My cycling history blog continued

So its fair to say since i took up cycling i caught the bug,but i fancied a new bike,something special.In 2008 my search began and thanks to a good friend he recommended a cycle shop in a beautifull part of North East England called Great Ayton http://www.biketraks.com/
Having never been to that part of the world before i set my sat nav and 40 minutes later found the shop easily.Its a small shop but packs alot of quality kit in from the latest ranges of road and mountain bikes.My budget was £4k and i wanted something custom built.I looked at pinerellos,bianchi,giant and others but the one make that stood out was Colnago,specifically the C50 HP.In black carbon with white logos this looked awesome.....and was incredibily light too.The staff there where knowledgable and very friendly and helped me sooo much picking out top quality components from Sella Italia,spinergy and Shimano dura ace.A week later the bike was ready for collection and here it is

OMG   i couldnt wait to try this out.

The first ride out i had i couldnt believe the difference to my old Carrera Vanquish.I thought that was a good bike to ride but this was in another league [as it should be for the price!].Responsive,stiff yet compliant,smooth,quick steering i could go on....it blew me away.The Shimano dura ace gears where so smooth and precise,the entire transmission was just so quiet and hassle free,amazing.

From someone who just wanted a bike to lose some weight and get a bit fitter i had now really up the ante lol.My mileage moved up to around 30 to 70 mile 4 times a week with the odd 100 miler depending on the weather but the Colnago made at all so effortless.This truly is the best bike i think i will ever own.

Let me start off with the carbon wheels from Spinergy.They have a aluminium rim so conventional brake blocks can be used and the wheels have been superb.Ive had no issues with that whatsoever,light yet stiff they are perfect and suit the bike well.The tyres where Schwalbe stelvio which although where fine i changed them after a year to Schwalbe Ultremo's.......wow not only have they amazing grip but ive never had a puncture in 2 years of use with them!! I cant recommend the tyres enough and as they have now worn down im getting a new pair of Ultremo R1's in the coming weeks[i will blog my impressions of these in a future post].I havent felt the need to change much with the bike apart from new bar tape from fizik,a new carbon bottle cage from Zipp and an updated wireless cateye computer.All have been perfect,no problems at all.
A new bottom bracket was required late in 2010 which was a surprise but this has been the only blot on the colnago,everything else has been exceptional.

So there it is,my Colnago C50 HP.I doesnt get used in the winter months as i dont see the point in riding in our salt covered roads on a 4K superbike so its currently in the spare room waiting for spring to arrive..early i hope.I do use another bike during the winter months as atraining bike,just to keep my legs spininning and my fitness levels up...thats a Ridley Orion and that will be on my next cycling specific blog coming up shortly.
Many thanks for reading...and safe cycling!