For many cyclists, a Colnago remains a dream bike. Over the years since its founding by Ernesto Colnago in 1954, Colnagos have been ridden to victory by Eddy Merckx, Johan Museeuw and a host of other star names. The brand is still winning headline races today, thanks to Tadej Poga\u010dar and his UAE colleagues in both men\u2019s and women\u2019s racing.<\/p>\n
Colnago<\/a> has throughout its history been at the forefront of bicycle evolution<\/a>, introducing straight legged forks and being an early adopter of carbon fibre for bicycle frames, as well as a stream of iconic models. It announced the C59 Disc in 2012, long before disc brakes went mainstream.<\/p>\n Colnago continues to innovate to this day, with the Y1Rs aero bike<\/a> one of the most eye-catching in the pro peloton, while the V5Rs offers a top spec lightweight\/aero road bike. The brand hasn\u2019t abandoned its traditions either, with the C72 the latest in a line of steel, then carbon, lugged frames handbuilt in its Cambiago factory in the same suburb of Milan where Ernesto Colnago started out 72 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Colnago\u2019s range extends to gravel and time trial bikes too, while it still sells steel models. But if you\u2019re looking for a premium Colnago road bike, which should you choose? We\u2019ll run through the features of the Y1Rs, V5Rs and C72 and make some suggestions on how to choose the best Colnago road bike for you.<\/p>\n The Y1Rs is the most eye-catching of the three bikes, with a bayonet fork mount that allows Colnago to lengthen the head tube while also narrowing it. The bike has a 19% smaller frontal area versus the V4Rs, the V5Rs\u2019s predecessor. The down tube is also narrow at its top, but spreads to shield bottles towards the bottom bracket, although this too is quite narrow, with a 68mm wide BSA shell.<\/p>\n The design of the seatpost allows Colnago to wrap the seat tube around the rear wheel, improving aerodynamics, while adding compliance at the saddle despite the aero seatpost.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The V5Rs frameset has been narrowed down for a similar reason, reducing the frontal profile by 13% relative to the V4Rs. That\u2019s led Colnago to increase the stiffness of the carbon fibre used, to retain overall frame stiffness. There\u2019s a new production process to increase compaction of the carbon fibre and hence rigidity without additional weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fork blades are also thinner than on the V4Rs and there\u2019s a D-shaped internal section to the steerer to allow internal cable routing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Colnago\u2019s C series frames use lugs at the frame junctions, with the carbon tubing cut to size and glued in place. Over time, the carbon lugs had progressively disappeared with subsequent generations as they were blended into the frame tubing. There was an increasing extent of one-piece moulding, such as the single seat tube and bottom bracket shell member in the C68.<\/p>\n The C72 changes that with a design that emphasises the lugwork with small gaps between the frame tubes and the lugs and contrasting colours to highlight the interface. It\u2019s still assembled in Italy from seven different parts and offered in seven sizes, as was the C68.<\/p>\n In contrast, both the Y1Rs and V5Rs framesets are monocoque and made in Asia.<\/p>\n Colnago usually sizes its bike frames by seat tube length in mm, a system that\u2019s unique to the brand. Thus a size 530 C72 frameset has a 563mm effective (horizontal) top tube length, equating to a 56cm frame size.\u00a0<\/p>\n The C72\u2019s predecessors up until the C68 were, in addition, sold with either a sloping or a high top tube, the latter increasing the frame stack and the number of available frame sizes. When it launched the C68, Colnago stopped selling the high top tube models and the C72 too offers only sloping geometry, reducing available sizes to seven. The V5Rs is sold in the same seven sizes as the C72.<\/p>\n With the Y1Rs, Colnago has gone a step further to rationalise its size range, offering just five frame sizes and labelling them a more conventional and more easily understood XS to XL.<\/p>\nColnago Y1Rs vs V5Rs vs C72: Key features\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Colnago Y1Rs\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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Colnago V5Rs\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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Colnago C72<\/h3>\n
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Colnago Y1Rs vs V5Rs vs C72: Frameset<\/h2>\n
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Colnago Y1Rs vs V5Rs vs C72: Geometry<\/h2>\n
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