Made from hand-rolled carbon tubes, with design input from Ferrari engineers, the second incarnation of Colnago’s top-of-the-range EPS promises plenty... and it delivers.
Ride & handling: The EPS balances comfort with speed and rigidity
As you’d expect with a bike decked out with a top-flight groupset and a lightweight set of wheels, the EPS really flies.
It’s smooth on the climbs and quick to whip up to speed on the flat, but where it really excels is on descents; push it fast into a corner and ride on the limit and it feels surefooted and confident.
There is also a distinct feeling of solidity – not necessarily what you want to hear when talking about a top-of-the-line superbike, but it’s really the best way we can describe the EPS.
It’s sturdy and surefooted, but with a lightness that only the very best can provide. The frame may not set any records for low weight, being over the kilo mark, but you don’t ride a frame, you ride a bike.
The rest of the equipment on our test bike was fairly mid-range – an aluminium bar, stem, seatpost and saddle – but if you were to spec finishing kit befitting a frame of this calibre you could easily shed a couple of pounds.
Chassis: Hand-built frame is rock solid even when you’re sprinting out of the saddle
The EPS is Colnago’s flagship road machine and, unlike some of the marque’s lesser ranges, it’s still made at their Italian factory.
It’s also made in an astonishing 22 different frame sizes; 14 with traditional geometry and eight sloping. This is because it’s constructed using Colnago-specific lugs, developed in conjunction with a team of Ferrari engineers and produced in multiple sizes and shapes from 150 different moulds.
The tubeset isn’t off-the-peg either. Colnago use a pre preg carbon cloth which is wound by hand into tubes to ensure the correct layup and to control the amount of resin to create the best characteristics for each tube.
The top tube and down tube also feature what Colnago call 3PRS, which can best be described as three 10mm wide carbon ‘ribs’ on the inside of the tubes; the thickness tapers along the length of the tubes and the ribs prevent any lateral movement.
The result is a chassis that’s rock solid even when you’re sprinting out of the saddle and wrenching on the handlebars.
The chainstays are new Colnago Power Stays, massively oversized and shaped to add maximum strength and resistance to twisting forces from the bottom bracket. A dedicated EPS fork is also used with a specific tapered headset, 1in at the top and 1¼in at the bottom, to stiffen the front end for more precise handling.
