Theres not much to say about Colnago bikes, heaps of pro teams ride them, they ust be good. Well at the end of 1996, I decided to see if they were all they were cracked up to be.
My choice of groupset was the DA9s grouppo, cxp30 wheelset, ITM bars and stem, American Classic seatpost and Avocet ti o2 seat.
This is one nice bike, right down to the dropouts. The only transfer is on the head tube and that's laquered over. All other logos, names etc are painted directly on. This is also one of the best paint jobs Ive ever seen on a bike. The head lugs are chromed and the b/b is stamped with the famous COLNAGO stamp. Rear triangle as well as the forks are chromed as well. The combination of all this paint, chrome and Gilco tubing, makes this bike one of the most visually stunning pieces of machinery Ive seen or owned.
DA 9s gruppo performance has been well documented. Needles to say, it performed flawlessly on this bike also.
This bike is stiff with a capital "S", but is not so stiff that you get that aluminium bone jarring effect. No wonder this bike used to be the mainstay of many professional teams not that long ago. The seat angle on this bike is a little steep for me (74deg), but many people find this fine. I had to put the seat as far back as was humanely possible to get comfortable on this bike. The top tube is also a little short, (54cm) for a 55cm c-t frame - but this is a minor problem.
This is a great sprinting bike, stable and quick at the same time, as well as being very stiff. The straight forks seem to provide more direct steering, but many people say they cant notice the difference. I love riding this bike most of the time, but sometimes I feel like im not getting behind the b/b enough. Whenever you stomp a big gear on this bike, it really goes. It corners great, partly due to (I believe), the combination of a safe 73deg head angle and 4.5cm rake straight fork. The forks are plenty strong too which helps.
This is another one of those "point the bike in this direction and let it go" sort of bikes. It inspires confident handling both at slow and fast speeds.
Compared to the Bianchi Neuron, it falls behind in the weight area. This is not a light bike, BUT its not a leadweight either. It rides a lot lighter than it really is. Apparently, in 1997, the Master's were considerably lightened. Another problem is that the seat angle is just too steep for some. I would love to try a Nago with a slacker seat angle (like the pros) or get one custom built for me. This is a good crit bike because it puts the rider in a great position to get out of the saddle when needed and also responds well to big and small gear riders.
These bikes arent cheap either, so this is a downside as you tend to be paying mainly for the name.
Really, the big plus points of this bike are the finish, name and stiffness.
5 words to sum this bike up - Stiff, heavyish, lavish attraction, name, steep.