A Half-Century Of History: Colnago
Ernesto Colnago was born in Cambiago, a small rural village twenty kilometers east of Milano on February 9, 1932. His parents, Antonio and Elvira, were farmers who were well thought of in the district. They were hard workers and the home of the Colnago’s was a simple farmhouse, where the three brothers of Antonio, Fiorentino, Ambrogio also lived, as well as Grandfather Filippo. Little Ernesto had a typical childhood for the era until he was 6, when he began school and helped out with chores on the farm. One fine day in 1943, Papà Antonio sent little Ernesto to work in the local country store. That was the end of his regular schooling. Better yet, first work, then night school. Young Ernesto went to work in a little workshop owned by a certain Dante Fumagalli, to whom the Colnago family paid two kilos of flour each week for the apprenticeship of his son. Right after World War Two ended, a friend of Ernesto, found him a new direction. He found an ad that said Gloria, a Milanese bicycle factory was hiring.
It was November 25, 1946, Santa Caterina Day when young Ernesto entered the gates of Cicli Gloria, on viale Abruzzi, 42. Ernesto was just 13 years old, but to start work, he had to be at least 14. He changed the date on his working papers and so was hired as an assistant welder.
Young Colnago was also a good amateur cyclist: a proud and determined rider. Bright and creative, his ideas and flights of fancy were no drawback for him. During the 1951 racing season, Ernesto was racing in the amateur classic Milano - Busseto. During the tight final sprint, there was a massive crash and  young Colnago didn’t come out well. He broke his right leg and had to spend fifty days immobilized in a crash. But Ernesto didn’t get down: not at all! He asked Mr. Focesi of Gloria to send him wheels to build at home which was a stroke of luck. Quick and accurate at building wheels, Ernesto realized he could make more money working at home, enough to let him start working at home as a sub-contractor.
It was 1954 when Colnago went out on his own in a tiny little workshop, 5 meters square on via Cavour in Cambiago. And it was there that Ernesto Colnago started his career as a bicycle builder, the “Benvenuto Cellini” of bicycles as he was called by famous Italian sportswriter Gianni Brera called him. Since then, his bicycles have been used by more than 100 professional team, 2500 professional racers, who have won more than 7500 wins worldwide. Champion riders of the caliber of Fiorenzo Magni, Gastone Nencini, Eddy Merckx, Giuseppe Saronni, Gianni Motta, Gibì Baronchelli, Michele Dancelli, Gianni Bugno, Oscar Freire, Johan Museeuw, Tony Rominger, Pavel Tonkov, Yaroslaw Popovych, Erik Zabel e Alessandro Petacchi, and many others, have ridden Colnago Bicycles to victory. Ernesto Colnago has always been an innovator.
His first great ideas came in the early 1950’s when he decided to create the first cold-forged bicycle forks. After that, there were innovations like the lighest bicycle in the world (5.6 kg), with left Colnago’s mark on the era when Eddy Merckx rode this bicycle to the World Hour record in Mexico City on October 25, 1972. From this project, the Colnago “Mexico” was born with it’s innovative helical shaped tubing. The next important step for Colnago was in 1983 when the Cambiago workshop created two authentic jewels, the aerodynamic “Oval CX” and “Master”, with innovative bi-conic star shape tubing. Just when many thought Ernesto Colnago could not take bicycle design innovation further, his next brainstorm became reality. As the great researcher and innovator he is, Colnago created the first frameset in carbon fibre in collaboration with Ferrari Engineering in 1986. The next year, the innovative straight-blade “Precisa” was created. In 1989, two years later, the dramatic Colnago “C35” emerged, an innovative monocoque carbon fibre frame in road racing & mountain bike versions. From this experience, more innovation emerged from Colnago, like the “Carbitubo”, a carbon fibre frame with two parallel downtube. In 1991 was the “Bititan”, a lightweight frameset in Titanium. 1994 was a hallmark year when Colnago introduced the ground-breaking “C40” carbon fibre frameset for his 40th anniversary and still a reference point today. No other frame has won as much as the Colnago C40: 5X Paris-Roubaix and many World Championships. In 2000 another remarkable model emerged from Colnago’s atelier: the limited edition CF1, created in collaboration with Ferrari that quickly became a major success. Next was the CF2 dual-suspension mountain bike in 2002.
After ten years of success in every segment, Ernesto Colnago launched the “C50” in 2003.
It was the 50th Anniversary of his company, a brand that has become synonymous with the best bicycles the world over, synonymous with the best products Made in Italy. This new carbon fibre composite frame quickly found success in both the competition and sales arena. And for 2004, for the official anniversary of Colnago, a special collectors item bicycle was created, the “50th Anniversary”.
2008 is another landmark year in the history of Colnago. Key innovations include the introduction of a semi-integrated headset (C-HS) on the CX-1 Carbon and EPS Carbon models. For 2008, look for extremely lightweight and high-performance models that are capable of winning the most important races in the world.