![colnago c40 occasion colnago c40 occasion](http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/2005/colnago/c40hp/c40hp_2.jpg)
the rear is a flip/flop, allowing for a fixed sprocket on one side, and a similarly sized (in this case 18 tooth) freehweel on the other. they are of the traditional cup and cone assembly and not particularly impressive for that. The hubs are merely listed as colnago, though if i were them i wouldn’t be quite so keen to take the blame. the seatpost, a nominally old skool 27.2.mm, was slightly undersized on the test bike, taking a good bit of tightening and an aerosol of carbo-fix to stop it sliding down. the saddle fits the mood just dinky-doo the only improvement would have been to place a brooks swallow atop the aluminium seatpost, though this would likely have edged the price over that carefully engineered £1399.95. Measurements are just a tad on the tight side while the frame size was my preferred 54cm traditional, the top tube was at least a centimetre shorter than that of my similarly sized c40. bar tape is leather lookalike, matching the saddle. the brake calipers are unbranded, but polished aluminium alloy, though colnago list them as the same brand as the levers. the stem and bars are both shiny aluminium, but instead of standard brake levers, the super features a pair of minimalistic tektro flat bar levers. headset is listed as colnago, but the one fitted here had fsa etched into the cups. The retro look would have been greatly enhanced by a quill stem, particularly with the fitting of track drop bars which look the part but perhaps err on the wrong side of practical. it’s notable that the only tube bearing bottle cage bolts is the down-tube. these latter edifices are drilled and fitted with axle stops. this extends to the rear triangle where neither set of stays is chromed, and the road heritage is briefly denied by the rear-facing track ends. as far as west of scotland weather is concerned, the less chrome the better.
![colnago c40 occasion colnago c40 occasion](https://img.ricardostatic.ch/t_1000x750/pl/1192743498/0/1/colnago-c40.jpg)
The precisa forks are as straight as a die, in common with all colnago bicycles since the mid-eighties, though only the crown is chromed. this is contrasted by maroon portions on down and seat tube, flattered by retro colnago decals. colnago was once renowned for its lugged steel frames, and this is no exception, though only the lugs attached to the head-tube are chromed those at the seat-tube/top tube junction and bottom bracket are thickly coated in the smooth cream paint that covers the bulk of the frame. i’m just assuming it was built in italy there’s nothing to say one way or t’other. The steel frame bears none of the more usual columbus stickers informing which particular strain of steel is being employed, so the best colnago leave us with is that it is butted cr-mo. the frame style is directly influenced by the steel track bikes of yore, right down to the bars. in this case, the bicycle is complete, though bereft of the twiddly bits that afflict modernity. It is customary, if not compulsory, to run with a comprehensive description of that which is under review, varying only in intensity as to whether it’s a frame or a complete bicycle.