Took my new Colnago C-40 up Mt. Diablo yesterday.
To compare it to my other bikes:
1) It handles faster than my Eddy Merckx titanium EX.
2) It climbs better than my Vitus 992, the Eddy Merckx Corsa 0.1 or my
Bottecchia. But it isn't a great climber even though it only weighs 18
lbs. This will take some further investigation since it might only be
that I was more tired on Monday than I thought from over 100 miles of
pushing the two previous days.
3) It is a very comfortable bike even with a SUPERLIGHT Aspide saddle
which bears a lot of resemblance to a granite block in terms of
comfort. (The shape is really good, but there's no padding to speak of.
In return you get a three ounce saddle.)
4) Still, I rode my Basso Loto on Sunday and that has to be the
greatest bike I have.
5) As a race bike it obviously was designed really correct. It steers
well and you can hit pretty substantial potholes and the line doesn't
change at all. The bike feels good and you can dodge around a lot
without getting that feeling that your wheels are going to come out
from under you>
As a side note: I bought a carbon fiber Easton bar with those odd sharp
angles slanting from the center section to just above the Ergo Shifters
(similar to
http://www.supergo.com/profile.cfm?LPROD_ID=20528&lsubcat_id=7635&lcat_id=7605&referpage=#)
because there was one on the junk table at Performance.
I didn't like the way those bars look but I've been having trouble with
the pressure on the Ulnar nerve in my palms from resting my hands on
the curve of the bar above the levers. My hands go numb and I have to
shake them out a lot to get them working again.
It turns out that those bends are at the perfect angle! With my hands
in their normal position I couldn't feel any difference in the bar and
yet the bend took all of the pressure off of the palms and distributed
it over my whole hand.
I recommend this bend for those who have been having the same sort of
trouble.