Re: C50: Bikefanclub.com

Can't help with the ride review (I presume you have read the Pez review and the Cycling Plus review of a few months ago, and have talked to Brendan at Competitive), but I am wondering if this is a jones you should let pass (perhaps a reaction to the end of another era).

I am on my CT1 now which I view as my winter bike, and I have had to readjust to the odd Colnago sizing (a 56.3 TT on a 58 bike is about as short as it gets). I think I might go with a longer stem to even things out, as my flexibility has improved to the point where a 57 TT feels slightly short. 56.3 mens a greater saddle to bar drop, but in winter it means more time on the hoods without worrying about speed. Still, the stability of the bike, as well as its balance, and my ability to develop a very efficient stroke, suggest to me that Ernesto really has thought about what makes a race bike work (thus his "proprietary" head tube angles at various sizes).

For your riding, however, with a desire for a flat back and relatively little saddle to bar drop, Colnagos seem just designed wrong. You would have to choose to ride in a different way when on that bike, but if you made the exception for Colnago, you could do the same for every other brand (and less so, given their more "normal" sizing). I got my Crumpton because I wanted the HT angle of the Colnago in carbon without the expense or the short TT, and I used your 2 degree slope idea in the process. It's a joy to ride. Ernesto will improve his bike every year or two and the dollar will come back in 5 years because our economy is more dynamic then the European economy and safer than Asia. In your shoes I'd meditate, breathe deeply, and bide my time with something better for me, and I'd believe my guy at the LBS who says the C50 is perceived by long-time Nag riders as a little less comfortable and a little more efficient than the C40 - not a ringing endorsement for the price.

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"You never make a gift of Ventoux"
Eddie Merckx to Lance Armstrong

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