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TECH NEWS
Tour Tech 2017: Ben Swift's Colnago C60
You need a good dose of luck when heading to the team hotels in the days leading up to the Tour de France, luck that the bike you want to film and photograph is actually there. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the UAE Team Emirates team hotel on the Friday before the Grand Depart, British rider Ben Swift was out on one last training ride on his Colnago Concept aero bike. So we grabbed his spare C60 instead and filmed that instead.
Swift will fancy his chances in the sprint finishes though he was involved in the aftermath of the Cavendish/Sagan incident, and he's opting for Colnago's Concept, a full aero race bike. The team had plenty of C60 bikes as spares though, and it strikes a much more traditional appearance compared to the sleek aero lines of the Concept. The builds are broadly identical, Campagnolo Super Record EPS with Bora wheels, the depth of the wheel rims chosen based on the profile of each stage.
Other details include an aluminium Deda stem and bar, better to withstand crashes... and a Garmin out-front mount supplied by Barfly. Power measurement duties are taken care off by Power2MAx, the German company counts several teams on its power meters.
We were impressed when the Colnago team bikes first made an appearance earlier this year, with the red lugs and carbon tubes going down a treat. They've switched to dull grey lugs for the Tour de France, which is a shame as it's not quite as flash or classy.
Anyway, check out the video above for a closer look at the bike. There's more Tour Tech coverage on the other side of this link.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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5 comments
As seen on YT when a Carbon repair guy in oz cut open several frames, some of the monocoque frames are a bit salty and QC can be very variable even from mid to high end from big name co.
I quite like the look personally, not so sure on the battleship grey forks though I like the colour in itself. That Emirates logo though, properly nasty!
Lugged construction potentially allows for more frame sizes and even for custom sizes, and are in principle also more repairable. These are significant plusses at the higher end of the market.
Lugged construction allows better quality control as the inside of the tubing is easily acessible in fabrication and for inspection. With monocoque frames, it is hard to avoid hidden defects due to the imprecision inherent in using a low pressure bladder within a closed mold. Frame designers compensate by specifying higher safety factors, meaning more material is used, which is why monocoque frames are not lighter than lugged frames.
The exceptions to this are monocoques with exceptional build quality, such as high pressure resin injection used by the likes of Time and Felt or the top-end, very expensive and labour intensive frames produced in the United States by Cervelo or Trek (project California, etc).
My carbon bikes are lugged, by the way. Only the rain bike is monocoque.
I think at this stage Colnago are only doing lugged carbon bikes for the aesthetics, not for any other reason
It's a very attractive bike, but for me the lugged construction seems an engineering compromise to make construction of the frame easier for the manufacturer and isn't the most structurally efficient design (in comparison to conventional lay up techniques)... Its very reminiscent of the engineering and aesthetic differences between a traditional lugged and brazed steel frame and a modern tig welded steel frame.. I would happily have one given to me, but I wouldn't be buying one with my own hard earned cash
Definitely agree with this, the grey lugs are certainly not as nice looking, and I'm not sure about the Emirates logo that just looks like a sticker stuck to the frame.
Interesting that his spare bike is radically different to his usual, or is it likely there's another spare concept somewhere? I guess he could use this on mountain stages when it's more about surviving and being comfortable.