It was, in fact, a steel cyclo-cross bike, equipped with the cantilever brakes and bar-end shifters unique to this off-road branch of our sport. While Museeuw’s 1995 Paris-Roubaix bike did not have suspension, it was quite different to his normal steel road bike and to Ballerini’s carbon model. The intricate detail of the fork crown casting is typical of Colnago’s attention to aesthetics, even if it weighs a few grams more. The required four degree offset is designed into the fork crown, the theory being that the straight blades allow sufficient vertical compliance while improving lateral rigidity compared with the more traditional curved blades. The Colnago Precisa steel fork was introduced in 1987 and it featured in the manufacturer’s catalogue right through to the carbon frames of the 1990s. Its future prospects were good with a world championship achieved on this unique design, but it was displaced in the marketplace by the C40 before it had a chance to shine. Christened the ‘Bi Titan’ by Colnago, it was produced in limited numbers. His particular frame was made of titanium, sporting the innovative ‘twin lateral’ down tubes. A piece of trivia: Rominger covered the first 40km in a tad over 43 minutes on the way to his record.Ībraham Olano won the 1995 world championship road race on another Colnago (crossing the line with a punctured rear tyre). This was teardrop shaped for maximum aerodynamics, not oval at all, and had been around since the early 1980s. He rode a specially built Colnago, constructed of Columbus Oval CX steel tubing. Rominger had held the hour record since November 1994, at an incredible 55.291km. It was also a great example of the rapid changes in technology being explored at the time. Mapei-GB riders used Colnago’s flagship carbon C40 frames during 1996, but a quick glance at the bikes used by the team for the previous couple of years reveals the diversity of equipment at its disposal. Amongst the other stars in the team were Abraham Olano, the reigning world champion, and the current world hour record holder, Tony Rominger. The squad had so many talented riders that it was even able to field three top quality teams in different corners of the globe simultaneously. He was the World Cup winner from the previous year and was in amazingly good company at Mapei. Being one of the most prominent riders of his generation he was privileged to test, in real world conditions, a multitude of different bikes made from various materials: steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon-fibre.īy 1996 Museeuw was riding for the world’s number one team, Mapei-GB. In a successful career spanning 14 years, the Flemish rider witnessed first-hand the transformation of bicycle frame technology. But it was on the pavé of the Classics that he achieved his greatest triumphs. He won two stages: the first on Mont-Saint-Michel, the next in Paris – a monastery and then the famed cobbles of the Champs-Elysées. Johan Museeuw had his first taste of victory in the elite ranks in 1990 in the Tour de France. All the contact points - saddle, bars and pedals - were exactly the same as normal.” That way it is more comfortable and more stable over the cobbles. “The top tube length matched my standard frame, which meant that the distance to the bars was the same, but the wheelbase was longer. “Remember it was the beginning of the carbon era and the C40 was a massive improvement over the previous aluminium and titanium frames I had been riding. “The tubes were made heavier and stiffer purely for Roubaix with much more carbon in the construction,” said the rider when asked about any modifications that were made.
#Black and purple colnago c40 tony rominger pro
Museeuw’s name is scribbled on the frame and looks more like the work of the mechanic than a graphic artist, as pro bikes are now labelled. Public issue C40 frames were equipped with Colnago branded seatposts in the annoyingly unique 28mm diameter. The seat lug on Mapei’s 1996 team bikes was modified to accommodate the 27.2mm aluminium Dura-Ace seatpost, the use of which was insisted upon by a major sponsor of the Mapei-GB team, Shimano.
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