Colnago C40. Mapei Pro Team Issue. 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. This is the game changer. The frame that signalled the departure of steel from the pro peloton, and heralded the dominance of the new wonder material, carbon fibre. 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. Team Mapei pros who rode just such a C40 include Bartoli and the great Franco Ballerini.

At 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. 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. 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 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.

This specific model has it all. One of the most known pro racing paint schemes in history, incredible paint condition, a prestine Campagnolo Record 8-Speed Ergopower groupset and to top it of – a set of Campagnolo Shamal wheels.

Could you ask for anything more?

Please check out our pictures.

Tubes — Carbon
Frame size – 54cm
Seat Tube 53.5cm ct – ct. (56cm top)
Top Tube length 54.5cm ct.-ct.
Head Tube – 136mm

Handlebar – ITM Super Italia Pro 2 40cm ct.-ct.
Stem — ITM Titanium 115 mm
Headset — Campagnolo Record
Shifters – Campagnolo Record Titanium 8-Speed

Fr.Der.: Campagnolo Record
Rear Der.: Campagnolo Record Titanium 8-Speed
Cranks — Campagnolo Record Titanium 170mm (52T/39T)
B.B. — Campagnolo Record
Chain – SRAM 8-Speed
Casette – Campagnolo Record

Brakes – Campagnolo Record
Brake Levers – Campagnolo Record Titanium
Wheels — Campagnolo Shamal Titanium 12/16 Hole
Tires — Vittoria Open Corsa 25mm
Seatpost — Campagnolo Record Carbon Colnago
Saddle — Selle Italia Flite Titanium