Built To Win | The all-new Colnago V4RS
In Colnago's words, "it is hard to improve what is already great." Colnago needed an evolution, rather than a completely new design. They had one goal - to ensure that the successor of the V3RS was built to do one thing... WIN.
October 2020 - New Bike Design Started:
Developed with the team Since day 0. Colnago are always in contact with the UAE Team Emirates,
and nowadays the UAE Team ADQ, receiving their
feedback and understanding their challenges. By listening to them, Colnago clearly understand what is
needed to create a winning product. While the V3Rs was winning the Tour, Colnago were already
thinking about the next Colnago superbike.
April-October 2021 - First Internal Prototypes Produces:
Not only performance. A touch of Colnago is needed. In the development phase, the aesthetic and functional
developments have gone hand in hand. Colnago is known for the beauty of its products.
The new bike must not only be functionally performative,
but also be extremely polished and refined in the look. Effort to use less paint on the frame to decrease overall
weight. C68 had a key role in the development of this frame.
October 2021 - Design Selection & Tests:
Thanks to the work done on the modular parts of the
C68, Colnago were able to study, test and optimize different
solutions for each part key part of the future
monocoque frame. In October we carried out the tests for UCI approval of
the Colnago Prototipo. We started preparing a small number of versions of the
bicycle that would differ only by the carbon frames
layups.
May 2022 - UAE Team Receive Bike:
Colnago sent the first Colnago Prototipo
to Tadej Pogacar in May 2022. He tested a no-brand version
on the roads of Tour de France. Ahead of such an important event the decision
was up to him: stick to a “safe” choice - racing
with the Colnago V3Rs - or risk using
a totally new prototype bike. We all know what the decision was.
July-October 2022 Prototipo Race Validation:
First Slovenia, then all-in for the Tour de France. Colnago had a limited number of Prototipo frames, they left open choice to the athletes whether to use the
Prototipo or the proven V3Rs.
ALL the team riders chose to use the Prototipo in races. Colnago didn’t have enough.
The riders who sticked to the V3Rs took this choice out of
material shortage, all the others rushed to try and race the
Colnago Prototipo.
Results:
After 4 months of use, the Prototipo accumulated 23 victories by 10 different riders, along with 28 podiums by 14 different riders - a bike that has now been unveiled to us as the Colnago V4RS.
Aerodynamics:
The V4Rs has been conceived as a fully-integrated
system. While working on the aerodynamics in order to
reduce the overall drag, the superimposition of effects
simply doesn’t work. All the components must be
developed and tested together in order to state the
overall benefits. That’s why all the presented data is
obtained with the bicycle in race-ready configuration,
which means that it is equipped with head unit, 2
bottle-cages but one bottle only (as in the crucial race
phases).
Drag Reduction:
This process of design and development started from
the bike frontal area, which has a huge impact on the
drag, both directly (A factor in the formula) and through
its shape, by affecting the overall Cd factor.
Optimised Frontal Area:
The optimization of the frontal area also involved an
evolution of the head tube geometry. Its shape has been
revised and perfectly integrated with the new
lightweight fork (designed to allow an effective tyre
clearance up to 32 mm) and with the new cockpit.
Although the head set upper bearings are bigger than
the V3Rs ones, allowing the cables to run inside without
the need of the D-Shaped steerer column and
enhancing the overall front-end stability, the overall
shape has a better drag. This, of course, required a
deep surface modelling to keep the frontal area smaller
and a better aerodynamic shape factor.
New CC.01 Cockpit:
Although the V4Rs is compatible with third-party
cockpits, the overall platform has been optimized with
the new Colnago cockpit CC.01, whose drag surface
had been reduced up to 16%, compared to the cockpits
mounted on V3Rs, and at the same time the shape has
been designed and shaped as a NACA-derived profile
in order to have the minimum impact on the air flow,
which is laminar and clean while impacting the
components.
This aerodynamic evolution was carried out without
reducing the overall stiffness of the component, as
important as aerodynamic in sprint and acceleration.
Even Small Details Matter:
Furthermore, for a perfect match and lower drag, the
cockpit is offered also with the new 3D-printed,
cyclo-computer support, compatible with Wahoo Bolt
V2 (more compatibilities yet to come). This detail, on top
to the astonishing and clean aesthetics, provide also a
measurable (!) 0,75 W* saving at 50 km/h, which is
rather relevant, considering the small area of the
component.
*WAD = Weighted Average Drag (i.e. the sum of power at
different yaw angles, weighed by the probability of
occurring in such a condition).
      
Balancing Stiffness:
During riding, a bicycle is subjected to several different
loads, acting on the whole bicycle at the same time. To
replicate and measure in indoor testing procedures able
to stress the frame in many of these conditions at the
same time, forced our engineers to develop internal
testing methodologies in order to take into account both
static and dynamic and both flexural and torsional loads.
The result is a bicycle whose all the stiffnesses are
fine-tuned and harmonized among each other to offer
the maximum performance and balance in all the
racing ultimate conditions
   
Innovative and racing-validated lamination:
This result has been achieved thanks to the innovative
carbon fiber lamination featured on the V4Rs. For the
ultimate racing machine, many different layups featuring
as many different stiffness matrices, have been
developed, tested and validated for professional use.
The final call was given to the riders themselves, who
were provided for the most complete and stressful
competition of the year (TDF 2022) with “Prototipo” with
the most promising layups, in order to bring the bicycle to
real limit conditions (both on cobblestones, sprint, climbs
and downhills) and provide data and feedback to our
engineers.
 
Crash Worthiness and Maintenance:
The overall design robustness of the bicycle can be crucial in 3-week
competitions, as well as in a classic race.
With respect to the V3Rs, the new V4Rs significantly improve the
crashworthiness of the most exposed parts which may be subjected to
impact in racing conditions.
An example is given by the completely new designed seat stays, which,
besides the more aerodynamic shape, significantly improve the flexural and
impact resistance.
The robustness of this design also minimizes the need of maintenance in,
for example, the new headset, fully provided by Ceramic Speed, which
uses SLT technology with unique solid polymer and stainless-steel
components to “remedy two of the most common causes behind bearing
failure: the absence of lubrication and grease contamination through dirt
ingress”
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