Colnago Master Pista Conception and Build

Whilst visiting the Cycle Show in Earls Court in 2008, I saw a number of fixed-wheel bikes. Having previously ridden fixed for a number of years, I decided to build a dedicated fixed-gear bike at some point. Ironically I didn't visit Colnago stand.

Fast-forward to February 2009 and an opportunity arose to purchase a 2007/8 Colnago Master Pista in Saronni red from GB Cycles of Croydon. This particular Master Pista is quite unusual as the fork is drilled for brakes, there is rear bridge brake boss, rear brake cable guides along the top tube and down tube bottle bosses. The fork is a steel Precisa type. This history may be explained curtesy of colnago.cc:

"on my visit to the colnago stand at last year's [2007] london cycle show, uk importers windwave had a master pista steel frame with track ends, painted in similar manner to the saronni master x-lite, but without the chrome stays. colnago apparently had a pile of these frames, in black, sitting in cambiago. windwave said they could sell a considerable number of these, so colnago painted them in more attractive colours and sales proceeded.

such was the popularity of the frame, that colnago built one of these up, with moustache style bars and a brooks saddle for display at the milan show. however, as far as i can ascertain, there are/were only a relatively limited number of these, effectively increasing their desirability."

Having purchased the frame, I saw two obvious routes for the build: 1980's retro style or 21st Century City "street" mount. In the end I chose neither route. Instead, the build is a fusion of old and new styles. However, all the components are new; there are no refurbished '70s or '80s parts.

I like to complete a bike build quickly. Having started, I won't wait for that "special" part to be available. I don't like spending weeks agonizing over choosing the "perfect" combination of components and colours. This is primarily because once built, a bike is always being tinkered with. New components will inevitably find their way onto the bike!

The build was completed 15 March 2009. The table below represents the bike as built. For information concerning the build process and subsequent changes made, please refer to the history log. The current configuration may be found here.

Component	Manufacturer	Mdel/type	Source
Frameset	Colnago	Master Pista 2007/8 Columbus tubing including Precisa forks and front & rear brake mounts - Saronni red.	GB Cycles
Seat post bolt	Campagnolo	SP-RE104	GB Cycles
Headset	Campagnolo	Record 1" threadless.	GB Cycles
Stem	Thompson	Elite X2 Road 90mm 10 degrees 31.8mm, sliver Alloy shim fitted for 1" steerer tube.	Chain Reaction Cycles
Forks	Colnago	Precisa (included with frame).	GB Cycles
Bar	Deda	Speciale 31 Oversize Handlebars 44cm.	AD Cycles
Bar tape	Stella Azzurra	White stitched.	GB Cycles
Wheelset	Halo	Aerorage Track - white hubs and rims, black spokes. Built by Andy Duffin.	AD Cycles
Tyres	Schwalbe	Stelvio	AD Cycles
Inner tube x2			AD Cycles
Rim tape	Vittoria		AD Cycles
Crankset	Campagnolo	Record Pista	AD Cycles
Bottom bracket	Campagnolo	Record Pista; Italian thread.	AD Cycles
Pedals	MKS	Royal Nuevo RX-1, gold	Cavendish Cycles
Seat post	Thompson	Elite, silver	Bromley Bikes
Saddle	Selle San Marco	Concor Light Racing Team	ProBikeKit
Brakes	Bontrager	Speed Limit	Beyond Bikes
Brake Levers	Cane Creek	SCR-5 Aero	AD Cycles
Sprocket	Surly	18T 1/8"	Cycle Surgery
Sprocket lock-ring	BLB		Brick Lane Cycles
Freewheel	DNP	Dita 18T 1/8"	AD Cycles
Chain	KMC	Z510G 1/2" x 1/8" BMX/track, gold	AD Cycles

Colnago Master Pista (2007/8)

Colnago Master Pista Conception and Build