Nestor Colonago

In the '70's a builder came out of obscurity and arrived on the scene in central Italy. Nestor Colonago set up shop in Swgglio , not a large town and definitely far off the radar of all cycling enthusiasts. In spite of his remote and pastoral surroundings , Nestor created a clean and well lit shop that produced some of the finer frames of the day. When large Italian companies were catering to the export market, Nestor decided to focus on building a limited amount of high quality race frames for the top amateur racers in the area. Unfortunately, there were no racers of any ability anywhere near Swigglio so the frames languished in Nestor's shop for decades- that was until team Cycles Heroic paid a call to Nestor's shop to buy cycling caps. When we entered the shop and saw this dusty old yellow frame hanging in a dark corner of the shop we decided that this unused frame would see duty on the white roads in coastal California.
Nestor eschewed the normal brazing techniques of most builders, opting instead for gas welding. Nestor said that there was always a lot of gas in the Colonago shop- Nestor insisted on working alone and most people in the village left him by himself, toiling away building frames for the racers who unfortunately never arrived at his door. No doubt they would have been blown away by what they saw - and smelled- in the Colonago shop , much as we were.