hi guys, im choosing my first colnago frame, maybe a 2004 ct1, i will need a size 58 but when i was looking the colnago geometry chart they said that the sizes larger than 60 have a "freuler" geometry, what is this?

thank you very much.

Urs Freuler was a Swiss rider, road and track rode a larger frame and at one time, rode professionally for a team using Colnago's. The story is that in order to have a smaller frame and yet have the strength in the seatpost and stem areas, and fit (bar height) he used extended head tubes and seat tubes when fitting Freuler. Colnago's in the larger sizes, 60-65, are built with extensions on the seat tube and head tube.

Freuler's now the team manager for Phonak.

I always wondered about how accurate that Colnago data is nowadays. For instance, Spindawgs 62cm C50 from a thread below doesn't look like it has any out of the ordinary extension.

thank you very much for your help.

My Colnago CT2's head tube and seat tube are extended 3.5cm and 5.5cm above the top of the top tube - making it a 65cm "Freuler". The Freuler is a little like compact geometry for Clydes. The extended seat and head tubes make for a stiffer frame.

My other bike is traditional geometry (62cm CtC), steel, flexy and a little unstable at high speeds and corners. For instance, I could never take one hand off the bars going down a big hill because the front end would start to shimmy. I ride with alot of other Clydes and almost all their bikes have this problem. We all speculate that the longer tubes = more unstablility.

The Freuler cruises hills/corners like it's on a rail - no hint of unstability. I just rode the
'04 CT2 across Iowa (504 miles) during Ragbrai - all road and weather conditions and it was a dream. I had it up over 40mph several times and no shimmy problems.

Important note - if you buy/own a Freuler you'll probably need a 350mm seatpost to be within the warranty. Colnago wants something like 200mm down in the seat tube.

I don't think either of these two were produced in the 'Freuler' configuration given the different capabilities of carbon construction versus the limitation on Fe and Al tube sets, their diameter, wall thickness and butting.

I always wondered about how accurate that Colnago data is nowadays. For instance, Spindawgs 62cm C50 from a thread below doesn't look like it has any out of the ordinary extension.

Important note - if you buy/own a Freuler you'll probably need a 350mm seatpost to be within the warranty. Colnago wants something like 200mm down in the seat tube.

That's true about the seatpost length. When I bought a 62 cm Colnago it came with a the traditional Colnago seatpost which is much too short for warranty purposes. When I sent my warranty card in, I attached a note saying that they should not spec short seatposts on Freuler framed bikes if they expect their customers to follow their warranty guidelines. If I were to use their OEM Colnago seatpost, it would have reduced the useable length of the seatpost to around 40-50mm.