Sixty-eight years after Ernesto Colnago founded the Italian brand, Colnago today unveiled a new bike, a new business model, and a new way to secure bike ownership that it describes as the "new Colnago."

The bike will be named C68 to commemorate the 68th anniversary and will be positioned as the brand's top-of-the-line product, with a hero build price set at €16,780. The new business model will see the launch of a direct-to-consumer channel in Europe and the UAE, where consumers can set up and purchase directly from the Colnago website; the third change, securing ownership of the bike, will utilize blockchain technology and NFT will replace the traditional certificate of ownership.

The C68, which sits at the top of the Colnago hierarchy alongside the V3R, is targeted at riders who are not necessarily chasing race performance. According to Colnago, the V stands for victory and velocita, while the C stands for Colnago, carbon, cambiago (the Italian town where the bikes are manufactured), and class.

With this in mind, the C68 will be available in road, all-road, and gravel, but instead of simply swapping components to suit the terrain, as Wilier's Rave SLR can change from all-road to gravel, Colnago says that the C68 will bear the name There are three different frames: seven road, six all-road, and five gravel. Disc brakes will be the primary option on all frames, but Colnago says that a rim brake version of the road frames will also be available starting in August.

Colnago will continue to use modular construction for its frames, joining the tubes together with carbon lugs instead of assembling them in a mold. According to Colnago, the result is a cleaner, more modern aesthetic that allows the frame to be fine-tuned to specific fit requirements; limited edition bikes with 3D printed titanium lugs will also be produced.

Colnago claims the unpainted carbon frame weighs 925g, while the limited edition frame with titanium lugs weighs 935g. All frames will be fitted with threaded T47 bottom brackets and CeramicSpeed SLT headsets and are covered by a lifetime warranty; the same seatpost as the C64 and V3R will be standard, as will the new CC.01 one-piece cockpit.

An NC tag will be attached to the downtube of each bike, which will serve as the bike's frame number or "digital passport." This passport will allow owners to register their ownership, and the data will be stored in a blockchain. Colnago believes this is the future of bike ownership and will prevent the loss of paper certificates.

Colnago also claims that the NFT will allow for authentication of bike participation in "exclusive and official events."

With the launch of the C68, Colnago also quietly announced a shift to an omni-channel business model.

In a move similar to Specialized's recent switch to the same model, customers in Europe and the United Arab Emirates will be able to buy directly from Colnago's website, and instead of relying on third-party couriers to deliver bikes, Colnago employees will hand-deliver bikes through a "white Globe" service is now available.

As noted above, the C68 will be available in three variants: road, all-road, and gravel. However, Colnago has only released information on the frameset and road builds.

Frameset:

Complete build for road, carbon lugs:

Complete build for road, titanium lugs: [27]