Recommend me a 'fast' bike

[Stick Legs]

Jamie, I agree completely with you on the Merckx. My own Corsa Extra was quite underwhelming to start with (to be honest I wondered what all the fuss was about).
This is coupled with the fact that my main riding bikes are a Carbon and a Scandium Wilier which are both quite lively.

However the Merckx starts to make sense after the first 2 hours, a bike that flatters rather than excites.
A wife not a mistress.

For this reason alone I am putting Ultegra 6600 on my Corsa purely to allow me to enjoy it on longer rides with the greater gear range and comfy hoods rather than the period correct 6400 it currently runs.

As for the Colnago Master or C40?

One day.

 

[WimVDD]

I've got both Corsa Extra and Master (in fact I've got 3 Corsa Extra's and 3 Masters... ) and some are period correct builts, other are "neo retro" (and at the moment most are being rebuild and are just frames and boxes full of groupsets and parts). I rode with the neo retro Master XL some longer cyclosportives (up to 8 hrs in the saddle in the Dolomites) and must say I prefer that for the mountainous terrain. When I do my weekly rides in Flanders (just some short bumps), I take the Corsa Extra. It's two different kind of bikes but I can't say which one I prefer most.

 

[beepbeep]

Re:

Haha, that about sums it up Stick legs, I'm looking for a mistress and not a wife

My experience with the Master was different to the ones talked about here. I was lucky to have no real preconditions, other than I knew about Colnago's legendary status. I bought mine on a whim, for a decent price on ebay due to it's tatty paint. Thus the lively feel was something of a surprise.
My uneducated guess was that this was the feeling of steel frames in general, so I was a bit disappointed in the feel of its replacement. Probably more align to the Merckx I imagine.

Cheers

 

[beepbeep]

Re:

Anyone with experience of steel De Rosas?

 

[Jamiedyer]

It would be a sad old world if they all rode the same, even sadder if we all had the same preferences.

WimVDD; I'd love to see your collection Sounds great.

I love my Merckx but again, it was something I always wanted and when I came over from Australia I finally bought one, well had my hand forced a bit as I was informed they were stopping general production of steel frames and were selling off what they had. So I picked mine up on a factory sale and got it shipped to me when it was all finalised. It has never disappointed, and because I was moving around a bit and didn't know where I would end up, is the reason it has run more duarable everyday running gear of Ultegra and 105. It was also not very fashionable to be buying steel when I bought it, my mates thought I was better off buying a Flyer or such
So it holds a special place all round, more than the sum of its parts that's for sure.

Jamie

 

[jono63]

Beep I am just about to build up a brand new Nuovo Classico De Rosa so will let you know in a couple of weeks!

 

[WimVDD]

@Jamiedyer: here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rmhp8wls509t ... BmHCa?dl=0 you can already find some of them but it's not up to date (it's a constant building, braking down, rebuilding and sometimes I sell bikes and buy others).

This is my current "stable":

Colnago Mexico(1982) - frameset and box of parts (Campa Nuovo Record/Superrecord)
Colnago Master "Ariosteia" (1991) - Dura Ace 7400
Colnago Master Extra Light "Casino" (199 - frameset
Colnago Master Extra Light (199 - neo retro with Sram Force
Eddy Merckx Professional (1981) - Campa Superrecord (almost finished)
Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra "Team Stuttgart" (1989) - rebuilding it with a Campa Croce d'Aune but rode it some years with Chorus 8 speed
Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra "Team Hitachi" (1989) - frameset and parts in a box (Sram Force for a neo retro)
Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra "Tutti Frutti" (1989) - frameset
Cinelli Supercorsa (1996) - frameset and box of parts (Chorus/Record Titanium 9 speed)
Carrera "team Carrera Tassoni" (1993) - Campagnolo C Record 8 speed
Carrera built by Pisenti (with profiled tubing - 1993) - Campa Daytona 9 speed
Fausto Coppi Lugano 53 "Team MG Tecnogym" (1996) - building it as a neo retro with Campa Record 10 Speed
Mino Denti Master (1987) - Campa Chorus (first generation - almost finished)
Panasonic PR 6000: a tailor made bike from the 1991 professional team (for a chap called Van Orsouw) but it needs a respray

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

WimVDD

I love the Ariostea Colnago, reminds me of the first races I saw, back in 1990. Stands out above the rest for me. I already have the jersey in anticipation!

There I go again, dreaming of a team Master :roll:

Is the Coppi, a team one? I thought they rode K14s.

Also like the sound of your Flanders rides. What do you mean by ' just some short bumps ' though? The Koppenberg, Paterberg and Bosberg are short, but you wouldn't want to go up them several times in a ride!

Mike

 

[bm0p700f]

For modern how about a genesis volare.

A pinarello monviso feels pretty quick even thought it is not a light frame.
Sannino made lovely frames. Mine is a proper race frame.

Both bike have short top tubes and a short wheel base and both bikes i can get low on while on the hoods this is the key to a fast bike, being aero on it.

Another quick bike that i own is a Klein Quantum. It is a quick bike because i have an aero position on it.

I also have a trek 2300 and a look kg221 but i sit more upright on these and i am slower on it as well.

However both bikes are shown there arse by my look 795 which has a longer wheelbase, feels far more stable and is alot quicker because when on the drops my back is flat.

 

[WimVDD]

Re: Re:

WimVDD

I love the Ariostea Colnago, reminds me of the first races I saw, back in 1990. Stands out above the rest for me. I already have the jersey in anticipation!

There I go again, dreaming of a team Master :roll:

Is the Coppi, a team one? I thought they rode K14s.

Also like the sound of your Flanders rides. What do you mean by ' just some short bumps ' though? The Koppenberg, Paterberg and Bosberg are short, but you wouldn't want to go up them several times in a ride!

Mike

The Master Ariostea was my first vintage bike. The story: as a kid I used to live in the region where the Tour of Flanders was -and is still- being held. Our house was on top of a smaller bump, approx. 3 km from the Berendries and that very Sacred April Sunday back in the nineties (I think I was 17 or 1, Moreno Argentin escaped IN OUR STREET and won that years' Tour of Flanders in an Ariostea Jersey. That escape -and that jersey- were burned in my memory forever. ;-)

ABout the bumps: one get's used to them. ;-) I grew up in that region so when I was training for racing, most of my endurance rides went over 15 to 20 of that kind of hills (we sometimes did up to 2000 m of vertical climbing in a region where the biggest "climb" is 75 m or something like that). But we rarely did the cobbled ones (except for the "Muur" in Geraardsbergen) because those ruined your bike and back. ;-)

If you ever are in that region, you can always do my favourite training tour: a 22 hills loop (1600 m of climbing) near Oudenaarde. Or you can do it together with me, I still do it several times a year. http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=blovsbkhksmwdglg

I meant the colour of the MG team: white with black decals. I bought this Coppi (Columbus Genius tubing - pretty light) because I'm riding the Gran Fondo Fausto Coppi next July. ;-)