The Colnago C64 is the first bike that made me blush. One Saturday morning I pulled into a cafe, placed the C64 beside a dozen other bikes and looked up to see a flock of club riders ogling it shamelessly.
It made me a little self-conscious, and almost embarrassed for the poor inanimate object being, well... objectified.
But then, the C64 is built to attract cafe stares. What matters, though, is whether it’s more than merely a trophy bike. For those unfamiliar with the C64’s lineage, the C-series is a handmade carbon bicycle dynasty.
It’s iconic for its crimped tube shapes and carbon lugs yet harks back to the stylish looks of classic steel builders. All C-bikes have always been available in custom geometry, and they’ve been at the forefront when it comes to technology, too.
The C59 was the first custom carbon road bike to feature disc brakes, way back in 2012.
The bottom bracket junctions of the last few generations have been technological marvels,
if a little incomprehensible.
Colnago introduced the ThreadFit 82.5 bottom bracket with the C60, offering a ‘stiffer pedalling’ platform and a unique BB-standard. The C64 has been further redesigned with ‘more complexity than ever’.
‘It’s even more complicated than the C60 because the cable guide is modelled into the lug itself,’ says Colnago designer Davide Fumagalli.
Instead of a small plastic guide, the carbon shell has a cable channel modelled within it. While some have complained that the C64 looks very similar to its predecessor, a major visual change is in the seat tube and seatpost.
Where the C60 used a lug to join the top tube, seat tube and seatstays, the C64’s lug and seat tube are moulded as a single piece. It means the frame is a little more like a monocoque carbon frame and can use the same aerodynamically shaped seatpost as Colnago’s V2-R.
To my eye, this has modernised the entire look of the bike.
One of the biggest changes is a very simple one, though – the widening of tyre clearances.
Where the C60 struggled to fit 25mm tyres, the C64 boasts clearance of at least 28mm. Overall the bike features some thoughtful design and savvy engineering, but it’s time to look beyond the stats.
Thin end of the wedge.
In years past, I rode the C59 and C60 and found both to offer a rare balance of comfort, speed and agile handling that the best Italian builders do so well, and I can’t deny that I was more excited by the C64 than the recent monocoque offerings from Colnago, such as the V2-R and Concept.
Unfortunately, my first encounter with it left me grumbling. To assemble the C64 I had to tighten a bolt tucked behind the aerodynamic wing of the handlebar, but it was placed in such an awkward position that I could only get an allen key partially into the bolt hole at an exteme angle.
This meant I risked rounding off the bolt, which would have rendered the bike unusable at a stroke. With tentative care, I did manage to tighten the bars, but it’s still a poorly conceived aspect of the bike, and I’d recommend a conventional handlebar and stem over this aero design.
However, like all classic romcom storylines, from an awkward and frosty start the C64 began to charm me on all fronts, and I felt a beautiful relationship begin to emerge.
Gone with the wind
From the outset, the stiffness Colnago has targeted shines through. The bike responds to power input with decisive bursts of speed, but they’re coupled with a natural smoothness too. I first rode this bike on the well-maintained roads of Lanzarote, where the C64 simply glided over the tarmac.
Yet I also found that the stiffness through the back end of the bike let me feel the
road beneath and make sharp, accurate steering corrections, all while filtering out any nasty shocks.
Not many bikes achieve all that at once. It bestowed a confidence that saw me get up to 88kmh on one descent (I don’t risk such speeds very often).
That’s possibly partly down to the bike’s front end, where Colnago uses an elastomer polymer in the headset that offers a very small but detectable degree of compression and suspension within the head tube. It means that while the fork is extremely stiff, the headset filters out some of the jolts.
On the lanes of Surrey, that type of compliance is pushed to the limit, where small road scars
become gaping potholes and smooth tarmac is an abstract fantasy. I’d say on that terrain, the
C64 is on the harsh side, but bearable.
I believe that with a set of 28mm tyres it could even be put to work on a cobbled Classic.
The frame comes in at just over 900g, which I found agreeable and noticeably lighter than the C60 (1,050g). A 7.12kg build with deep section wheels and Campagnolo Super Record EPS feels plenty light enough on a steep climb.
As for aerodynamics, the C64 isn’t specifically designed as an aero bike – Colnago has the Concept for that – but it does include more aerodynamic features than we would usually expect of a bike available in custom geometry.
While it’s hard to assess a bike’s aerodynamics outside a wind-tunnel, the C64 certainly holds
speed well on the flat, and just feels fast.
Partly, if I’m honest, that sensation of speed is down to the sound resonance that the C64
achieves – it produces a perfect hum as it glides over the road. The Campagnolo Bora wheels also do a great job of holding speed, and it seems to take little effort to accelerate into a fast sprint.
But there’s something else about the C64. The way it reacts to input from the rider is so sharp,
so tuned, that it just made me want to turn the screw on my efforts whenever possible.
The C64 is a bike that manages to stand out even among rival superbikes for that very reason.
That’s quite possibly why Colnago has endured in popularity – the bike manages to foster a feeling of innate speed coupled with sharp, agile handling as if it were designed by sensation alone. Step back from that fantastic ride quality and there’s a stunning bike, with a historic story and home-grown, custom-built Italian appeal.
A dream bike, some might say.
Buy the Colnago C64 now from Sigma Sports
Colnago launches the C64
The Colnago C-series is a kind of royal family of the cycling world. It is prized as one of the archetypal Italian racing bikes. The new Colnago C64, launched today, marks the latest development in its history.
Iconic for its crimped tube shapes and standout carbon lugs, from the original C40 onward the C-bikes were a type of carbon bike that harked back to the stylish looks of classic steel builders.
The C64 comes with some of the DNA of its predecessors but also represents a careful technological focus on materials and shapes, all of which have been updated compared to the previous C60.
Like all the C40, C59 and C60 bikes before it, the C64 is handmade in Italy despite Colnago’s surprisingly small size, with only 28 employees. ‘This one is still made in Italy,’ says Colnago designer Davide Fumagalli. ‘That means we are the biggest Italian-made carbon frame makers, and we are very proud of this fact.’
The attention to detail shows, and Colnago is quick to praise the neatness of the internals of its tubing. ‘We use a polymer mandrel that disappears at room temperature,’ says Fumagalli. ‘It’s expensive but has the best result.’
However, the Colnago C64 isn’t simply an updated ‘stiffer, lighter, more comfortable’ story with only minimal changes. The bike has been redeveloped far more than a single glance suggests.
64 years in the making
The C64 is so-called as it marks the 64th anniversary of the company, since Ernesto officially created the brand in 1954. Amazingly, the 86 year-old Ernesto is at the launch in person, and taking an energetic hands-on lead in presenting the new bike.
‘We are calling the new C64 a sort of revolution of the C60, but we have really changed everything,’ says Fumagalli. ‘Starting from the shape, but also the kind of carbon fibre and the process behind the bike. It’s a completely new project and it’s completely different.’
The first sign of the stark difference to the bike’s traditional persuasions is the new approach to tyre clearance. Where once the C60 struggled to fit 25mm tyres, the C64 now boasts clearance of at least 28mm.
‘The standard for us is the 28mm Continental GP 4000, which actually measures around 30.5mm in width,’ says Fumagalli. ‘So we designed it for this tyre, but we have enough space for 30mm tyres.’
He adds that the rim brakes themselves are a limiting factor. ‘Of course the disc version has much more space here,’ he says. ‘But both bikes share much more space than the C60.’
Lugs and seatpost
While the tyre clearance is a surprise, in pure design terms the most considerable difference from the traditional C-series bikes is not immediately obvious – this is no longer a purely tube-to-tube lugged construction.
Where once a lug joined the seatube, seatstays and toptube together, now the seattube moulds into bond for the top tube and seatstays (which is actually a ‘mono-stay’ at the joint). It’s one of numerous features that cuts weight efficiently, but also plays an important role in overall performance.
‘This technical feature increased the stiffness of the frame,’ says Fumagalli. That is because removing the extra bonds necessary to create a lug around the tubes is likely to reduce the flex around the junction.
Another important consequence of the redesign of the seattube is that Colnago has now included a custom shaped seatpost – the same as that used on the V2-R.
‘For the C-series we had a 27.2mm post, then 31.6mm for the C60, and but we’ve now decided on this shape which we use for the V2-R and V1-R but we have a 15mm setback, or a 30mm setback or 0mm,’ says Fumagalli.
The goal has been improved aerodynamics but also increased vertical compliance, and by a measurement of N/mm, it has gone from 205N/mm to 170N/mm, with the lower number representing more comfortable flex.
Head-tube
‘The headtube, even though the shape is quite similar to the C60, uses completely different technology,’ says Fumagalli.
The headtube itself has been widened for greater stiffness. As bike design enthusiasts will know, the headtube stiffness influences handling accuracy, but also affects the possible flex conducted from the bottom bracket – making for a more rigid power transfer.
However, the more intriguing technology is what sits inside the headtube, with Colnago’s new headset system.
‘We call it a partial suspension headset,’ he continues. ‘On the upper part we use the same technology as on the Concept.’ That comprises a special polymer made from carbon fibre and a mix of nylon and elastomer, which offers some degree of compression in order to filter out some road buzz.
As well as the advantages in terms of road buzz there’s gains in weight from the new design. ‘The headset on the C64 is lighter than on the C60 while also reducing the vibration from the road,’ Fumagalli says, while also clarifying that this isn’t a true suspension system.
‘It’s not a suspension system like from other brands but you will feel the effects of the system on the front end of the bike.’
The bottom bracket line
As has become standard since its introduction with the C60, Colnago has used a ThreadFit 82.5 bottom bracket. With the C64, the bottom bracket area has been further redesigned in what Colnago calls ‘more complex than ever.’
‘It’s even more complicated than the C60 because the cable guide is modelled into the lug itself. The cable guide is the biggest radius possible to make for better shifting performance.’
While the intricacies of BB standards are like anaesthesia to all but the most pious bike nerds, the developments on this frame are worthy of some consideration.
The chainstays are made asymmetrically, to balance the forces on the bike. ‘The left chainstay is bigger than the right side chainstay because we used all the space we had to make the stiffest possible frame,’ says Fumagalli.
Weight-saving
The integrated cable routing is an impressive measure to save a small amount of weight, and matched other minor tweaks in the frame that aimed to shed grams with a little and often approach.
One of the subtler but more significant changes for the C64 compared to the C60 is the switch to carbon fibre dropouts front and rear. Previously the frame used aluminium inserts and the result is a lighter but also stronger package.
The fork has also shedded weight, meaning that the overall package sheds considerable weight compared to the C60, a full 205g in a size medium.
Buy the Colnago C64 now from Sigma Sports
Disc-equipped
Colnago’s C64 Disc has really made seismic leaps since the brand first flirtation with disc brakes on the C59 way back in 2012. To Colnago’s credit, it was by far the first high-end road bike to even consider the use of disc brakes.
With the C64, we’re offered a fully internal wiring setup for aerodynamic efficiency as well as an agreeable aesthetic neatness. It can fit a custom bar to route the cables entirely internally from the levers or be fixed to any traditional sized bar with a conventional setup.
The use of threaded thru-axles is another technological update for the C64, which has considerably increased the stiffness of the overall build. Indeed, to match the level of stiffness the rim brake version uses wider chainstays.
The threaded thru-axle also reduces the weight of the fork and rear-dropout considerably. The disc package has made big gains in weight, with the overall package coming in 270g lighter than the C60 disc, and startlingly only 15 grams heavier than the rim brake version.
As is increasingly proving to be the standard, Colnago has stuck with 12mm radius thru-axles.
It’s worth noting that the disc version will not be available as soon as the rim version, set for distribution this month, but will instead be available in May.
Both frames come in an impressive selection of 14 sizes - 9 with a normal sloping geometry and 5 with a high-stack for a more comfortable setup.
‘Of course, as with any other C product in the past you can have custom sizes,’ Fumagalli adds, crucially.
The price of the rim brake version looks to be around £3,500 (tbc). It promises to be a relatively reasonable price for an historic and fully customisable Italian-made carbon frame.
On paper the new C64 certainly seems exciting, but we’ll have to wait and see whether theory matches function with its performance on the road.
Colnago C64 first ride review
A thoroughly modern design with all the classical allure. On first impressions, it climbs with ease, descends with immaculate accuracy and makes riding hard fun.
While Colnago does impressive work across the range, I can’t deny being far more excited about the flagship C-series than the newer monocoque carbon bikes.
I rode the C59 and C60 and found both to represent the rare balance of comfort, speed and agile handling that the best Italians do so well. Expectations were high for the C64, then.
The disc version, set to come out in May, was in short supply, so I opted for the more classic C64 rim for this first test, complete with a perfectly matched Campagnolo Super Record groupset.
Indeed, while the pictures may speak for themselves, it’s worth clarifying that this bike looks striking. The major visual change is in the seattube and seatpost, and certainly modernises what some may have seen as a slightly outdated classical round-tubed seatpost design.
The C64 isn’t a piece of jewellery, though, and needs to behave on the roads just as well as its looks imply.
Gone with the wind
From the outset, the stiffness that Colnago has prioritised shines through. The bike responds to impulses of power with decisive spurts of speed. Rolling out the first few kilometres on the bike was simply gliding over the tarmac.
Admittedly the roads of Lanzarote, where Colnago’s launch was based, are immaculately smooth, and so the bike felt naturally more comfortable than I recall of its predecessor. Nevertheless, this is certainly a frame that balances the back and front end well in terms of filtering out road buzz.
One of the merits of Colnago’s design of the headset is that while the fork is considerably stiffer, the headset filters out much of the nasty jolts of the road but still communicates the road texture well. It makes for a confident ride.
I can’t say whether the fork, the increased BB stiffness or geometry were at play, but I hit nearly 90kmh on my first descent on the C64. I topped 80kmh several times.
While speed is specific to the rider, of course, the significance is that often I’ll feel too much disturbance and instability to feel confident creeping over 80kmh. Even with Lanzarote’s blistering wind, the C64 felt so planted and solid at speed, that I was having to fight my instincts to accelerate even more.
Steering inputs were also deeply predictable, and I found myself easily able to aim for any apex and take on a sharp tight corner well within my comfort zone.
When floating in the tailwinds of the island, the C64 felt like a missile, and just begged me to stand on the pedals and sprint whenever possible.
Hard going
The C64 probably won’t be the top choice of sprinters, as while aerodynamics has been taken into account more, it lacks the pure top end speed of a V2-R.
However, against the strong headwinds of Lanzarote the bike certainly didn’t seem to be giving away watts. Crucially the stiffness of the rear end meant that I never experienced that running on sand sensation that some bikes can deliver uphill or into the wind.
In terms of the weight changes, they were certainly palpable aboard the C64 compared to the previous generation.
Admittedly, this certainly isn’t as light as the S-Works Tarmac or Trek Emonda, but for me it fell well into the category of weight that I’d class as considerably light – while falling short of the ‘super light’ sub 750g club. It feels light to lift and went unnoticed below me on steep climbs.
As Colnago draws attention to, the weight of a frame isn't everything, and with a lighter fork the overall package sheds considerable weight compared to the C60, a full 205g in a size medium. Importantly that hasn’t come at the cost of rigidity, or pure ride quality.
Heir apparent
Of course, the C64 is certainly a very nice bike, but it has strong competition from brands both new and old.
But it shows that Colnago has not rested on its laurels, both the rim and disc version of the bike show a sharp focus on keeping up with the latest technological improvements on the market. For the rim brake version that seems to ring true in the quality of the ride.
First impressions are certainly strong, but we’ll need to get this on home turf for a longer test period before we can confirm that it lives up to the weight of one of cycling most famous names.
