Hateful 8

Here are the only eight examples of Colnago Carbon Volo I have managed to find over the last 6 years, including any asking / sale price if applicable. At the bottom is an Ebay listing for a Colnago C35...asking price $120,000!

The C35..virtually the same bike, produced in much larger numbers BUT with the Ferrari name associated with it! Judge for yourself if that makes sense.


Retrobike Forum July 2013

5300 Euro

Italian-Bicycles Flickr August 2011 

12000 Euro

Ebay April 2016 

4500 USD

Cyclesports Japan Show Bikes March 2008 

Japanese bike NOT FOR SALE

PedalHome Japan July 2009 

Japanese Website PRICE UNKNOWN

Sakura Japan September 2015 

Japanese Website PRICE UNKNOWN

 Pedale Vivaem Equilibrio Colombia 

Colombian Website NOT FOR SALE

Ricardo Switzerland April 2016 

Swiss Website PRICE UNKNOWN

Ebay Auction for Colnago C35 April 2016 

EBAY Auction $120,000 ASKING PRICE

 SPOT THE DIFFERENCE!

Colnagophilia

I love bicycles. I love Colnago bicycles more than I probably should. I think it's called Colnagophilia. It sounds like a dirty word and I guess to a certain extent it is a little grubby. I love them for all the reasons everyone else does, or at least should, love Colnago: heritage, history, craftsmanship, artistry and the chubby smiling face of Sig. Ernesto Colnago. It helps that the first bike I really remember was a Colnago Ibex and I can't remember a time since then when I didn't have at least one in my possession.

With this background in mind, about 6 years ago, when I glimpsed a full page advert in a scrubby Italian bicycle magazine from 1988 (I think it was an old copy of Bicisport) the glimpse rapidly turned to a stare. I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of old Colnago bikes and I certainly knew a little about the Colnago-Ferrari collaboration that was the C35. I knew the C35 had modern straight forks and I also knew it hadn't even been born in 1988. I remember thinking "WTF is that bike?" - except in longhand because no one says "WTF" in their head, do they?

From my little Italian* I gathered that "Here it is! the Carbon-Volo Colnago". I could also imagine Ernesto telling me in no uncertain terms that this bike was "Light. Strong. Pretty. In fact...as beautiful as can be!"

I chuckled a little when I saw such beauty would cost almost 4 million Lira when dressed with full Campagnolo C-Record  jewellery. Luckily for those 1980s Colnagophiles, tax was included.

That was about 6 years ago and in a way it marked the beginning of this blog.

*not a small Italian person that I own btw.

Introduction to the Colnago Carbon Volo

The Colnago Carbon Volo (or Carbon-Volo) is truly a rare and unusual Colnago model. Designed and manufactured in collaboration with Ferrari, less than 200 of these frames were ever produced. It was considered a working prototype and appeared only in the 1988 catalogue with a full Campagnolo C-Record gruppo and a sale price of 4 million Lira (including tax).

Colnago Catalogue 1988

Colnago Catalogue 1988

Colnago Catalogue 1988