The C50 has won this five times

Warrick 1st 'loser' at Crystal Palace on C50

Pro teams love the C50 as a 'swiss-army'bike

BIKE OF THE MONTH APRIL '08 Colnago C50 -
THE DANDY RACER!
Prior to CycleFit starting with Colnago a year ago, I really hadn't spent any time at the helm of one of Ernesto's bikes since giving up my night job testing for Cycle Sport Magazine. In fact my last long-term test-bike with the aforementioned organ was a Casino look-alike Colnago Dream that I kept for almost an entire season.

The C50 grew out of the C40 - itself a ground-breaking frame that became the professional's frame of choice as the perfect tool for any job - win the Tour de France or Paris Roubaix? Cobbles, mountains, goat-tracks or worse? The C40 was poised, fast and stable for everything. And us mortal club-racers who wanted to ride fast and make a statement followed in their coat-tails, as we always seem to? The C40 was the dandy-racer's choice in the bunch a few years ago.
The C50 uses a higher modulus carbon weave (see Mike Lopez interview in this month's CycleFit News) which results in shorter lugs and slightly more oversized main tubes (12% for downtube). The overall effect is to 'stiffen' the whole ride a touch. The headset also jumped from 1" to 1 1/8th to the same effect.

I rode our test 52 Sloping for a while and then handed it over to old Fast-Legs Spence who planned to race it early season (fitness and lack of conviction prevailed however). I liked the idea of the C50 before I rode it: high-modulus carbon weave, intricate carbon lugs, and classic 'Master' shaped tubing all hand-engineered in Cambagio in Italy. Ernesto and Ben are a different generation of artisan but both see the mechanical advantages of a lugged carbon frame where each component can be crafted individually to fulfill a design remit and quality maintained.
I am not normally a fan of stock geometry, however Colnago gets a notional CycleFit waiver for two reasons: first the C50 is available in 20 sizes (12 traditional and 8 sloping) and secondly, the standard 52 sloping is very close to the Cavell-template and has the nostalgic whiff of my old Merckx 7/11 about it.

Now it would seem harsh to label a high-end label frame like a Colnago C50 as being invisible but it is intended as a compliment. The detailing, finish and overall visual statement aside, the C50 is a proper utilitarian tool for a job. Originally conceived to win pro classics and big tours, most C50's actually live out their years earning a more modest living contesting Sportivs. And at this general fast riding it absolutely excells. The HP chainstays really do challenge the shock-path from the road and isolate the rider from the buzz and hum in a way that cheaper carbon designs will never be able emmulate. And the overall quality of the design and build is expressed in a feeling of serene tautness and quietness. I swear you can feel the clean polished finish inside each carbon lug and tube as you ride. Go to the factory and Colnago will show you the hoary and gnarly finish of cheaper (mainly far-eastern) carbon frames that he has neatly cut in half for that purpose. He will say that the smooth finish of the Colnago tube is as much about structural integrity as it is about craftsmanship and pride.
The C50 is not as stiff or direct as the Serotta HSG or MeiVici but neither is it as uncompromising. Let me give you a scenario where the C50 plays its pack-winning joker - you are barrelling down a fast descent on a rough unsealed road and there is a long unsighted corner about 300 metres ahead. It has just started to spit with rain so without touching the brakes you sit up no-handed and reach back for your rain jacket, put it on and still have time to hit the apex of the curve at speed, control the exit perfectly already hard on the crank. The road levels out and you pull into a well known cycling cafe where you pull in for a coffee. The assembled cyclerati can't help but notice a hard-ridden, mud-splattered C50 whose tyres have visbly been taken to right the edge in the hard conditions, i.e.no 'chicken-strips' in sight.
Tradition, impeccable road-manners, comfort and beyond everything a sense of class. Everything a pro wants for a hard day at the office.

Read Jules' Pop-Up Ottrott Test ..more

Read Phil's Pop-Up MeiVici Test ..more
Read Marcel Wust's review of the frame we designed for him ..more