"Colnago's genius is their iterative approach to perfection"
Colnago C64 Disc. Legendary Heritage. Unique Construction. Made in Milan
The C64 is unique in this world. Colnago is the last of the renowned Italian houses to still manufacture in Italy. The only ones keeping the tradition alive. The others have all moved their production a few thousand miles East. Colnago is also unique in the development of their carbon bikes. They started R&D back in the 1980's with Ferrari, and eventually launched their iconic C40 in the early 1990's. It was an astonishing achievement, incorporating carbon lugs and tubes bonded together. Each frame size has its own unique set of lug and tube moulds. The early frames were ridden by he professionals of the day - Tony Rominger, Franco Ballerini, etc. But the frames were painted - possibly to disguise what they were actually made of to the public and the industry. The C40 became the most successful race-winning bike of the 90's. It was replaced by the C50 in the early 2000's and by the C59 at the end of the decade. The C40 and 50 are documented in The Colnago Hall of Fame - we have owned C40s 50's and C59's, between us at Cyclefit and loved them all for their unique blend of strength, comfort and performance. Colnago have commendably adhered to the principles of using carbon lugs and tubes for sound engineering reasons:
- Lugged carbon frames are stronger than conventional construction methods
- They tend to last longer and be more resilient than the alternatives
- They give a characteristically calm and controlled ride quality
- Build and finish construction quality is inherently easier to control because each component can be individually assessed
The main detractions of lugged carbon frames are:
- They are more expensive to produce than the more ubiquitous designs
- Lugged carbon frames are not well suited to mass-production
Franco Ballerini - 1995 C40
2004 C50 - possibly Oscar Freire's
"Colnago is the last of the renowned Italian houses to still manufacture in Italy. The only ones keeping the tradition alive"
Colnago C64
Colnago's genius is their iterative approach to perfection. Never once wavering from the commitment that hand-building carbon-lugged frames, in Milan, was the most assured route to producing the world's best bicycle frame. Let's not have any false modesty here - poll a hundred cycling fans over the planet's best frame and Colnago's C64 will probably come out with the biggest stack of votes.
Here are the highlights of the 2020 C64 Disc:
- 270 grams lighter than C60
- Clearances for 28mm tyres
- Available in 14 paint finishes
- Available with My Sixty4 customisation
- Re-designed C64 fork is 40 grams lighter
- Seat-tube and Lug formed into a single piece to save weight over C60
- Proprietary stem and internal cable-routing
- Available in nine Sloping geometry designs
- Available in H-long headtube geometry
- Available as a rim-brake version
Let your imagination fly - then wait for 10 weeks for it to be made real - Colnago MySixty4
C64 Disc - frame and fork - £4599.00
MySixty4 - frame, fork, seatpost - £5399.00
C64 Rim-Brake - frame and fork - £4099.00
MySixty4 - Rim - £4899.00
The late Franco Ballerini storms to victory in Paris-Roubaix in 1995 on a barely dry Colnago C40. The technology was so new that the night before the race Ernesto Colnago allegedly received a call from Giorgio Squinzi, Mapei team boss, insisting upon a personal reassurance that the brand new bike wouldn't fail. It didn't and nor did Ballerini. A great race we remember well. Franco died in a tragic accident in 2010.