Colnago V1-r frameset

Colnago have been busy this year, first launching the latest C60 and then, in time for the Tour de France, the V1-r. This bike is a bit of a departure from everything that has come before from the Italian company, as it's been shaped in the wind tunnel. Yes, it's their first aero road bike. Most manufacturers want or need an aero bike in their range these days, especially one sponsoring a World Tour team as Colnago does.

Performance

The V1-r replaces the previous M10, Colnago's go-to race bike and make no mistake, the V1-r is a thoroughbred race bike. It was ridden by some members of the Europcar team at the Tour, including sprinter Bryan Coquard. While the C60 is itself no slouch, it feels more like a grand tourer compared to the sharpness and effervescent speed of the V1-r.

It begs to be ridden fast. That can be said of most top-end race bikes of course, but the V1-r feels really comfortable and settled at high speed compared to some bikes that can become a little twitchy and edgy. The V1-r has a wonderful balance and composure and can sometimes fool you into thinking you're not going that quickly when in fact you're travelling pretty damn fast along the road.

I spent a week testing the V1-r on our recent trip to Italy and spend a lot of time exploring the area's wonderful corners, curves and bends. Throwing the V1-r into them reveals a real triumph in the geometry, the handling and the stiffness of the frame and fork. Some bikes have to be muscled through the bends, the V1-r simply arcs through with no drama or fuss. That balanced handling and steering makes it alarmingly easy to push closer to the limits, but it just feels comfortable and calm in such situations.

Where it doesn't feel quite so calm is on rough roads, and there were plenty of those in Italy. Thankfully the V1-r was shipped to us with 25mm tyres. With them inflated to about 90psi, the V1-r still relays a lot of the road surface through the contact points. It's not an uncomfortable bike as such, but you have to accept the ride is going to give a few jarring thumps.

It whips up to speed with impressive ease. The claimed 835g frame weight and the no-expense-spared Campagnolo Record and Vision Metron 40 wheels brought it in under 7kg, which no doubt played its part in the feel. It doesn't have the electrifying acceleration of some race bikes like the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX or Alchemy Helios but it's no slouch. It just doesn't have the same startling pick up from lower speeds as those two bikes. It makes up for that initial lack of fizz with impressive ease of handling in high speed situations; once it's going very fast it handles better than those two. Clearly it's a bike happiest at speed.

Frame

This is Colnago's first aero road bike and it displays all the usual hallmarks of a road bike designed to carve efficiently through the air. Colnago have used NACA airfoils (airfoil shapes for aeroplane wings developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), with a truncated shape, much like the Kamm Tail profile that is used by quite a few bicycle manufacturers. They've used this profile of all the main tubes, and the fork blades are all-new too.

There's a new seat post which is 27.2mm in diameter but has the same D-shape profile as the seat tube. There's no integrated seat clamp, just a regular external clamp with the bolt behind the post. I had problems with the seatpost slipping on the first ride out, but some carbon paste soon remedied that. The seatpost, Colnago's own design, uses a single bolt to clamp the saddle in place and is easy to use and adjust.

Colnago don't offer any aero data to show how much the frame reduces drag and without a wind tunnel to test the frame ourselves, it's impossible to validate just how aero this aero frame is. It looks aero for sure, but how it compares to the Giant Propel, Scott Foil, Cervelo S5 or Specialized Venge is something that would extremely interesting to know. Releasing an aero product without any aero data is a bit silly really.

The down tube is massive and it flares hugely as it approaches the bottom bracket and here we find the ThreadFit system first seen on the C60. This uses replaceable sleeves that thread into the bottom bracket shell and accepts any current bottom bracket. It was developed was to try and eliminate the problems of creaking that can occur on press-fit bottom brackets. Colnago have used the extra width of the wider bottom bracket to oversize the down tube, seat tube and chainstays. As a result, the V1-r doesn't lack any stiffness.

The other really big departure for Colnago is to adopt the current trend for direct mount brakes, and to locate the rear brake under the chainstays. Colnago aren't alone, many manufacturers are doing the same with their latest bikes. Is it an improvement? That depends. It probably reduces drag and does provide a pair of clean and uncluttered seatstays, but adjusting the brake isn't as easy; you either have to stick the bike in a stand or turn it upside down. Not good.

Brakes

Windwave, Colnago’s UK distributor, sell the frameset without brakes so it’s down to you to spec the brakes. There is some choice at the moment, and the bike was orginally supplied for review with TRP units. Their performance was lacklustre and disappointing, and took the shine of an otherwise stellar bike.

Hearing our complaints, Windwave took the bike away and replaced the brakes with Colnago’s own brakes, which weren’t available at the time of the test. The difference was massive. Instead of the previously underpowered and inconsistent braking feel with the TRP brakes, the Colnago items were much more powerful, with a lever feel immeasurably better.

Build

You can only buy the V1-r as a frameset so to allow us to conduct a test, Colnago distributor Windwave kindly supplied a fully built bike. They spared no expense with the parts, slapping on a brand new Campagnolo Record 11-speed mechanical groupset along with Vision's excellent Metro 40 carbon clincher wheels with Continental Grand Prix 4000 S tyres. The frameset costs £2,999.95 but you're looking at something in the region of £7-8k for a build like this. That's a bucketload of money, but look at it, what a stunning bike. It's head-turner, even on hometurf.

This is the first time I've ridden the new Campagnolo groupset and the main thing to note is that it feels almost identical to the previous version of Record, but there are some subtle differences in the shifting performance. It's a little more direct and clean in the way the chain moves from one sprocket to the next.

The chainset is also brand new with 4-arm spider and only one bolt-circle diameter option that will accept 53/39, 52/36 or 50/34 rings. As for the claimed stiffness increase with the new design chainset, without riding a previous generation chainset alongside it, it's tricky to say with any certainty that the stiffness increase can be detected. It didn't want for stiffness though when I was climbing out of the saddle or sprinting against our Italian tour guide.

This was also my first time with Vision's Metron carbon stem and matching Metron 4D carbon handlebar. The bar has what Vision calls an 'Aero-Ergo' central section, with a rise from the stem clamp and a 10 degree forward bend. It looks odd, but is surprisingly comfortable whether in the drops or on the hoods. The bars flare out at the hoods and effectively push them further out in front of the bike extending the reach. The stem is the same as the FSA K-Force stem I reviewed earlier this year.

The Colnago branded Selle Italia Nekkar saddle was comfortable despite never having used it before with the central cutout reducing designed to reduce pressure on your precious bits.

All that kit produced a complete weight of 6.95kg (15.32lb).

Conclusion

The V1-r is a fantastically quick and composed bike that ravages twisty mountain roads and rails through open sweeping bends. It doesn't have the same electrifying turn of speed of some other top-end race bikes, but there is a great appeal in the way the V1-r holds onto speed and feels balanced and stable when you push up against the limits. It's this handling performance that really stands the V1-r out from the competition.

Caution needs to be taken when speccing brakes. My experience with direct-mount brakes so far has been a bit hot and cold. The TRP brakes first fitted to the test bike were appalling, but thankfully the Colnago branded brakes were a dramatic improvement. Choose carefully and you'll be fine. Hopefully there'll be more direct-mount brake caliper choice soon, becuase there needs to be if it's to be a standard that is going to stick around. 

Oh, all those words and I haven't mentioned the aesthetics. Looks are a subjective matter of course, but over in Italy the locals were all over the V1-r and that Ferrari sticker received nothing but thumbs up approvals. It's undeniably a handsome looking bike and very modern compared to some of the more traditional-looking bikes that have come out of Colnago in past years. For what it's worth, I think it's one of the better looking bikes in its class.

Verdict

Beautifully fast and responsive-handling aero road bike with stunning looks

Update: This review was amended since first published following the change of brake calipers to the supplied test bike.