Colnago C50 Spider Dura Ace Road Bike

2004 Colnago C50 Spider with Limited special editon Paint ,55 cm CTT Seat Tube /53 CC top tube.

Dura Ace 7000 STI 10 Speed 

Mavic Elite Wheels

Very original Bike

paintwork in near as new condition.

Ready to ride or hang on the wall .

The C50 is launched in a period in which the search for lightness had become a major theme in the production of racing frames. Suffice to say that the average frame size of the C50 (let's take a size 55 as an example) weighs just 900 grams, which is more than acceptable even nowadays. The frame is embellished with the Colnago Force fork in carbon fibre with straight sheaths, a choice that made it a “must have” for fans of the Ace of Clubs brand. The weight is almost record-breaking considering the type of construction; that is, pipes and joints glued together. The history of Made in Italy by Colnago focused on combining the advantages of modularity and customization, made possible thanks to the use of the material of the future, carbon. The C50 was produced in 15 “horizontal” sizes (starting from 51 to 65 from centimetre to centimetre) and six sloping sizes.

Launched in 2004 for the company’s 50th anniversary, it replaces and updates the C40, the real “game changer” in the world of high-end cycling and the Colnago frame that revolutionised history.

The C50 had the difficult task of not only carrying on this heavy legacy but of improving upon it. In this historical period, the search for lightness is dominant over all the other qualities. C50 was thus made using a new type of high-modulus carbon fibre, which combined high rigidity and a lower weight of that used previously. To be more precise, on an average size the weight saving was about 100 grams (plus or minus 10%). When it comes to cutting weight, there’s a tendency to reduce the thickness of the pipe walls (not beyond certain limits for Colnago) in favour of the significant increase in diameters. Suffice to say that the diagonal of the C50 was 12% larger than that of the C40. The classicism of the design began to give space to technical needs.

The main tubes, horizontal and oblique, maintain the iconic Master shape with the four veins that run along their entire length, except at the couplings with the junctions where they remain classically round. (They will only change from the C60 onwards.) The central portion varies, visibly oversized compared to the apexes. The head-tube area and the entire rear compartment also underwent the same treatment: the seat stays are B-stay, the low ones are HP. This construction allowed Colnago to increase the lateral stiffness of the frame while improving the vertical comfort (the ability to absorb shocks emanating from the road surface).

Another perceptible detail is the new carbon finish called “Twill”. It has a high aesthetic impact, and so makes the new model immediately recognisable (and also objectively more beautiful) than the previous one. To enhance this new finish and to express even more the quality of the materials used, the colours of the bike were chosen to ensure a high visibility of the carbon parts.