Ernesto Colnago is to the bike what Enzo Ferrari was to the car. Over the years, the Lombardy-based maker’s frames have acquired the same aura of sprezzatura as the chilli-pepper-red sports cars. “They’re an aspirational brand,” says collector Julian Carpenter, who owns 22 Colnagos. “You dream about those bikes.”
Colnago has been working on bikes since 1945, when he lied about his age to get a job at the Gloria bike factory in Milan. After an injury put paid to his racing career he turned his focus to making frames, and quickly gained a reputation for his willingness to innovate. Since then, the slick road-racing bikes have been ridden by some of the greatest cyclists in the sport, including Eddy Merckx, whose exploits aboard a Colnago Super, an aggressive racing frame with highly responsive handling, in the early 1970s elevated the brand to new heights. Now 93, Colnago still works at the company’s Milanese headquarters.
Ernesto Colnago at the headquarters in Cambiago © Liewig Christian/Corbis via Getty Images
Gioiello Numero 1, sold in 2023 for $133,000 at Sotheby’s
“It’s not just about quality,” explains Brian Digby of Classic and Vintage Cycles, based in Hadfield, Derbyshire, of Colnago’s appeal. “Italy is full of artisan builders that are better than Colnago, but Ernesto is a great marketeer. He told a good story.”
