Colnago C40 1999

[hbn]

One of the most striking bikes of all time is the colnago C40, the bike that started the carbon-fibre revolution. This bike was the first ever carbon bike to compete in the infamously hard Paris-Roubaix back in -95, when Franco Ballerini rode his C40 to victory, first time win for a carbon bike in this race. The next year, team Mapei aboard their C40s effected a clean sweep of the Paris-Roubaix podium, with Johan Museeuw, Andrea Tafi and Gianluca Bortolami arriving at the Roubaix velodrome together and crossing the finish line in formation, all three with their arms in the air. Incredibly, Team Mapei repeated the one-two-three at Paris-Roubaix on board their C40s twice more — in 1998 and 1999.

It’s beauty stems not only from it’s heritage, but from it's somewhat paradoxal combination of a classic steel frame look, with slender tubes, and one-piece molded, hand-finished carbon lugs.

-A carbon frame built like a classic steel frame.

This is my story of finding, and re-building a cycling icon.

 

[hbn]

Re:

As a teenager in the nineties, I was into mountain bikes. But when visiting a friend’s
house shortly before the end of the last millennium, I saw his father’s brand new road bike sitting on display in the middle of their living room, a brand new Colnago, all high gloss carbon fibre with yellow graphics. I had never seen such a bike!

Years later, I was looking online at Colnago Masters, and was reminded of the Colnago that my friend’s father once had. Browsing images and catalogue scans, I identified it from my memory as a C40 in the colour 00F.

I searched online all over Europe for a 56-58cm c40 in colour 00F, which I prefer to the more well known Mapei colour scheme, with Record 9-speed, a Star Carbon fork, non-B stay and non-HP, since I think that the rear stays of that model retains the classic elegance of a lugged steel frame, yet made from carbon, while the straight blades of the Star fork gives it a contemporary touch. After a lot of searching, I found this bike advertised on an Italian classified page, located in Torino, only 160km from the Colnago factory. The bike was the right size, the right colour and with the original Record 9-speed group, bar the crank that had been replaced by a black Campagnolo Veloce. I set up the purchase by phone and waited for the bike to arrive to Sweden.