Colnago C59 - 5 Years Later

[Vagabond]

The bb cable guide with the non bike specific plastic housing is golden. Keep it up Cal.

Don't most of you 59 drivers find that the housing is essential? On mine, it's required in order to keep the cable from cutting into the frame down there. Colnago's cable guide is too short.

[tids0009]

I do, without the housing the cable will rub into the frame and make a slight indentation over time. I put some 3M clear protective tape down there plus the sheath and never had any issues and my paint stays perfect.

[Calnago]

... oops, wrong post.

[phips]

The cassette is surprisingly a big offender but the cost of a Super Record over Chorus cassette is not insignificant and I believe the steel cogs wear better than titanium but am not sure (anyone confirm that?)

I've run SR mechanical since 2009 - and the only thing I've swapped is .... that cassette. And yes, I'd agree, the Chorus cassettes wear better and I've had much longer lifetime out of them for consistent shifts. In fact, I've found that Chorus cassettes with anything Campag just shift better than the Ti Record/SR blocks full stop.

Saying that, I'm planning a new build this year (frame has been ordered) and it will be SR EPS. I'm not sure I can bring myself to run a Chorus cassette with it

[fogman]

I run Chorus cassettes with my otherwise Super Record groupset. The Chorus cassette seems to have a longer lifetime for me and is more cost effective for a consumable component.


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[lone wheeler]

Fully agree on the Chorus sentiments. In fact (dare I say it!) I think as a whole, the Chorus groupset changes gear better than even SR. Not sure if it's only down to the cassette, shifters or it's all in the head.

That said, I recently sold my R3 with Chorus groupset and only have the SR and R sets on bikes at the moment until I build up my Canyon again of which I'll be putting chorus on.

[Calnago]

Did you notice I actually changed the carbon cage of the rear derailleur to an alloy Chorus one. I did cannibalize the ceramic bearing pulleys from SR but the Chorus cage is definitley stiffer than the SR cage. I changed it because there were some issues with the SR cage and when I really played with them both it was clear that the Chorus was stiffer so I just used that instead. Probably doesn't make a difference but I was experimenting.

[michel2]

Titanium is as wear resistant as steel hence its only used on the bigger sprockets that shouldnt be used as much. When i was racng mountain bikes in the 90's i bought a full action tec kit front rings and casette, the front rings where great, no chain suck (/even in the dutch mud) but the casette was gone after a couple of races !! Couple of hunderd dollars, the whole order incluiding the chain was a month wages, those rings thos were excellent and lasted for ever without chainsuck made it all worth it (-:

[phips]

Did you notice I actually changed the carbon cage of the rear derailleur to an alloy Chorus one.

I did, and I was going to ask if that was because of shift quality.

As much as I love the aesthetic of SR, I can't help but think they've pushed the weight loss a bit too far - and comprised shift quality and longevity.

Isn't going to stop me buying it mind

[phips]

In fact (dare I say it!) I think as a whole, the Chorus groupset changes gear better than even SR.

I'd mostly agree with you lone wheeler. I've long said that I feel Chorus is the sweet spot in the Campag line up - price, performance, looks, all a nice balance. It is my 'go to' groupset for my every day bikes.

[lone wheeler]

lol, It's like an AA Campag group session. My name is Mark and I secretly prefer the feel of Chorus for shifting but like to have SR on my best bike...

[welkman]

Oh wow, I had sort of dismissed the colnago as im a taller guy! I normally ride a cervelo R5 totally slammed in size 58 which has a stack and reach of 605 and 396 I also ride around 10 cm of drop with a 81cm saddle height. I think, reading through both of your threads, I could make a 61 traditional C60 work. I am keen to build a bike that I will keep this time so maybe another cervelo or canyon should be put aside.

Could you let me know your height and fit details? I have no chance of testing the frame in my size !

Cheers

[Calnago]

@Welkman, I would bet you could easily fit on a Colnago and make it look great. I will post all the fit details and my measurements later. I meant to do that at the time as I think that it's good info in any build thread, but for now... I'm just shy of 6'1", with an inseam of 91cm. The top cover of the headset on that frame is actually two pieces, consisting of the taller one which you see of 16mm, and then the shorter one which sits underneath it and is only 7mm tall. The saddle height shown is 804mm and the drop is 89mm. So, with the saddle height shown, I could actually achieve a drop of approx 10cm if I were to just use the short top cover and lose the red 3mm spacer (9mm + 3mm = 12mm additional drop). Of course, there's ample adjustment to raise the saddle a fair bit higher if you needed to as well, which of course would increase the drop for a taller rider than me.

[welkman]

Brilliant, thanks for the reply. Just need to work out what paint schemes are available at the moment.

[Calnago]

Couple of things to keep in mind with the C60. In their geometry charts they claim a headtube length of 200mm I believe. My C59 had 195mm as the headtube length in the geometry charts but measures out to at least 200mm when you include the width of the headset cup flanges, as I think you should. What I don't know is if the C60 has the same geometry but they've just included the cup flange width now or if it would actually measure out to more like 205-206mm. I only mention that because it seems to get your full 10cm of drop you might consider that. Of course, if you were using a Shimano group then you could also go with a Pro Vibe 7 stem which is a -10 degree stem versus the -8 that I'm running. That will get you another 5mm or so of drop and if that isn't enough you can go with a -17 and any amount of spacers to get you up to almost 2cm more drop. I guess in any case as long as you think about where it needs to end up and think about your options before any steertube cuts are made you should be fine.