Home > Bike Types > Road Bike

All-new Colnago C68 reshapes classic lugged carbon bike for road, all-road, or gravel – plus titanium lugs!

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, seaside
14 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Colnago’s new C68 carbon road bike shakes things up quite a bit for the Italian bike builder. The top-tier C series model is still made entirely in Colnago’s Cambiago, Italy workshop, and it is still customizable with semi-lugged construction. But now the C68 will actually be available as either a road bike, an all-road bike, or a gravel bike. There will even be two material options, one with almost completely hidden tube-to-tube carbon joints, and another with 3D-printed titanium lugs that allow fully-custom geometry.

On top of all that, you can now buy a Colnago C68 consumer-direct from your phone or the web. Oh, and there are NFTs too.

Colnago C68 Italian carbon (all) road bike

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, riding
all c. Colnago

Colnago’s new top-tier C68 is a premium handmade Italian carbon road bike, but it’s not a race bike. Colnago’s V-series handles racing, evolved away from the classic line in recent years, with the latest made-in-Taiwan monocoque V3RS that Tadej Pogačar rode to a couple of Tour de France wins becoming more aero & lighter than these more classically constructed bikes.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, complete

But if you want the most exclusive & luxurious Colnago, and money isn’t an object, it really needs to be a made in Cambiago, Italy C68, right?

The latest in the handmade Italian C-series again gets its name from the number of years since Colnago’s founding.

Lugged carbon, or lugged carbon + titanium construction

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, exploded

The new full carbon C68 road bike uses a simplified & modular, semi-lugged construction with individual tubes each molded with an end lug, then glued together out of the mold to cut down on the number of joints while retaining size flexibility. The result is more of a modern monocoque look, but with lugged benefits.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, titanium

Plus, for rider looking for complete geometry customization, a limited edition C68Ti utilizes 3D-printed titanium lugs to completely free up stack, reach, and frame angles (glossy ti lugs, above).

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, headtube lug

In either case, a close look still reveals an upper headtube lug and seat cluster lug, while the rest of the joints tend to blend smoothly from tube to lug.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, elements

Raw frame weight is said to be just 925g (S/M size 48.5cm) in all carbon, or 935g with the addition of titanium lugs.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, stock geometry

The C68 comes in 7 stock road sizes with either rim or disc brakes, and of course the option for custom geometry with the carbon+ti version.

Tech details

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, angled detail

The new Colnago C68 gets completely internal cable routing through the straight 1 1/8″ CeramicSpeed SLT headset (guaranteed for life, so mechanics will never have to re-cable your bike just to replace a headset!) and the D-shaped steerer tube of the carbon fork. The bike also gets a new threaded T47 bottom bracket for simple durability, and a removable front derailleur mount for clean 1x builds.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, frame details

The bike uses the same proprietary aero seatpost as the C64 & VR3S, and a hidden wedge-style clamp.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, integrated multi-tool

Even with the internal cables, the C68 also manages to integrate a mini multi-tool into the stem cap for everyday usability

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, CC.01 integrated 1-piece carbon bar
Colnago CC.01 carbon handlebar

The new C68 also offers a new CC.01 integrated handlebar+stem cockpit. Using a modular mold, the CC01 bar uses monocoque construction to offer four bar widths (37, 39, 41 & 43cm c-c) and seven -6° stem lengths (80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130 & 140mm) in 16 total fit combinations. Generally, it gets 80mm reach, 122mm drop, 2cm of flare at the drops, with a weight of 310g (41cm x 110mm).

Colnago Blockchain & NFTs?

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, NFC chip

Colnago was already one of the first big bike makers to embrace the blockchain for anti-theft protection. Now the C68 takes it to the next level with an NFC tag on the downtube linked to a secure digital passport for the bike on the MyLime blockchain. Said to safeguard the bike over time, it stores a certificate of authenticity, proof of ownership, original tech specs, “multimedia contents of the manufacturing phases” unique to each bike, and a 3D rendered NFT of the customized bike for C68s designed via the Colnago app or website. It will even log certificates of participation in select, exclusive Colnago events where you ride your new C68 starting later this summer.

But what about All-road & Gravel bikes?

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, what's next grave & all-road

The new Colnago C68 does officially come in three different categories: road, allroad & gravel versions. But just the road is available starting today, meaning you’ll have to wait to take a C68 off tarmac. (Start saving up now, though!)

The all-road bike will come soon, with disc brakes only and room for bigger tires to transition to dirt roads, starting this fall in 6 stock sizes. And the full C68 gravel bike version with disc brakes for off-road drop bar riding will come late this year, in 5 stock sizes for early winter 2022.

Colnago C68 – Pricing, options & availability

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, frameset
Colnago C68Ti frameset

The all-new Colnago C68 is available as a disc brake full carbon frameset for $7100 / 5650€, or for a mixed carbon & titanium C68Ti frameset for $8000 / 6600€.

A big part of the new consumer-direct buying experience is a brand new 3D configurator online and in iPhone/Android apps, which builds in augmented reality for a more realistic preview of your customized paint scheme or custom build. Custom colors add another 1200€ to the frameset or complete bike price.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, Dura-Ace DI2
Colnago C68 Shimano Dura-Ace Di2

A complete carbon Colnago C68 build with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, disc brakes and Dura-Ace C50 carbon wheels sells for $16,000 / 14,065€.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, Red AXS
Colnago C68Ti SRAM Red AXS

A C68 with SRAM Red AXS & Zipp 303s is a bit cheaper from 13,260€, and a more Italian C68 build with Campagnolo Super Record EPS & Bora Ultra WTO 45 wheels will set you back even more at 15,770€.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured, Campy EPS
Colnago C68 Campagnolo Super Record EPS

Complete carbon & titanium C68Ti bikes add about a thousand euros extra. Plus, there are always options to spend more with wheel or power meter upgrades.

Colnago C68 premium custom carbon all road bike, made-in-Italy NFT blockchain secured,riding

Direct-to-consumer availability is limited to Europe & the UAE for the moment via the Colnago website or mobile app (just imagine Apple Pay hitting you with a 16,780€ charge… yikes!) US buyers can get a new C68 through their local Colnago dealer, so at least you’re less likely to impulse buy! Colnago says a custom-configured bike will be manufactured, painted, assembled & delivered between 90-180 days.

Colnago.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

14 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Speshy
Speshy
1 year ago

WTF did I just read? It’s a carbon/titanium/lugged road gravel all road multimedia electronic shifting antitheft block chain italian capuccino super bike thats not meant for racing. This bike is dumb.

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
1 year ago
Reply to  Speshy

and thats why they will sell every one theymake

Andrew
Andrew
1 year ago

Since their bikes are so boring ( owned a C64) they desperately needd to come up with this NFT and Ti crap. Oh well, not sure their target audience ( the old fart Mapei crowd ) will get it….

Mike W.
Mike W.
1 year ago
Reply to  Andrew

They ride great. But $16k for a bike is a bit much. I’d be so afraid of crashing that thing.

Dhruv C
Dhruv C
1 year ago

bicycles selling for the price of cars is a joke!

sam zam
sam zam
1 year ago
Reply to  Dhruv C

this thing should be attached to a VW Golf for that price

Craig
Craig
1 year ago

What intrigues me the most is that in all the studio photos the rear wheel valve is positioned at the 12 o’clock position while the front is positioned at the 6 o’clock position. I’m sure it’s some psychological trickery to make us desire the bikes more.

Andrew
Andrew
1 year ago
Reply to  Craig

Probably if they had positioned the rear valve at 6 o’clock it would have clogged the view since there’s the rear derailleur. Just guessing of course…

David
David
1 year ago

Mmmmm…. Yum! I really enjoyed my ride on the previous model and everything seemed remarkably well made and well thought out (eg. Headset, BB, cable routing).

arp
arp
1 year ago

Likes it. Can’t affords it.

Jason D West
Jason D West
1 year ago
Reply to  arp

A custom build is still cheaper then a Specialized! Crazy huh

Alex
Alex
1 year ago

Colnago makes some nice bikes. But their bikes, like so many others, break every so often. How will you get it fixed and serviced? I don’t see why a direct to consumer bike should command a premium. To me premium means premium service. You can’t premium service via mail order. But just as bad is Colnago screwing over the bike shops that helped them get to the place they are now. This is a troubling trend.

Dr-who
Dr-who
1 year ago

Happy with my Cervello however this is a very tempting bike

Bryin
Bryin
1 year ago

If you have $16k to spend on a bike and think that is a good idea, please find another hobby/sport. You are ruining cycling.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.