# Question for you expert Colnago-philes



## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

what is the difference between the christallo and the e1, besides the curved seatstays of the christallo? the president the same as a e1 but with special paint job? it seems that he front end of these 2 frames are the same -just the stays are different. is this the case? carbon different? just curious as i was perusing the colnago picture gallery. thanks.


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## Colnago America (Mar 22, 2009)

You are correct, the difference between the E1 & Cristallo is the the curved seat stay and a different chain stay. The President and E1 are two different frames - President: a monocoque front triangle, B-Stay and the HP stay. E1also has a monocoque front triangle, B-Stay but a different set of chain stay. The President was offered in sloping and traditional geometry; the E1 only in a sloping.
Colnago America


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## mriddle (Nov 16, 2005)

*President in sloping?*

I don't recall ever seeing such a frame.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

mriddle said:


> I don't recall ever seeing such a frame.


I saw a President in sloping while I was in Las Vegas on my honeymoon. The price tag was $10,000+ and I think my wife had a heart attack when she saw that. The next year, I was buying my first Colnago and the total, with a lot of bargain searching, came to just over $5,000 decked out with the best equipment at the time. If you throw in the Zipp wheels I bought/built later, the total price was around $7,000.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

Colnago America said:


> You are correct, the difference between the E1 & Cristallo is the the curved seat stay and a different chain stay. The President and E1 are two different frames - President: a monocoque front triangle, B-Stay and the HP stay. E1also has a monocoque front triangle, B-Stay but a different set of chain stay. The President was offered in sloping and traditional geometry; the E1 only in a sloping.
> Colnago America


Thanks CA. The question then are the front ends exactly the same? So what are the ride qualities supposed to be like for the E1 and Christallo? Is one aimed at the race crowd and the other at the recreational?


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

Ride-Fly said:


> Thanks CA. The question then are the front ends exactly the same? So what are the ride qualities supposed to be like for the E1 and Christallo? Is one aimed at the race crowd and the other at the recreational?


Nope. They are both aimed at the racing crowd. If they were aimed at different crowds they E1 would not have been discontinued when the Cristallo came out. I have the Cristallo and I can tell you that it is super stiff. I also have the Arte and both bikes seem to have the same ride characteristics. That is why I bought a C50. I'm hoping I can go 4+ hours on that frame without my hands, feet, and butt feeling it the next day.


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## Ride-Fly (Mar 27, 2002)

fabsroman said:


> Nope. They are both aimed at the racing crowd. If they were aimed at different crowds they E1 would not have been discontinued when the Cristallo came out. I have the Cristallo and I can tell you that it is super stiff. I also have the Arte and both bikes seem to have the same ride characteristics. That is why I bought a C50. I'm hoping I can go 4+ hours on that frame without my hands, feet, and butt feeling it the next day.


Have you finally got the C50 finished the way you want it? Got much ride time on it yet? How do you compare the C50 and Christallo? 

Do you know what years the E1s and Christallos were in production? I am assuming they discontinued the E1 when the Christallo came out and that the Christallo was designed to be stiffer in the rear end than the E1. 

Ciao fabs!


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

Ride-Fly said:


> Have you finally got the C50 finished the way you want it? Got much ride time on it yet? How do you compare the C50 and Christallo?
> 
> Do you know what years the E1s and Christallos were in production? I am assuming they discontinued the E1 when the Christallo came out and that the Christallo was designed to be stiffer in the rear end than the E1.
> 
> Ciao fabs!


Believe it or not, I don't have the C50 finished yet. I thought I would finally put it all together last night because I got the Negative G-SL brakes in the mail yesterday, but I struggled with the Nokon cables and was only able to get the left side of the bars done. If I have time tonight I'll finish the build up.

Obviously, I don't have any miles on it for comparison, but hope to get on the bike this weekend or sooner. I might even use the wheels from my Cristallo so that I can get a really good comparison between the two frames, but the red & white Zipps do look good on that frame.

The E1 was a 2005 and earlier frame. If I had to guess, I would say it was around for 2004 and 2005, maybe 2003, but I am not too sure about it. I bought my Cristallo the first year they were built and I ordered it in August 2006 because I was ignorant about when new color schemes came out. right after I ordered the frame, which must have been a 2006 color scheme in NS03, the 2007 lineup came out with the STIT color scheme for the C50 but the Cristallo did not get that scheme anyway. Then, it was around for the 2008 year with the ST01, etc. schemes.


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