Colnago C50

Price Paid:  $9000.00 at DFC Cycle LubbockTX

Favorite Ride:
Colnago C-50

Bike Setup:
all campy record 10s

Summary:
This is simply the best I had so far!
See similar products used(it takes alot to impress me)
note I checked rec rider in the box but I used to race alot when i was younger and I wish I had this bike then.
Price above was w/campy group and i think a steal should have been 1000 more really.

Strengths:
Smooth smooth smooth

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
Ive been riding since a Raleigh mark3(circa1970) w record groupset was one of the best and Ive had everthing in between.

Price Paid:  $5100.00 at Mike Perry of Maestr

Favorite Ride:
Colnago C50

Summary:
I’d like to write a review not just about my bike, but also about Mike Perry of Maestro UK.

First Mike.

This world consists of only two people: the sincere, and the rest. I spent several days researching where to buy a bike and spoke to about half-a-dozen dealers, usually the store owner or manager. Sometimes I got great technical advice. Sometimes I didn’t. But each time the conversation pretty much ended in that familiar segue to a sales pitch with the “so are you going to buy the bike” undertone.

Not so Mike.

In fact, he didn’t even want to sell me the 58cm PR00 C50 he had in stock because he thought I’m a 57. Knowing that waiting for Ernesto to build me a 57 might take several months, I did a second, more earnest (ouch), inseam measurement only to find out, yes Mike, I’m a 58cm. He acquiesced, I got my bike, and the rest, as they say, is history. Throughout it all, Mike would call me, take my early morning calls, answer all my emails, and we’re talking dozens of calls and emails to sort out the parts, sizing, shipping etc. Not once did I even get the slightest hint that he wanted to get back to work. In fact, we swapped loads of cycling stories, he told me (long distance) about his times racing and directing a team in Europe, and so on. Throughout it all he’d give me his inimitable, dead-pan, sincere advice “Don’t buy this,” “I don’t sell stuff from China,” “I don’t sell so-and-so because they’ll screw you” etc. This is a businessman who will spurn every opportunity to make money if it means the customer is going to get short-changed. And yet he still manages to sell Colnagos at hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of dollars less than everyone else.

Mike doesn’t need the popularity. Everyone who knows Colnago’s knows Mike. Mike is 66. He’s probably retiring one of these years. His sons will probably not carry on the dying art of building a bicycle the old fashioned way. Ernesto will probably outsource everything to the People’s Republic of China.

If you can afford it, buy a Colnago while it is still made in a tiny town in Italy and the bicycle on which its frame rides is hand-assembled with love by a little old man in Bognor Regis, UK. If you can’t afford it, do a reality check: the few hundred bucks you’re going to save buying a Made-in-China Cervelo is going to get blown in 3 weekends with the boys anyway.

Instead, stay home, watch TV, skip the restaurants, eat pasta for a month, and buy a Colnago. Do you think your kid is going to want to inherit your cracked Cervelo 15 years from now?

Now my review of the Colnago C50.

Tight, very fast, stable yet flickable, and more beautiful than anything else on two wheels.

Strengths:
Everything.

Weaknesses:
Nothing.

Similar Products Used:
Maserati Quattroporte
Ferrari Modena
Land Rover Defender 110

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Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
A stunning machine - my midlife toy and no regrets at all - I actually seek out the rough stuff just to see again how easily the C50 copes with it. Very comfortable for a century - loves to climb - does it all. It's in the attic now for winter and i can't wait to get it out for spring - makes me feel like a kid again - that's priceless.

Strengths:
The complete all-rounder. The cycling mags will give you lots of alternatives from Specialized, Trek, Wilier, De Rosa et al - I won't pretend to have ridden all of these but I have ridden a lot of them and the Colnago is just better. End of.

Weaknesses:
None. Really, none.

Price Paid:  $2800.00 at cbike.com

Favorite Ride:
Any chance I get

Bike Setup:
Extreme Power frame, Campy Super Record 11 Speed, Campy Shamal Ultra Wheels, FSA K force bars and stem, and Look Carbon pedals.

Summary:
This review is for the Extreme Power (which is not listed as a reviewable product). I love it, it is absolutely one of the finest bikes I have ever ridden. It is stiff, but not too stiff. I own a 2006 Trek Madone SSLx, the last TdF Lance Bike, and it is super stiff. The Extreme Power matches the SSLx's performance, but it is more comfortable. I really like this bike, and it is my choice to ride (unless the weather really sucks). Then it is an old Trek OCLCV, which is still a good ride for its purpose.

Strengths:
Performance, comfort and Italian style.

Weaknesses:
They are costly, even at a discount.

Similar Products Used:
Trek OCLV, Trek Madone 5.2, Trek Madone SL 5.2, Trek Madone SSLx.

Price Paid:  $8000.00 at Wrench Science

Favorite Ride:
50 mile Bald Peak Loop

Bike Setup:
50cm Sloping in PROO color, Campy record drive train, Deda electra bar & Deda stem, Chris King headset, Selle Italia SLR saddle, Mavic Ksyruim SL, Speedplay X/1 pedals.

Summary:
Have had the bike for about 1.5 years & have put on about 2.5k miles lots of shorter rides from work and several long century plus rides in all sorts of routes, long sustained climbs & descents (St Helens)as well as flats with pace lines, don't ride it in the winter. This bike is everything that I read and hoped it would be. A high end racing machine, well balanced & forgiving enough for the passionate rider that is a hack racer and that has that Italian esscense not only in the ride quality but also the craftsmanship of the frame build. I demoed all sorts of bikes (Cervelo, Orbea, Pinarello, Look) all great bikes but some where either too twitchy or too stiff or only did one thing really well, none had the complete package of lightweight, stiff, quick, snappy, but still able to run smooth on long days. Maybe it is my weight (150-156) depending on how much I'm riding but the C50 was a clear winner. Just love the ride all the time.

Strengths:
Light (15.5 lbs build out), quick, great desender & climbs like a dream, smooth for long multiple days on the bike. Beautiful classic Italian lines, Ernesto at his best. Great to ride and beautiful to look at.

Weaknesses:
Price, a classic frame that still is among the best but some of the more innovative brands are making some really impressive race/allaround rides like the Giant TCR Advanced or the Merckx AXM & opening up a gap?

Similar Products Used:
Kestrel 200 ems, Trek Madone SL