With a thrilling 101st edition of Ronde van Vlanderean still fresh in our minds and Paris-Roubaix hype in full swing, we thought we’d pause between monuments to look back at a classic road bike: Marty’s incredible Colnago Tecnos. While the frame may be classic, and the Tecnos was a bit of an instant classic, Marty raced his Technos all over Europe and Canada from 1999 all the way into 2013. Marty and his Colnago have raced through France, Czech, Italy, Germany, and Croatia, survived Bosnia, seen the beaches of Normandie, and raced some more through Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC, landing podiums and thoroughly enjoying the ride throughout. And it’d be hard not to, Marty describes the Tecnos as “the most comfortable and beautiful bike I have ridden to date.” Take that fancy space-plastic! Not that Marty’s is lacking in carbon fiber, with those Spinergy Rev X’s mounted up.
Now, you might be thinking: ‘it wasn’t that long ago that you looked at Raph’s Colnago, what gives?’ That might be fair, except for all the incredible, minute differences between the two frames. Plus, that incredible colourway that I can’t even begin to describe. ‘Purple’ doesn’t quite seem to cover it. But we will let you look back to Raph’s Colnago for the backstory on the Tecnos, and stick to differences on Marty’s bike. The biggest difference is the Precisa straight-blade steel fork on Marty’s frame, which emerged out of Ernesto Colnago’s long running ties to Ferrari. While it may not seem significant now, but the idea of a straight fork blade was not only innovative when Colnago introduced the Precisa, but mocked by those who thought it would never survive it’s first Paris-Roubaix. Colnago’s collaborations with Ferrari have produced some … unique results, but Colnago credits Ferarri engineers for pushing accepted wisdom in fork design to produce something new and better.
As for the build, Marty’s put together his Colnago with Dura-Ace throughout (save an Ultegra crank, while the hunt for Dura-Ace continues), Ritchey Pro bars, a Deda Newton Stem, Thompson Elite seatpost, and a vaguely threatening Selle SMP Strike Evolution saddle. Oh yeah, and some Spinergy Rev X wheels. The Spinergy’s aren’t Marty’s race wheels,but they do look sharp. Like, Cuts-like-a-knife sharp. They’re also pretty cool looking. But they’re not exactly UCI legal, with the longstanding rumor being that UCI developed a new stress test with the sole purpose of outlawing the Rev-X. Urban myths aside, the forward looking Rev-X still cut a striking profile. And if you’re looking to make the argument that today’s Pro’s are maybe a little over-sensitive, with all their whinging about disc brakes and rolling knives, compare a disc rotor to these giant, rolling meat slicers. 
As ever, with Colnago the details are as beautiful as the complete bike. Glance through the rest of the gallery below for a closer look at Marty’s shimmering Colnago Tecnos:
