Through Ernesto, Colnago the brand became synonymous with technical innovation (as demonstrated with the historic Colnago/Ferrari collaboration), vision (as demonstrated when Ernesto visited Japan on invitation by Yoshizo Shimano) and business acumen.īut it was in the 1990s that the Colnago/Mapei partnership was formed. This eventually led to Ernesto designing and making a bike for racing legend Eddy Merckx, before establishing associations with a string of who’s-who names in bike racing at the time. Ernesto learnt much from Masi, and his involvement in champion racing was galvanised when he assumed a position as mechanic to the Italian national cycling team. A friendship with Italian cyclist Fiorenzo Magni exposed Ernesto to Faliero Masi, one of the most revered frame builders on the pro circuit. The business proved so popular that young Ernesto was forced to open up a bigger space just a few doors down from his previous one in Cambiago, Italy. Perhaps feeling like he’d already started a bit of an ongoing theme, Fabio took the C40 to his bike mechanic, Luke Medhurst, only to be told that there were plenty of other Colnago Mapei bikes out there…īut before we can understand the magic of a collection like Fabio’s, we have to step back and understand just what made Colnago and Mapei so special.Ĭolnago and Mapei – a story of one of cycling’s great collaborationsĪ talented cyclist and spirited entrepreneur, Ernesto Colnago began a small bike mechanical business when an injury forced him to take time off the bike. It was about this time he acquired from a bike aficionado friend a Colnago Mapei C40 Oscar Freire Limited Edition. Clocking up endurance events was put on hold, however, two years ago when Fabio developed a knee injury. So how does it come to be that a non-professional rider can have more bikes than there are days in the week?Īfter chatting with Fabio, the answer makes perfect and complete sense…įabio’s first Colnago was a brand new Carbonissimo time trial that he’s had for some ten years and that has seen him compete in Ironman races around the world. In fact, Fabio has nine Colnago ‘Mapei’s in total, but he’s fairly confident he can get away with it given several of them look so similar. Because if they are, then they’re about to discover he owns more bikes than he’s possibly encouraged them to believe… A lot more. Hopefully nobody from Fabio’s family is reading this. Indeed, Fabio became inspired by this partnership and the beautiful bikes it produced, and this is his unique story… We caught up with one person in particular who is familiar with that colourful era of world-class cycling. Those of us who followed world cycling back in the 90s would be instantly familiar with the Colnago/Mapei partnership, and the blazing trail of successes enjoyed by the collaboration.
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