My Colnago C40

With my training time curtailed by injuries and the fact that a business trip will knock out my next race (San Diego Omnium) I thought I would do a post on my racing bike. I'm on my spring break so I've got some time.

C40 Frame:

The 2001 frame is beautiful and gets a lot of attention wherever I ride. Handling is great with the Colnago sweeping into turns w/o much thought on my part; the Colnago just seems to sort out the turns why I just watch my line. This is a great bike particularly for racing. It is stiff enough to sprint well and is a great descender. I have done 100 miles or more on the bike without problems.

Strengths:
Light enough to win a mountain stage
Stiff enough for Tour strongmen to sprint on
Great longevity/durability for carbon
Pedigree
Appearance
almost everyone else ISN'T riding one (darn elitist mentality)
Get a used one for less than most new junk costs

Weaknesses:
would prefer 1&1/8 inch fork- but not a big deal.
odd size seatpost (28.0mm) means you need an expensive colnago post (or a Thomson), unless you buy an adapter shim (28.0 to 27.2) allowing you to run whatever post you want.

Thomson Masterpiece Seat Post:

Strengths:
The lightest, strongest, best made, safest, easiest to adjust seatpost BAR NONE!!!!

Weaknesses:
None (Well, a little pricey)

Fizik Arione Seat:

Strengths:
cool looking, light weight, a lot of real estate.

Weaknesses:
Mr. Happy goes to sleep if I'm careless in my positioning.

Gruppo:

I have the Campy Chorus 10 set with some modifications; I dropped the stock crank and installed an ultra torque chorus 10 crank. I did the installation myself and it was much easier than dealing with traditional bottom brackets. The cranks are nice and stiff and I like the beefier bearings you get with the ultra torque.

My old rear derailleur was getting worn out and a friend had a Campy Record RD with less than 500 miles on it. He didn't need it and sold it to me for a song - it took a little time to settle in but now runs great.

Look Keo Pedals:

I have the carbon body with the chromoly spindle. I've used Looks since they were the first to come out with clipless pedals. The Keo's are light and strong but there was an issue about a recall notice; see past post.

Strengths:
Weight, easy to enter and exit and easy to service.

Weaknesses:
Cleats wear pretty fast.

Headset and Fork:

I use a Chris King headset which is just about bullet proof. In fact one of my buddies with years of bicycle mechanic experience said the my bike would crumble eventually around the headset. King makes a great headset - enough said.

My front fork is new (old Look fork destroyed in crash) and is an original Colnago carbon street fork with an alloy steerer tube. I've been riding my time trial bike so I still don't know how this fork will affect my ride. It was tough to find as by bike has a 1" steerer tube with most bikes using 1 1/8" now. Anyway, the Colnago fork does go nicely with the C40 frame so I just have to see how it rides.

Bars and Stem:

My old bar and stem were also wiped in the crash so the new ones are untested but here's what Trek says about:Bontrager's Race X Lite Blade, VR Road Handlebar is light, strong, comfortable, and a great upgrade for your road machine. Its high-compression molded-carbon construction is feathery light, damps road vibrations to fight fatigue and has the most natural shape you have felt in a handlebar.
- Blade refers to the flat and wide top section that distributes hand pressure better and allows for more hand positions.
- VR stands for Variable Radius, and refers to the Lance designed bend that is ergonomic AND was optimally designed for modern shift /brake levers.
- Double cable groove works with Shimano,SRAM and Campy
- No Rider weight restrictions (Like all Bontrager products)
- Compatible with Clip-On Aerobars
- Only 228 grams (42cm) and much stronger and more fatigue resistant than light weight aluminum bars.

I'm using the 44cm bars as I've got pretty wide shoulders. I bought it with a matching stem: Bontrager Race XXX Lite OS Carbon Road Stem. From a review: The Race XX Lite OS is the latest carbon stem from Bontrager, and it their first road-only offering. It's made from high compression moulded uni-directional carbon fibre, with a forged aluminium (and very highly polished) front plate. With the high price it's going to be hard to justify this stem from a value perspective, but the performance is certainly without question second to none. I feel price may not play a factor in the decision to buy this stem though…

Both the bar and the stem were price listed at around $250 each but I got them from the Trek Superstore for around $225 for both - a special they have going right now.

Campy Vonda Wheelset:

I like this set and like the looks of the G3 spoke pattern on the rear. They are strong, and I'm tough on wheels. They run about 1660g which is not too bad for a $600 wheel set. They climb well and spool up okay when sprinting. When replacement time comes I'm thinking about the William system 38s.

Strengths:
Very smooth, sort of aero, faily light, and quite strong.

Weaknesses:
None noted, especially at this price.

For rubber I use Michelin Pro Race 3. If you look at my bike pic you'll see that I have a Pro Race 3 gray on the front and a Pro Race 3 blue on the back. I buy them in pairs and got a good deal on the grays from ebay. I'm one of those that rotate tires. When my rear starts going flat (shape not air holding ability) I take it off and rotate my front to the rear. I usually get around 2400 miles plus on these tires. They're pretty flat resistant for a racing tire, light wt., and really stick to the road during turns.

Well, there it is. I'm sure this post will bore my usual half dozen readers and my wife would only roll her eyes at this post. Of course, she's not one of my half dozen readers!