Colnago C50 – My Experience

This is not just a C50 experience, maybe none of them are, the C50 experience comes off something else. It’s usually another Colnago experience.

I got my first Colnago when I was at University, a 1983 Colnago Mexico; Azzuri with a Campagnolo 50th Anniversary groupset and singles. The guy I bought it off, wanted more than I could afford, so we stripped it and he sold the parts separately and I got the frame. I later realised what the gruppo was worth, but at the time, it was out of my budget, I wanted to race and STI was the name of the game.

I rode that bike everyday for 15 years and it was in a constant state of upgrade from whatever I could lay my hands on, from RSX, 105, Ultegra, one bit at a time until I was a post-doc and could afford a complete Dura Ace 7700 groupset, but that’s another story.

A few years after that, when I was running my own research group and being paid accordingly, I could finally afford to buy a new bike.

At the time my favorite shop was Bicycle Express in Adelaide. I had been going there since I first discovered it not long after moving to Adelaide at the beginning of 1999. It was an amazing shop, with loads of older 2nd hand road bikes, dozens of wheels hanging from the ceiling, a huge collection of clothing, all team kit form the 1990’s, thousands of dollars of bling components in glass cabinets. I’d never seen anything like it and I was smitten!

It was an iconic bike shop, and the guy who owned it, Keith Wong, was a great cycling fan and that really showed in his shop. He was also the local Colnago and Daccordi dealer so there was always a bunch of amazing frames in there and often complete bikes as well.

So, I was there pretty much every week looking at all sorts of stuff I’d only ever heard or read about and buying something for my bike or my girlfriend’s bike, buying clothing, tyres, tubes, there was always something, to the buy to the point that Keith started calling me, “Mr 10%.” he said he reckoned that I spent about 10% of my gross income in his store. I think he was probably right. Even after I moved to Mildura, I’d come back to buy stuff and often I’d call up and get him to post stuff up to me.

When I had deiced that the time was right, I went to see him of course to buy my new Colnago, Unfortunately, it was the wrong time of year and there was no stock of the C-50 frames in-store or with the importer. I was gutted. I really wanted one obviously and I really wanted to give Keith my business after so many years of going there. But it wasn’t to be. All that was available was the Master X Light and I already had a steel Colnago.

I told them what I wanted but nothing was available

I knew I had an upcoming work trip to the California, so I searched nearby Colnago dealers and touched base with them; in the Bay Area they weren’t interested, there was a shop in Davis, but they had already treated my like a deadbeat when I was looking for a seatpost bolt for the Mexico, so they weren’t getting my business, but there was this one guy ….. he said , just come in and we’ll figure it out. It was a long shot, he was in Auburn, 8okm away to the northeast, but I liked his attitude, so I drove up there.

Introducing Bill Moreno of the Bicycle Emporium in Auburn, California. A great guy and a fantastic shop, an inspiration you might say 🙂

Anyway, we discussed models and colourways and their availability, I told him what I was looking for and he made some suggestions, I gave him my bike fit data from UC Davis, which he wasn’t expecting from what he thought was a tourist and then we got down to components, groupset and wheels, he made a recommendation around bars and stem, etc. most of that I wasn’t too fussed by because I knew I could change it later if I had to, but I needed a complete bike to ride while I was there as well as being my dream bike to take home.

Once we’d worked through all of that, I was like, “Righto Bill, how soon can you have it together?” “Come back in a week,” he told me. “OK, no problem, I guess I should pay you then.” He asked how much I wanted to put down, I was like, “Well, how much is it?” “Let me work that out for you.” “No problem, take your time.” After a little bit, he came back and was almost apologetic, “It comes to just under $10,000.” This was US dollars, I did a quick mental calculation, at the time with the exchange rate that was just under $12,000 Australian and I had $12K on my cord – I had more in savings, but it looked like I wasn’t going to need that! “Excellent,” I said and whipped out my card. He processed the sale, it was approved and looked at me with a hint of relief, “I’ve never seen anyone put ten grand on a card in one go before.” he said. “I’ve never done it before,” I responded, we both laughed. “I’ll see you next week.”

A week later I drove up to Auburn. to get the bike. I strolled into the shop, still looking like a lost tourist I guess judging by the look the sales guy gave me. “I’m here to pick up a bike,” I said. He blinked, looked at me again and said, “Hang on, I’ll get Bill.” Bill came out with a big smile, we shook hands, a few pleasantries and he casually wandered over to the bike. I don’t know how I hadn’t spotted it, but one look was enough. Yep, that’s me, that’s mine. “I’ve brought my gear.” I said, “Is there a nice 40km (25 mile) loop I could do to check it out?” He gave me a quick turn-by-turn and I went outside, changed in the carpark, and off I went.

OMG. So light, so responsive, just seemed to float over the ground and all of the power went into going forwards, stiff out of the saddle, but super-comfortable to ride. It was amazing. Amazing on a level I hadn’t really experienced and that actually took quite a bit longer and a few more rides to really sink in. It was the same ride quality as the Mexico, just on completely another level.

When I got back and walked into the shop, a bit dusty and a bit sweaty, Bill just grinned at me, I guess I had that shit-eating ear-to-ear grin you get when you’ve had a good time and things can’t really get any better! “So, how was it?” “It was fucking great.” I guess he wasn’t accustomed to Aussies cursing, certainly not in his shop, but he took it in his stride, I was clearly a very happy and enthusiastic customer and it was some degree of infectious. “I’d just like to change one thing.” Bill looked wary. “I’m not that keen on the saddle. I’m sure it’s a great saddle, but I’m used to something a little more Spartan, what have you got at a similar level?” Bill showed me a glass cabinet full of loveliness, I scanned it looking for something familiar, yes, Selle Italia Flite SLR with Titanium rails, a tiny wafer of a thing, but it was the uber Gucci version of what I was already riding and was very comfortable on. “Can I get that one?” I asked. He gave me an odd look, “That’ll be like a wooden plank,” he said. “An upgrade on my current plank,” I responded, he smiled and shook his head. Maybe I was shortchanging myself, but I didn’t care, I felt I was on a winner, Bill was obviously very happy with the whole deal, but I asked anyway, “Do I owe you anything for that?” as he finished fitting it for me. “No, you’re all good.” We shook hands and wandered out to pack in into the back of the Impala – nice big trunk. And drove away with the bike of my dreams.

So, the final build was the Colnago C-50 frameset, 3T stem, and FSA ergo handlebar (that I changed soon after to a 3T bar), Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 10 Speed groupset, Mavic Ksyrium SL wheelset with Continental GP4000 tyres, Colnago carbon seatpost, Selle Italia Flite SLR saddle with Ti rails, 4ZA carbon bottle cages and Look pedals.

And a memorable experience that many years later resulted in The Bicycle Emporium, Ballina.

Thanks Bill.