The lugs too were of carbon, and Colnago went to the not inconsiderable trouble of creating individual lugs for every frame size, as geometry varies markedly with seat and top tube length changes. The main tubes even mimicked the cross section of their Gilco steel forebears from the top-of-the-line Master, with four pronounced grooves along their lengths. The techniques that resulted from that fruitful collaboration made it possible to produce a frame which did not immediately depart from the classic aesthetic, staying with the parallel top tube silhouette which had for so long been familiar, and also retaining the principle of tube-in-lug construction. Team Casino pros who rode just such a C40 include Kirsipu and Lefèvre.Īt the beginning of the ’90s, when Ernesto Colnago developed the C40, so named as a celebration of forty years in the business, he partnered with automobile manufacturer Ferrari, who were themselves exploring new methods of joining the separate structural members of their race car chassis at that time.
First tested in actual competition by Tony Rominger, subsequently ridden to emphatic wins by the likes of Fondriest, Museeuw, Tafi and Bortolami, to name but the first of many.
The frame that signalled the departure of steel from the pro peloton, and heralded the dominance of the new wonder material, carbon fibre. That says enough already, surely? What more needs to be said? This bike was once the personification of excellence in racing bicycle design and manufacture, the veritable King of the Hill.
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