Showing 37 models
| Model | Years | Era | Material | Characteristics | Racing legacy | Rarity |
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♣ still available ♣♣ uncommon ♣♣♣ rare ♣♣♣♣ very rare ♣♣♣♣♣ museum piece · ♣ is Colnago's cloverleaf logo
A workshop in Cambiago,
and a legend
Colnago's story began in 1954 when a young Ernesto Colnago opened a small workshop in Via Garibaldi, Cambiago, near Milan — with a workbench his father built from a mulberry tree in their garden. He had worked as an apprentice at Gloria Bicycles from the age of 13, and after a crash ended his own racing career, he channelled that competitive instinct entirely into the machines themselves.
What followed was seven decades of Italian craftsmanship, relentless innovation, and an unmatched record of victories. Between Eddy Merckx and Giuseppe Saronni alone, over 700 races were won on Colnago steel. The company remained family-controlled for its entire history until May 2020, when Chimera Investments (UAE) acquired a majority stake — though design, manufacturing and painting have remained in Cambiago.
The steel age — 1954 to 1987
Colnago's early production centred on hand-lugged steel frames built from Columbus and Gilco tubing. The Super (1968) became the production mainstay of the 1970s, followed by the Mexico (1972) — named for Eddy Merckx's legendary Hour Record in Mexico City. In response to stiffness criticism, Ernesto pioneered crimped and profiled tube sections, culminating in the iconic Master (1983): its star-shaped Gilco Precisa tubing became one of the most recognisable frame profiles in cycling history, and the Master is still handmade and sold today.
The steel era also produced some of Colnago's rarest artefacts: the gold-plated Mexico Oro gifted to Pope John Paul II in 1979, the limited Saronni tribute frames (1982–83), and the hand-decorated Arabesque art bikes — each as much collector's piece as riding machine.
Carbon pioneers — 1986 to 1993
Colnago's early carbon experiments were audacious and often unsuccessful commercially, but each taught crucial lessons. The Concept prototype (1986) bonded carbon tubes with carbon fibre lugs — a technique that would later define the C40. The hybrid Carbitubo (1988), made in collaboration with frame-builder Alan, brought a carbon downtube to the mainstream market for the first time.
The C35 (1989) was Colnago's 35th anniversary statement: a full monocoque carbon frame built in collaboration with Ferrari — the first of many partnerships with the Maranello marque. It was rarely raced, existing primarily as a proof of concept and design milestone, but it pointed directly toward what was coming.
The C-series — 1994 to present
The C40 (1994) changed professional cycling. Carbon lugs machined in 19 angles bonded to Master-profile carbon tubes — all handmade in Cambiago, all painted by hand. When Franco Ballerini rode it to victory at Paris-Roubaix in 1995, the first carbon bike to ever win that legendary race, the era of steel frames at the highest level was effectively over. The C40 won five editions of Paris-Roubaix in six years.
Each subsequent C-series model has honoured a Colnago anniversary in its name: C50 (50th, 2004), C59 (Ernesto's 80th birthday, 2010), C60 (60th, 2014), C64 (2018), C68 (2022) and C72 (2024). Every one has been handmade and hand-painted in Italy — a continuity of craft spanning three decades of carbon construction.
The C-series also carries Colnago's most coveted one-offs: the Ferrari-collaboration CF1 monocoque (2000) and the mystifyingly rare Cristallo (2004), an all-carbon monocoque of which so few were made that almost no documentation survives.
The V-series & modern racing — 2014 to present
With the V1-r in 2014, Colnago entered the aero road bike era — again in partnership with Ferrari, this time using wind tunnel development. The V-series introduced full monocoque construction as Colnago's race platform, running in deliberate parallel with the handmade tube-and-lug C-series.
The V3Rs brought Colnago's most significant modern victory: Tadej Pogačar winning the 2020 Tour de France overall — the first Colnago-branded bike to achieve that in the race's history, since Merckx's victories had been aboard rebranded Colnagos. The V5Rs (2025) is the lightest Colnago ever made at 685 g (size 485), with 9 watts less aerodynamic drag than its predecessor at 50 km/h.
Collecting & rarity
Colnago's rarity landscape splits clearly into four tiers. Museum pieces include La Freccia (fewer than a handful confirmed surviving), the Mexico Oro (effectively a unique object), the Saronni tributes, the C35 and the Cristallo — all essentially impossible to source through normal channels. Very rare models include most specialist steel variants (Master Krono, Oval CX, Master Pista) and carbon experiments (Carbitubo, CF1, Extreme C). Rare is the practical ceiling for most collectors — C40s and C50s do appear on the used market but command significant premiums. Still available or uncommon covers current production and post-2015 models.
One important note: Colnago offers a Retrofitting Service (Colnago Authenticity Certification) for vintage steel frames, providing documented provenance — a valuable consideration for any serious purchase.