I'm assuming that it is affectation, rather than any structural advantage. is not a curcular tube stiffer than a non-circular tube, all else equal?

sweet bike. i know nothing about tubing but that thing is great

I think it's just for aesthetics. They make the downtube in the shape of a clover on a lot of their frames, to go with their logo.

i have a montagner with colnago-shaped tubes. I think the crimped tubes are supposed to increase stiffness, at least in theory.

anyway, they look sweet, and I can't say I've had any problems with the frame not being stiff enough. it's stiff as hell.

What headset is that? Kinda looks cool, kinda not.

well think of it like this, square tubes are much stiffer than ovalised tubes. So these tubes, even thought much of the points are rounded, are probably stiffer than round ones.

the idea behind it was to lessen weight while making the frame stiffer. if it really did that i dont know. and no it was not to match their logo, it just happens to look like that.

XVX

I like that the only unwrapped part of those bars are the drops...

then why don't they make soda cans square?

Bianchi uses the Megapro downtube on some of their models. These downtubes were non-round and were supposedly stiffer.

who needs a stiff soda can?

campy

Ummm, no. Large diameter tubes are stiffer than skinny ones. Square ones look "cool" and are probably a bit weaker and flexier than round ones made of the same amount of material. If Colnago made frames from the same amount of steel that goes into those star tubes, but with larger diameter round or oval tubes, it would be stiffer.
Of course, wild tube forming can make a frame be, say, laterally stiff and vertically compliant etc., but I'm not seeing that on the Colnagos. All the tubes are like all the others, and are symmetrical. They are just made to look funky, whatever the marketing department say about them.

so you dont give yourself a concussion while crushing said can on 'yer noggin

It's an amalam of a C-Record era headset with a Mavic lock nut...weird setup done strictly for aesthetics..

edit: It might be a different lock nut now that I think about it (Sugino?)

Soda cans are designed for maximum volume with a minimum of material and ease of production. Most of the strength that soda cans have is due to being filled with a high-pressure liquid-gas solution.

is that morgan's bike? he's got the same frame, right?