about. I could continue with superlatives but it'll be better for all concerned if I just shut up........
    You can\'t have everything.... Where would you put it?

    couple o\'pics
  • sonicred007
    sonicred007 Posts: 1,091
    colint wrote:
    juggler wrote:
    i have seen that frame as well. Elsewhere on this forum you may have seem i am undecided as to my next frame...still undecided on that high end carbon jobby. But for looks the Masterlight beats them hands down...
    OK for you more knowledgeable guys out there, what's the downside on kph etc for a classic steel frame vs a carbon cervelo etc?

    this may help

    http://www.smartcycles.com/bike_weight.htm

    Good essay and it exposed my lack of cycling pedigree - only been doing 2 years and have clearly been brainwashed by the marketing blurb... 6 secs per pound. Not much is it?
  • sonicred007
    sonicred007 Posts: 1,091
    And now I've read most of Smart Cycles site, I'd love to have a browse... I don't live in the states, nevermind that state, or even need a bike at the mo'

    Damn bike p*rn

    I'm now thinking of hanging a frame on the wall.... if artists can present urinals in a gallery, then I can hang red colnago frame in my hall as a work of art
  • pliptrot
    pliptrot Posts: 582
    Hugely over-rated steel frames, but perhaps they did cotton on to the fact that being Italian is not enough. Certainly Campag had to do this but there stuff is still over-rated. I suspect that there's a lot of "emperor's clothes" about Italian kit, and much of the commentary encompassing adulation of Italian stuff on this forum bears this out. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, ergo you can't make a cutting edge titanium frame from 3-2.5 Ti, (you need 6-4Ti). Oddly, a forumite above sings the praises of the Colnago Ti frame, whilst roundly condemning the Americans' efforts (from better material). Still, everyone is allowed their pejudices, and cyclists are as bad as anyone in this respect.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    Just had to chime in with my 2 cents worth. Nothing like a bit or a lot of chrome on
    a bike. I guess I would challenge anyone to "prove" carbon or titanium bikes perform
    any better than steel. Opinions are OK but I doubt there is any real testing going on out
    there. Bike mags "test" everything and then rant and rave about how great
    it is. In truth they have to do this to survive. It's all just a bunch of hype to sell
    bikes, yet most people read it and seem to say "well, it must be true because I read
    on the internet or in a bike mag".

    Dennis Noward
  • pliptrot
    pliptrot Posts: 582
    Absolutely. The only facts we have to go on are weights, and these are often way-out (see weight weenies to get a picture of the distortion propogated by frame builders). Other than that there's nothing, other than the usual, hackneyed nonsense read in the press release. If you could make a 2lb (rideable) steel frame, you'd see the end of other materials overnight.

    Wait! you can (Reynolds 953). Therefore, it must be the magic of marketing. There I was, thinking cyclists were objective and not at all gullible. Really, I was.
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,098
    Monty Dog wrote:
    Do you mean one of these? http://www.windwave.co.uk/colnago_frame ... xlite.html
    Colnago are making the Masterlight again with a retro-paintjob based on Sarroni's 1992 World's victory. I have a CT1 and its a fantastic ride - great combination of suppleness, feel and rock steady handling. For a bike that's over-rated there are an incredible number of people who still ride them - particularly in vets races where often people have pretty well a limitless choice. I've no experience of the Taiwanese-built bikes so can't comment, but the fact that in the last 3 years the C50 and it's variants have been consistenly rated as one of the best bikes in test, it can be no bad deal.

    Oh boy oh boy that's f :evil: n' lovely

    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,098
    juggler wrote:
    guess we have to remember that Italian workmanship produced the Fiat Panda, but we should also be reminded of those thin elegant chainstays.... like i said ok to hang on wall maybe not to ride

    Panda's made in Poland :roll:

    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • dennisn wrote:
    Just had to chime in with my 2 cents worth. Nothing like a bit or a lot of chrome on
    a bike. I guess I would challenge anyone to "prove" carbon or titanium bikes perform
    any better than steel. Opinions are OK but I doubt there is any real testing going on out
    there. Bike mags "test" everything and then rant and rave about how great
    it is. In truth they have to do this to survive. It's all just a bunch of hype to sell
    bikes, yet most people read it and seem to say "well, it must be true because I read
    on the internet or in a bike mag".

    Dennis Noward

    Tour magazine does testing of frames. I believe certain Litespeed Ti frames have tested as far less stiff than carbon frames (that are still comfortable), and so have inferior power transfer.

    For those who say the differences are small ... they don't feel that small when you're on the bike which is what's important no?
  • pliptrot
    pliptrot Posts: 582
    Wildmoustache,

    You are absolutely right: For those of us who will never win any money riding our bikes (i.e. the vast majorit of us) it's the only thing that matters. There are plenty of reviews which suggest performance improvements with different kit is just the psychological effect - which is as important as anything else, IMHO. And let's face it, our bikes are are a principal source of pleasure - if an Italian paint job adds to that, all the better. (And chrome - nothing beats chrome).
  • pliptrot wrote:
    Wildmoustache,

    You are absolutely right: For those of us who will never win any money riding our bikes (i.e. the vast majorit of us) it's the only thing that matters. There are plenty of reviews which suggest performance improvements with different kit is just the psychological effect - which is as important as anything else, IMHO. And let's face it, our bikes are are a principal source of pleasure - if an Italian paint job adds to that, all the better. (And chrome - nothing beats chrome).

    I like chrome too ... if i had more room in the stable i would have a nice old chrome rig. Not sure about colnago as I prefer de rosa and pina, but something nice and italian.

    i agree that the physics suggests lots of the performance benefits are psychological, but what the hell, if it works ... it's quite hard to disentangle in the end ... do they dissappear if you try to convince yourself they're in the mind?

    also, although not many of us are pros, or even elite amateurs, it's nice to measure yourself against guys at the club you ride with, and a new lighter, stiffer bike can definitely make a difference there when it's quite close ... even if you try to convince yourself otherwise!!
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    So excuse me for not reading between the lines here but is the Master X Light made in Italy or Taiwan?
  • Rob Sallnow
    Rob Sallnow Posts: 6,279
    So excuse me for not reading between the lines here but is the Master X Light made in Italy or Taiwan?

    Italy...Colnago are very clear which frames are made in the Far East and they are the CLX low end carbon fibre bikes and the Arte and Primavera alloy bikes.
    I'd rather walk than use Shimano
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Thanks Rob, it does look lovely especially in that red as well. Yum!
  • sonicred007
    sonicred007 Posts: 1,091
    I agree and want one for the wall as well as the road
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    You can keep chasing your tail if you're continually after the lightest, stiffest etc etc - sadly my bank balance doesn't stretch to a new bike every year - much that I dream it would. Classic elegance like this is timeless - maybe I could convince the missus that getting one of these means it's a keeper for 20 years?
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • sonicred007
    sonicred007 Posts: 1,091
    Cracking logic... I'm convinced
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Yes same here, but such a classic steel frame, I often wonder what you would put on it?

    It seems almost, oh I don't know, wrong to put brand new Ultra Torque groupset on it or new DA and also wheels, what on earth would you put on it for hoops?

    I am thinking handbuilts, nice and classic, but what are your opinions? What would look good and befitting for such a frame?
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    Yes same here, but such a classic steel frame, I often wonder what you would put on it?

    It would have to be campag, I personally couldn't see the new Record out of place on it.
    I like bikes...

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  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    hmm I don't know you know, i was thinking more classic campag like super Record or something. Seems that anything carbon would look out of place somehow.