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TECH NEWS
Exclusive first look: Colnago AC-R road bike
Colnago have just launched the brand new AC-R, their most affordable carbon road bike to date, which borrows technology from their race-ready M10. It’s offered with a Shimano 105 build for £1,999 or Ultegra for £2,699.
Colnago have worked hard on this frame and that shows. It’s finished to a very high standard. The carbon frame is manufactured using similar processes to those used for the M10, the lightest frame the company produces, and a regular choice of the Europcar team. It’s a monocoque frame with oversized profiles in key areas, a new fork, wishbone rear stays and smart internal cable routing that is Di2/EPS compatible.
The geometry mirrors that found on the M10 too.This size 52 bike has the same 16.6cm head tube with the same 55cm effective top tube length. The wheelbase is the same at 1,001mm as well so the handling should be very similar.
So similar are the two bikes, in fact, that they both share the same paint finish, this white on black being an option on both models. There’s also a red and white finish, but we didn’t get to see that. There are eight sizes from 42 to 58cm on offer.
The bike here is built with a Shimano 105 groupset with a compact 50/34 chainset. Colnago spec their own brand X-Brake 3 calipers and Artemis CW32 aluminium wheels. Tyres are Vittoria Zafiro 23mm models. There’s quality Deda handlebars and stem and a non-brand seatpost, finished with a smart looking Colnago saddle. White bar tape matches the saddle and white decals on the frame.
We were lucky enough to leave the Colnago UK distributor Windwave with one of the few AC-R’s yet to arrive in the UK, so we’ll do a proper Just In article on it soon and of course follow up with a review once we’ve got some miles in on it.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
Latest Comments
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Does red equate to progressive. It's difficult to imagine plans to save the planet that aren't going to be seen as radical by a political party...
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Surely it's the sensor that is 8K, not the lens?
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Does her husband know that divorce is legal in many countries?
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Indeed... though to be fair the Dutch have some contraflow cycling in narrow streets. Although I think increasingly they would try to avoid this ...
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They should get it product tested by BoJo - if it sits correctly on his head it's a winner.
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A huge Tesco (Norwich) put the trolley park at the end of the rack so...
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16 comments
Colnago's are made in Italy and they are beautiful and wonderful and until we know otherwise stop slagging it off.
Anyway, irrespective of where its made, I like it.
And if I hadnt just bought an Orbea at about that price point I would have looked very carefully at this even if it is illegally fitted with Sh...
Bigfoz, if you hate 'plastic' bikes so much, why did you bother a. reading the article, and b. posting your comments? Isn't it a waste of your important time polishing your '20yo Superissimo' and your '7 yo CT2'?
Jury's out on this one....
Might be a nice riding bike, but aesthetically bland.
Like Black and white, but not on this bike for some reason...
Looks great, one of the reasons I am picking up Colnago again in 2014
As you would see by the rest of my post, not hugely interested in plastic full stop. Irrespective of where it's made.
Colnago is an Italian manufacturer, I would buy things made by them in Italy, which is where their excellent (and well deserved) reputation was built. If I wanted a plastic Asian bike, I'd buy a Giant.
I'm a bit of a snob too. I want my bikes made by the most highly skilled workers, irrespective of where they live and work.
At that price point I assume it's actually offshored to Taiwan like the other lower end bikes. I love my Colnagos, but I'm a snob. If I wanted a plastic "made in China*" bike, I wouldn't pay the Colnago premium. I'll stick with my 20yo Superissimo and my 7 yo CT2 thanks, this offers nothing over either of those. Now, a Master profiled Ti frame, might get me reaching for my wallet...
* Taiwan / China - depends on whether you're in Taiwan or China at the time...
So a plastic "made in Italy" C59 is more justifiable of its price perhaps? Is a man called Paulo is worth more than his Oriental counterpart in your view?
I love it
It has both the quality and style that is expected of such a prestigious bike brand
Good job Colnago!!!
Shimano on an Italian bike?
Isn't that illegal?
It must be! I was fingering the £2.5k Pinarellos in Farnborough Halfords yesterday. They had Campag and I was allowed to click away merrily without interruption while I was waiting for my wife to tire of the TKMaxx jumble sale. I wonder how many they'll sell...
Can you buy it as a frameset?
Dunno, hard to tell in that light
Which brand is it
I like that colour scheme. I'm not usually a fan of Colnago paint jobs. (I thihk I'm on of the few people that don't like their art-decor style).
actually I quite like a Colnago but why black!!!!!