Colnago C50 – Another Experience

I have a friend, whom I will call Adam – mainly that’s because it’s his name and I’m not about to vilify him or any else scandalous (ATM) 🙂

I’ve known Adam for a few years, at an uneducated guess I’d say maybe 5 years, it doesn’t really matter, we both have a love of road cycling and a bit of a collection of road bikes and we like to hang out and chat aboput bikes, watch cycking, drink beer, go riding,m drink coffee, all the usual good stuff , plus we collect lovely old race bikes. I’m a bit less finicky in my tastes, I find things I like, that remind me of cycling eras and races, but not linked to specific teams and riders so mucn. Adam, is off in the other direrection so, so a VDB Cofidis frame would get him into something of a lather!

As a sidebar, an Indurain Banesto Pinarello, might get me or a Viernque Litespeed badged as a Peugot, might also attract me, but I’m more aboput the bike than the rider. But I have digressed ……

A few year s ago, Adam was gong through an episode of buying bikes that were “very well priced” and some of them weren’t bad. As a result he was frequenlty in the shop with is latest project and during that time, I had sent off one of my favoriate bikes, the C50, to get the clear coat redone because …. STUFF AND LINK…

The C50 had just come back and I had bombed it up with a Dura Ace 9000 gruppo that I had peeled off …. LINK AND STORY. I had just finished when Adam strolled in to see what “exciting projects” I was up to and I showed hm the finished C50. Well of course he was suitably impressed as any good friend would be and since he tastes were towards other brands I wasn’t expecting effusive praise, but he did casually drop that he had never ridden a Colnago!

Well of course, I couldn’t let labour in ignorance for a moment longer and I gave him a helmet (POC Ventral Air MIPS) and sent him off for a bit of a roll. 20 Minutes later, nicely warmed up and with a bit of glow and sweat happening, he rolled back in the door and said, “It’s like it’s got a motor in it!” “When I put the power down, it just leaps forward, I’ve never ridden anything like it. It’s tight, it’s responsive and you can confidently lay it into a really hard turn on the first ride. I just don’t know what to say. It’s not like anything I’ve ever ridden.”

A few moments later…

Probably a couple of months, Adam, Or hios friend DaRREN, FOUND A c50 ON SALE CHEAP IN the western bubs of Sydney in Adam’s size, so they bought it. Darren brought it here on his next visit and int the shop. Yes, I can confirm, the real McCoy, but has been a bit neglected and stored for a while in less than idela conditions,, also a couple of the couple stops had failed or pulled out of the cardon – a very common problem. But, as they say, “Good Bones.”

“Lleave it with me, Adam.”

This was about to be probably my third foray into gettinmg a carbon frame “done”

I had in the past used some mob in Brisbane, Paint My Bike, that did a very good job on my C50, but then they “fell apart?” and I needed a paint job done on another bike and ended up referred to some muppet who couldn’t give a fuck and totally made a balls up of a 1982 Colnago Super steel frame and I ended up going to a crash repairer in Lismore who’d been doinbg custom bike painting for his grandkids and someone at a swap meet saw his wpork and told me and = short story, he;s a legend and I have done a load of bikes with him – and he saved the day.

SO, I was a bit sceptical, I’d had a couple of recommendations, and I wasn’t sure until one of my reps came through and said, try this guy … Gary at Carbon Steed

So, I sent of Adam’s C50 and when Gary got it, he was like, this has been neglected and to redo the cable stops and the clear around them, we’ll have to sand back most of the decals and at that point, you’d get a better result if you did he whole frame and fork. I’d been down this road before, so it wasn’t hard to convince me, but I had to get it past Adam and his finance minister.+

I did get the go ahead for the blowout from $600 to $1600, but it was touch-and-go for a bit!

I gave Gary the GO! and he churned it out and sent it back in record time and I’d rebuilt it almost immediately after the frame returned. First thing Adam knew, I was asking him to confirm if he wanted his brakes Euro and what was his seat height!

Adam came in with the sad baggage from home, but that lasted about half a faux teary eyelash flutter when he set eyes on the bike and then we sent him out for a roll and … the rest is history as they say!

Currently, his best and favourite bike, I can totally understand why, if his wife leaves him, he can stay in my shed – or his bike can!!!

🙂