Ryan's Vulgar Colnago C59 - 5,708g (Final Pics Up, pg 4)

[danbjpa]

Xicon transplant components without Extralite stem? Weight isn't object or any other reason?

[Denavelo]

Patiently waiting for this build, as I kind of want a Colnago... Ryan lives in the same building as my buddy with a Firefly ti.
Maybe one day I'll see this bike. Ryan also sold his Parlee to my buddy. Small world.
I want a white C60 so bad.

[Dynamo00]

This is going to be good...can't wait.

[RyanH]

Why did I pick up a new frame?
I was pretty enamored with my Xicon. I like the geometry and ride a lot. Having been injured the first 3 months of the year, then getting the Xicon, most of my rides were flatter rides (relatively speaking), no big mountain descents. A few months ago, as I began to venture back into the mountains and push a local descent, I began noticing an issue when above 40 mph, the bike was twitchy. I've had my Siena up to 60-ish mph before so I figured it was odd that the Xicon would have a problem. I checked the headset and bearing seats, inspected the fork and such. I tried eliminating the wheels, as it was a lot more pronounced on the Reynolds 32's with the 27mm Paves than the RZRs with 23mm Veloflex. I also worked on my weight distribution. Things helped a little here and there, but it wasn't rock solid stable.

I was getting frustrated at this point, and began looking at other frames. Most of the race bike geometries didn't meet my stack/reach needs. I figured if I was venturing back into carbon, I would pick up arguably THE most coveted frame, a C59. I already had a Parlee Z5 SLi, which was perfect in almost every way except it was still a made in Taiwan uber bike and didn't feel special to me, so a hand made in Italy C59 seemed more appropriate. I began my search and came across an awesome deal on this C59. I hemmed and hawed a bit since I was supposed to try one last thing to resolve my issue before pulling the trigger on another frame, but...I couldn't resist.

The Culprit
What one last thing was I supposed to try? A different stem. I pulled up Fairwheel's stem test and went with one of the stiffest on there, the 3T Arx. With the C59 in transit, I took receipt of the new stem. Off the Extralite stem went, and on the 3T went. Bike felt a lot different. I rode over to my local hill repeat climb and bombed down as fast as I could at 41mph, bike was stable. Hmmm...that weekend, I went to find a steeper street, Loma Vista, a double digit grade with almost zero turns. I got up to 55mph and bike was stable.

Turns out the culprit was the Extralite Road OC stem. With its added flexibility, it was influencing bike handling at high speed (or I was and it magnified my inputs).

Stem Choice for the C59
Since I ended up getting a 52S with 56cm of stack vs my normal 54.7cm, I needed a -17 stem to get the same position. 3T doesn't measure their stems consistently, so I wasn't sure what size I needed for the -17 and I figured the Zipp SL would match the BoB perfectly. Not WW, but cockpit stiffness is now a high priority for me after my lesson above.

[RyanH]

The Ritchey stems did pretty poorly on the Fairwheel stem review: https://fairwheelbikes.com/c/reviews-an ... em-review/

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[kgt]

Unless you are a sprinter Ritchey stem's stiffness is fine.
That does not mean I would ever put a Ritchey stem on a Colnago of course.

[Denavelo]

Damn I just got an Extralite stem for my BH ultralight WW build....

So many stories about slippage and flex noodle.

I'm seriously thinking abandoning my BH build and doing a C59/C60. My goal would be 13lb in a 56cm.

[Calnago]

C59/C60 build resulting in 13lbs would likely be making some serious compromises along the way. I've beefed up wheels, handlebars and stems since I got mine and the ride is much better, although a bit heavier. Well worth the tradeoffs. If you want a 13lb bike, best to start with a frame other than Colnago.

[numberSix]

{stems} With its added flexibility, it was influencing bike handling at high speed (or I was and it magnified my inputs).

agree 100%. Went from a FSA OS99(?) to Ritchey C260 to a PRO Vibe7s. The Ritchey was noticeably more comfortable, but was not confidence inspiring on turn-in. Lesson learned from FWB's test, Deflection is more important than stiffness to weight.

Eat the weight penalty, get smaller chicken-strips.

[Denavelo]

C59/C60 build resulting in 13lbs would likely be making some serious compromises along the way. I've beefed up wheels, handlebars and stems since I got mine and the ride is much better, although a bit heavier. Well worth the tradeoffs. If you want a 13lb bike, best to start with a frame other than Colnago.

Basically your build with a few light parts here and there to shave 1-2lbs. I love your C59 and it looks exactly my size. I would just run my THM cranks, EE brakes, Lighter post and saddle and cables and small things to shave weight, but still have a sturdy and reliable bike. Your build is going to be my inspiration. Running a set of Enve 2.2 tubular wheels would save significant weight over your Bora wheels, especially laced to Extralite hubs.

I agree with you though. I rode a C59 with disc brakes and Di2 and that was by far one of the smoothest riding bikes I've ever put a leg over. Haven't stopped thinking about that short ride since..

[RyanH]

@kgt that's what I thought too but you have to keep in mind that the Ritchey wcs is only a touch stiffer than the Extralite stem (4.8 vs 5mm deflection). Whatever flex that was there, I never noticed when sprinting. However, I definitely narrowed my bike's poor descending manners to the flex of the stem. So, I would only save 20g (vs a 3t stem) and likely compromise handling.

@Calnago, there's a reason I titled this build as it is. The reality though is that my part list is not giving up much, if anything to heavier parts. The THM SRM is as stiff as Dura Ace 9000, I'm fairly certain the RZRs are superior to most wheels, and the eeBrakes stop better than Super Record (iirc). Oh, and 13lbs? Nah, this should be closer to 12.5lbs

I considered picking up a ww frame but I just don't have faith that it would provide the ride I want. Parlee, Colnago and a few others in that space are in a different league than everyone else.

Next week should be a 400 mile week so I'll post an in depth comparison of this, the Z5 SLi, an S Works Tarmac and my Litespeed. It's too early to tell yet, and not to spill the beans, but if my recollection of the Z5 is correct and the new Altum rides the same, I would probably trade the C59 for the Parlee.

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[KCookie]

Hey RyanH, once you've completed your ride can you give us some feed back on Jures padded saddle please. I've got two of his carbon saddles and was wondering if it's worth getting one of them padded for longer rides. Cheers.

[RyanH]

KCookie, I'll do a full review of the Berk saddle next week since I'll be doing a century one of the days. However, I have about 200 miles on it so far(last Sat/Sun were only 50 mi each). My initial impression is that it's the most comfortable saddle I've been on.

After getting a bike fit two months ago which identified that my hips were rocking since my Tune saddle was too narrow for me, I went through a handful of saddles: Fizik Antares 00, Spec Power Saddle, Spec Toupe and the Mcfk. There's a lot of flex to this saddle, so the comfort is very high. Again, I'll post my impressions after my Wed century.

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[RyanH]

Some scale shots of the parts:

THM SRM M3 with 50/34 Fibre-Lyte Chainrings (no BB) @ 540g



New Ultimate 31.6mm Post cut to 250mm @ 96g


eeBrakes with hardware @ 173g


Fibre-Lyte 50/34 Chainrings @ 74g


THM BSA BB @ 72g


Nice tight tolerances on the BB tool:


Extralite Top Cap @ 4g


Extralite Expander @ 6g

[RyanH]

I'll get some better pictures over the weekend, but some teaser photos: