Cyclist
Italian ace: Inside Colnago’s HQ
The first thing that greets a visitor to Colnago’s headquarters in Cambiago, Italy, is an imposing metal sculpture. It’s a huge globe around two metres in diameter, and on a plinth underneath are the words ‘When the bicycle is art’.
Perched on top of the world is a metal rendering of Colnago’s C42 time-trial bike. It’s ironic because that was one of the brand’s earliest carbon fibre frames, but it leaves no doubt as to the esteem in which Ernesto Colnago holds his bikes.
‘The man does have an ego, but I think that comes with the territory because, as bike designers go, he’s a genius,’ Gabriele Sirtori, Colnago’s digital manager, tells Cyclist as we consider the monument. ‘This thing takes some upkeep as well. It’s so heavy the plinth steadily collapses under it, so it has to be periodically rebuilt.’
Clik here to view.
In any other bike company’s HQ, such a feature would be viewed as extravagant, but if any brand can justify having it, it’s Colnago. In a country that lays claim to being the spiritual home of performance bicycle manufacturing, Colnago is the most celebrated name of the lot.
To recount its history in a way that does it justice would take more words than this features allows, plus we’ve attempted it before (Colnago was the subject of the first Cyclist ‘Insider’ back in issue one), so we’ll keep the origin story brief.
Clik here to view.
Ernesto Colnago began working as a welder’s assistant at just 13 in 1945 – he had to forge papers to get the job – and by 22 had founded his own bike brand. A prolific career followed, and Colnago remains one of the most successful brands ever in terms of both pro cycling (there isn’t a major race it hasn’t won at least once) and technological innovation.
It has pioneered features that have both been consigned as quirks of history, such as the twin down tubes of its 1989 Carbitubo, and credited with changing the game, such as 1987’s Precisa straight-bladed steel forks.
A new chapter
The brand continues without its founder now, Ernesto having retired in 2020 after 66 years in charge, although he still lives over the road, aged 93. The huge wrought iron Asso di Fiori – Ace of Clubs, the Colnago logo – adorning his front gates is a dead giveaway.
Despite functioning without his guiding hand, the brand is going from strength to strength. Tadej Pogačar is ensuring Colnago’s dominance on the WorldTour and its portfolio is healthier than ever, including the new radically aero Y1Rs, the Steelnovo with 3D printed steel junctions, and new all-road and gravel versions of its iconic C-Series.
Clik here to view.
Sales have tripled in the past three years, according to CEO Nicola Rosin, who says, ‘I think we have a distinct position in the market versus other brands. We do high-end road and gravel only – just a few things but done very, very well. Our messaging and how we are perceived has never been so clear.’
Rosin credits the influence of UAE’s Chimera Investments LLC, which bought a controlling stake in the company from Ernesto in 2020, for giving Colnago the freedom to focus on such a specific stratum of the market.
‘Of course, the money they invested was important, but just as influential was their attitude towards how we wanted to build the brand. They recognised the opportunities we had to maintain and grow our success, so let us get on with it rather than imposing their agenda.’
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Rosin says Colnago’s progressive attitude towards technological innovation was a key part of that plan – as evidenced by the recent launch of the distinctive Y1Rs – without ever losing sight of the brand’s Italian roots.
‘Italy represents cycling history,’ he says. ‘Italian brands have such an opportunity to make the most of the cachet that their heritage has created. If they can appropriately mix that with the capabilities of modern technology, it’s a winning formula.’
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Colnago arguably has no better asset to do that with than its C-Series bikes, which have been made in-house since the very first model, 1989’s C35 – the ‘C’ standing for Colnago, the number for the age of the company at the time. This is despite the widespread move towards outsourcing production to the Far East in the early 2000s by almost every bike brand, including Colnago itself for some models in its range.
From that first true monocoque model – the C35 frame was made in one piece – the design shifted in 1994 with the arrival of the C40, a carbon version of Colnago’s famed tube-and-lug steel frames, replete with their hallmark crimped tube shapes.
Clik here to view.
Ernesto reputedly came up with the iconic ‘Profil’ crimped design when he couldn’t sleep while on a trip to Tokyo and his mind started trying to work out how to introduce more stiffness into a round tube.
The C-Series continued to add features over the years, such as disc brakes, but fundamentally remained based on the C40 recipe until the most recent iteration, 2022’s C68.
Making it happen
After our consideration of the sculpture, Sirtori takes us through Colnago’s foyer and past a fleet of bikes. Pogačar’s Tour-winning machines mingle with staff bikes used for the lunchtime ride. Such nonchalance speaks to how familiar with success the brand is.
We pass the Mexico Gold that Colnago gifted to Pope John Paul II in 1979, standing wheel-to-wheel with a C64 made in homage to that earlier design, using gold flake-coated lugs.
Clik here to view.
It neatly highlights Colnago’s attitude towards balancing modern performance with respect for its heritage. Some double doors next to these bikes lead into a lofty factory space where we are greeted by row upon row of some of the most desirable frames on the planet.
‘We make about 20 C68s per day,’ says Sirtori as we walk through the ordered stacks to the production space. There’s a line of well-worn jigs with framebuilders busy around them.
Clik here to view.
‘These are the same jigs we used to build our steel frames with, our Mexicos and Masters, for example,’ says Sirtori. These jigs would have some stories to tell if they could talk, but Sirtori says there’s no need: many of the builders using them have been at Colnago as long as the jigs themselves.
Several fabricators have worked for the brand for 25 years or more, and consequently have built Colnagos in steel, aluminium and carbon fibre as trends and technology have shifted.
Clik here to view.
Seeing the C68 in various stages of production gives a true sense of how it is made. Whereas the C40 used a tube-and-lug construction method that required five tube sections and three lugged junctions, the C68 uses a ‘modular lugged’ method made up of six sections.
‘Versus monocoque, building in smaller sections means quality can be better controlled in the frame as a whole, plus every section is properly optimised to serve its purpose,’ says Rosin. ‘Versus tube-and-lug, it’s less restrictive in terms of building in stiffness and comfort, as the tube profiles and junctions can be a wider range of shapes.’
Clik here to view.
The separate sections, made locally by a composite partner, have stepped sleeved joints, which provide a large surface area for the adhesive that bonds the parts. The frame is glued up and left for 24 hours before going into an oven to be cured.
After being sanded smooth by hand – an unenviable task by the looks of it, yet one done with patience and attention to detail – the joints are overwrapped with strips of carbon pre-preg and then shrink-wrapped so they are put under pressure when the frame goes in for a final two-hour bake.
Treading carefully
‘The C68 was an interesting project,’ says Rosin. ‘We knew we had to update the construction method to keep the C68’s performance competitive, but we didn’t want to alienate our fans or abandon tradition. I think we’ve found an ideal middle ground.’
Clik here to view.
Colnago was afforded that freedom in design thanks to the more extreme needs of its sponsored racers being catered for in its monocoque V-Series and Y-Series bikes, which are made in the Far East.
‘My talk has been a lot about the power of domestic production, and for many riders that is driven by more than just race performance; it’s the best way to produce bikes because there’s more opportunity to introduce the intangibles: ride quality and elegance,’ says Rosin. ‘In the case of our pro teams though, it goes beyond a commercial agenda. We have to make the fastest bike possible. For now at least, that’s better done in Asia.’
As the successful modernisation of the C-Series has shown, Colnago’s knack for innovation paired with its desire to be faithful to its heritage means it wouldn’t be surprising to see in-house production return on a larger scale in the future. It’s the kind of full-circle move that many would like to see happen, but surely none more so than the man who lives over the road.
Clik here to view.
Rolling through the years
Colnago’s bike collection tells the story of champions old and new
Housed in a hall at Colnago’s HQ is a huge collection of its bikes. There’s said to be at least one of every model it has made, and more than a few prototypes that have never seen the light of day. Prominent among the collection are the skinny tubes and orange paint of Eddy Merckx’s Molteni bikes.
‘Ernesto made Eddy 25 to 30 bikes a year,’ says Alessandro Turci, Colnago’s content manager, presenting one bike that he says Merckx rode to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1972.
‘Merckx was so finicky when it came to fit, always adjusting his setup, and expected an updated frameset to be ready for him in two days. As particular as he was when it came to fit though, he told his mechanics that under no circumstances were they to ever clean his chain. Merckx thought they ran faster when a little dirty.’
According to Turci, although Tadej Pogačar is similar in talent to Merckx, he is worlds apart in approach: ‘Tadej is far more relaxed. He is happy to use what he’s given, and just lets the sports scientists work out his best fit.’
Clik here to view.
Going for gold
The story behind Colnago’s first – and arguably most striking – marketing tool
‘The Colnago Mexico Gold is one of our rarest bikes, but more than one was made,’ says Alessandro Turci, Colnago’s content manager and self-proclaimed ‘Colnagologist’. ‘This model was made in the 1970s, the first in 1972 following Merckx’s Hour record.
The Mexico itself was an evolution of the Super. Ernesto worked on the tubes with Cino Cinelli and Angelo Luigi Colombo, founders of Cinelli and Columbus respectively, to make them thinner so the bike could be very light, but in this version the stand-out feature is the 24-carat gold finish.
Clik here to view.
‘Colnago chose to give these bikes as gifts to important people, including Italian national footballer Sandro Mazzola, Walter Chiari [Milanese comedian and actor], the mayor of Milan at the time, Carlo Tognoli, and the patron of the Giro, Vincenzo Torriani, to name a few.
‘The most important however was Pope John Paul II, who was given one in 1979. The Pope – who was a bona fide cyclist – asked for a more practical one. That’s why he was also given a white one, which is still in the museum of the cathedral in Krakow, where the Pope’s memorabilia are kept.’
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