A crazy-looking Colnago bike has leaked online, complete with a massively staggered seat tube, Y-shaped cockpit, and what appears to be a super-short wheelbase.
On Thursday, Colnago posted a trio of images onto the ColnagoWorld Instagram account, teasing what appears to be a new bike.
As shown in the embedded post below, the only clue about the bike's intentions was a darkened silhouette of the front end of a bike, laid over the words 'built to defy wind'.
An apparent launch date of December 9 was also mentioned.
It didn't give much away, but that front-on silhouette suggested the use of a seriously aero cockpit with a Y-shaped rising stem, sort of reminiscent of a hybrid between the Cervelo S5 cockpit, the Syncros Creston IC, and the old Aerofly 'hover' bar found on the Specialized Venge Vias.
But today, images have appeared on the ever-popular WeightWeenies forum showing a side-on and front-quarter image of what looks to be the same bike.
The source of the images are as yet unverified, but the Colnago logo is evident on the bike's down tube, along with Enve wheels and a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset.
The Colnago logo also appears as a watermark in the corner, and in the opposite corner, a stylised 'Y1Rs'. The brand's last dedicated aero bike was simply titled the Concept, but given the similarities between Y1Rs and the brand's current race bike, the V3Rs, we predict this may be the new bike's model name.
Beneath that, the bike's apparent colour scheme is listed as 'Black/Holographic'.
Cyclingnews contacted Colnago for more information, but the brand refused to comment.
The leaked images show what looks to be the same Y-shaped cockpit, while the biggest standout feature is the severely staggered seat tube / seatpost junction.
As it travels upward from the bottom bracket, the seat tube tightly wraps around the rear wheel until it hits the seat stays. Those stays travel in a straight line from the rear axle, past the seat tube by around six to nine inches, creating a Canyon Inflite-esque kink in the top tube before continuing forward at a near horizontal trajectory to the head tube.
The seat tube continues upward from this kink, and appears to use a standard seatpost setup, rather than the seat mast found on the Trek Madone which uses a similar staggered seat tube design. Unlike the Madone, however, the seat tube is a solid tube. There is no IsoFlow-style hole.
At the front, the side-on image appears to show a bayonet-style head tube like the one found on the Cervelo S5, but given the front-quarter image suggests otherwise, this could simply be a trick of the reflection from the holographic paint.
The head tube itself is deep and highly profiled, likewise the front fork, and the down tube wraps tightly around the front wheel.
Given how tightly both wheels are shrouded by the frame, it suggests the bike may have a shorter wheelbase than the norm for Colnago, which normally come in a little longer than competitors, but until we see geometry charts we can't know for certain.
The down tube then steps downward in a Pinarello Dogma-esque fashion, in what appears to be a ploy to shield the down tube water bottle from onrushing airflow.
The bike pictured is fitted with a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset and what look to be Enve SES 6.7 wheels. Both of which are the choice of UAE Team Emirates, a decision it landed on after countless hours of wind tunnel testing with the Colnago V3Rs.
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