Ernesto Colnago began his apprenticeship with Cicli Gloria, Milano, aged 12. Having served his time as a welder he became head of assemby in the Gloria factory and in 1952, aged 20, he set up Cicli Colnago, manufacturing parts for larger companies like Gloria.
In 1954, the first ever Colnago was built for Fiorenzo Magni. Impressed by the quality of his work, Magni asked Colnago to support him at the following Giro. Since then, Ernesto has worked on 25 Giro d’Italia & 25 Tour de France realising the value of working closely with the best riders in the world.
In total, Colnago has sponsored over 240 Professional Teams, winning World Championships in Cyclocross, Road and Track. Colnago was the first to use Titanium, the first to use Carbon Fibre (with the help of Ferrari F1) and more recently he was the first to build a road bike featuring disc brakes.
To say Ernesto Colnago has been a pioneer in the world of cycling is an understatement… you can view his top ten bikes here.
If you have a spare few minutes I’d highly recommend these two clips on the C60 Frame, you won’t see anything like this going on in a Taiwanese factory!
The paint process is incredible and the levels of skill are astounding. The masking process is remarkable, true craftsmanship.
One thing I particularly like about Ernesto's approach to design is his refusal to build a frame weighing less than 1kg. All big brands will offer a sub 1kg frame, some as little as 690g. In order to comply with the UCI weight limit of 6.8Kg, World Tour mechanics are often left with the counter-intuitive task of adding ballast to the bike. Colnago are more interested in the performance of the frame than shedding grams at the expense of other factors.
Colnago has at least 20 or 30 years Pro Tour experience on most of his rivals and on bikes like the C60, V1-r and CX Zero it shows…
Come in and talk to us about Colnago and how you too can ride a legend.
- Nigel MacAodha
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