Built to Be Ridden

Safety

Ernesto Colnago's own nascent cycling aspirations ended with a broken femur suffered during a crash, so the myopic focus on the safety is one of the most important pieces of the Colnago puzzle. For example, each individual piece of every C60 receives a unique serial number that's hand-logged in a quality control book after being inspected at every step of the manufacturing process. This may seem excessive, but the benefits are evident in Colnago's equally excessive testing protocols.

The standard ISO test for bicycles requires the frame to survive a single impact of a 50 lbs. weight dropped from a height of 212 millimeters. For its own testing, Colnago begins where other manufacturers end, starting with those requirements and gradually increasing the height over multiple, successive impacts. Every carbon model the Italian manufacturer produces is subjected to this process, culminating with the same weight dropped from 1,050 millimeters. A frame only earns its Colnago head badge when it can pass this rigorous testing.

Weight

Given the insistence on safety, Colnago has found itself immune to one of the cycling industry's most pervasive obsessions: weight. While frames like the C60 and V1-R are no heavier than other bikes in the peloton, Ernesto himself sees obsessive weight loss as a regressive trend that compromises the bicycle's function in pursuit of sexier tech sheets. Instead of marketing framesets under the low-weight banner, Colnago opts to focus on ride quality, safety, and frame longevity. This approach suggests that the willingness to shed grams at any cost overlooks a critical component—that a bicycle is built to be ridden, not just hung on a scale.

Ride Quality

Next to the vacuous "performance," ride quality may be the single most over-used code phrase in the cycling industry. Its frequent appearance in industry literature elides the fact that, when people are using it, they're often doing so without providing a clear definition of what it means. Colnago's framesets afford the rare opportunity to qualify ride quality with three universal metrics: a forgiving ride, confident handling, and sprightly responsiveness.

This is due in equal parts to Colnago's geometries, construction ethos, and exclusive use of Toray 's guaranteed perfect, 100% Japan-source carbon fiber. During Ernesto's frame building history of almost seven decades, he not only watched the industry develop, but he played a significant role in directing that development with innovations like the straight Precisa fork and tighter wheelbases. Given that history, Ernesto and his company are uniquely qualified to adopt the latest materials and manufacturing processes to the best effect. We suppose that "ride quality" as embodied by the above values is what happens when the — dare we say it — passionate expertise of a bygone era gets its hands on today's best materials.