{"id":48678,"date":"2025-08-06T04:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48678\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T04:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:41:12","slug":"how-colnago-became-the-ferrari-of-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/48678\/","title":{"rendered":"How Colnago became the Ferrari of cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

Ernesto Colnago is to the bike what Enzo Ferrari was to the car. Over the years, the Lombardy-based maker\u2019s frames have acquired the same aura of sprezzatura as the chilli-pepper-red sports cars. \u201cThey\u2019re an aspirational brand,\u201d says collector Julian Carpenter, who owns 22 Colnagos. \u201cYou dream about those bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colnago has been working on bikes since 1945, when he lied about his age to get a job at the Gloria bike factory in Milan. After an injury put paid to his racing career he turned his focus to making frames, and quickly gained a reputation for his willingness to innovate. Since then, the slick road-racing bikes have been ridden by some of the greatest cyclists in the sport, including Eddy Merckx, whose exploits aboard a Colnago Super, an aggressive racing frame with highly responsive handling, in the early 1970s elevated the brand to new heights. Now 93, Colnago still works at the company\u2019s Milanese headquarters.<\/p>\n

\"ErnestoErnesto Colnago at the headquarters in Cambiago \u00a9 Liewig Christian\/Corbis via Getty Images\"Gioiello<\/p>\n

Gioiello Numero 1, sold in 2023 for $133,000\u00a0at\u00a0Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about quality,\u201d explains Brian Digby of Classic and Vintage Cycles, based in Hadfield, Derbyshire, of Colnago\u2019s appeal. \u201cItaly is full of artisan builders that are better than Colnago, but Ernesto is a\u00a0great marketeer. He told a good story.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople seek out Colnagos because they\u2019re like a Ferrari \u2014\u00a0everyone knows what they are,\u201d\u00a0says Alex Bindon of east\u00a0London-based independent bike shop\u00a0The\u00a0Hackney Peddler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GiuseppeGiuseppe Saronni rides in the 1983 Milan-San Remo \u00a9 Graham Watson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Collectors are looking for \u201ca show pony \u2014 a wall wanger\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Digby, Classic and Vintage Cycles<\/p>\n

There are a dizzying variety of frame designs to choose from. Of the\u00a0non-limited-edition steel bikes, or the standard range of Colnago models, the decision is down to personal preference. Fans of classic steel frames are often drawn to the\u00a0super-stiff Master with its signature \u201cstar-shaped\u201d crimps, produced from 1983 and still made in Italy (a new model retails from \u00a32,566, while a good condition vintage bike will cost around \u00a31,900).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those looking for a more experimental frame might seek out the Nuovo Mexico, a\u00a0lighter evolution of the Super Profil, which was ridden by Giuseppe Saronni\u2019s Del Tongo cycle team in the early 1980s. Classic and Vintage has a restored 1983 Nuovo Mexico frame in candy-red Saronni colours for sale\u00a0for \u00a31,795.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Eddy<\/p>\n

Eddy Merckx Pista Hour Record Tribute, \u00a34,750, classicandvintagecycles.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Julian<\/p>\n

Julian Carpenter\u2019s restoration of a 1994 Colnago Master Olympic<\/p>\n

\"Master<\/p>\n

Master Equilateral Pista, sold in 2025 for \u20ac25,000 at premium-cycling.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"C35<\/p>\n

C35 Ferrari Gold Campagnolo C Record Oro, \u20ac26,999, premium-cycling.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Models are distinguished by different crimps on the frame\u2019s steel tubes, or details on the lugs that hold the frame together. It pays to become familiar with these marks\u00a0before buying. \u201cThere are a lot of misdescribed models,\u201d warns Digby. \u201cDo your research and a bit of due diligence.\u201d \u201cIf you\u2019re spending \u00a35,000 on a Nuovo Mexico, you want to be sure it\u2019s not actually the more common Super Profil,\u201d says Carpenter \u2014 the Nuovo Mexico has two crimps either side of the down tube to the Super Profil\u2019s one. His blog, Saarf London, lays out the distinctive characteristics of each frame.<\/p>\n

The market peaked in the aftermath of the pandemic, so a good build for riding is relatively affordable. \u201cA quality frame will start from about a grand,\u201d says Bindon, who sources them for clients and builds according to their specifications (a loud pink-and-purple Super frame he has in stock costs \u00a3900). \u201cFor neo-retro builds you\u2019d be starting from \u00a32,000, but nicer things will go for more.\u201d The comparatively low price is attracting new buyers, says Carpenter. \u201cThere are a lot of car collectors buying now; it\u2019s easier to spend \u00a310,000 on a bike than \u00a31mn on a car.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EddyEddy Merckx competes in the 1971 Tour de France \u00a9 Horstm\u00fcller\/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Limited-edition models, produced to celebrate brand anniversaries, collaborations or one-offs for particular riders, can stretch into five figures. Slovenia-based Premium Cycling has a 1989 C35 Oro, an early carbon-fibre bike built in collaboration with Ferrari to celebrate Colnago\u2019s 35th anniversary, in scarlet with gold-coloured components, for\u00a0\u20ac26,999. Good condition similarly supercharges value. In May, Premium\u2019s Jure\u00a0Kocjan, a former professional cyclist, sold a one-of-a-kind 1986 Master Pista bike, an extremely aerodynamic steel-framed bike with twin disc wheels, in museum-quality condition for \u20ac25,000.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a growing market, too, for Colnago\u2019s carbon-fibre frames, which pushed lightweight bike construction to new levels in the early 1990s. The C40, a\u00a0carbon-fibre take on Colnago\u2019s signature construction, was the chosen bike for Mapei, the most elite professional Italian racing team, from 1994 to 2001. \u201cThe C40\u00a0and C50 [its even lighter successor, released in 2004] didn\u2019t have the\u00a0value in the past but are getting more desirable because they were among the last \u2018made in\u00a0Italy\u2019 Colnago bikes,\u201d explains Kocjan \u2014 newer models are now produced in Taiwan (he has a C40 from 2000 with a hand-painted \u201cArt Decor\u201d paint scheme on sale at \u20ac1,899). In 2023 he sold Tour de France winner Tadej Poga\u010dar\u2019s V3RS, the top of the range carbon-fibre model, for an undisclosed sum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, Digby says, lots of collectors are simply looking for \u201ca show pony, a wall wanger\u201d. The most flamboyant of these is surely the gold-leaf-embellished C67 Gioiello, studded with a 2.3ct diamond, that sold at Sotheby\u2019s in May 2023 for $133,000. You\u2019d be a fool to ride it \u2014 but there\u2019s no better expression of Colnago\u2019s talent for turning a bike into a work of art.<\/p>\n

WHAT TO READ<\/p>\n

Colnago The Bicycle by Pier\u00a0Augusto Stagi (Prima\u00a0Pagina Edizioni)<\/p>\n

Saarf London saarf.london<\/a><\/p>\n

WHERE TO SEE<\/p>\n

La Collezione Ernesto Colnago Via Cavour 25, Cambiago, Milan 20040; lacollezioneec.com<\/a><\/p>\n

WHERE TO BUY<\/p>\n

Classic and Vintage Cycles Etherow Industrial Estate, Woolley Bridge Rd, Hadfield, Derbyshire SK13 2NS; classicandvintagecycles.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hackney Peddler 89 Stoke Newington Rd, London N16; thehackneypeddler.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Premium Cycling Ulica Ivana Roba 4, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia; premium-cycling.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-48678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}