1979 Colnago Mexico gold plated, built for Pope John Paul II
Ernesto Colnago: We built this golden bike for the Pope in '79. It was a special day when we went to the Vatican to present it to him. Very emotional for me. I went with my entire family; my brother Paolo and his son Alessandro. We heard that the Pope liked to ride a bike and that he did a ride of 38km two times a week when he was in Krakow and he continued to ride when he was in Castel Gondolfo (the Pope's summer residence outside of Rome).
The Pope picked up this bike and told me it was marvelously light and that he wished he had one like it a long time ago!
I remember that the Pope said to me that "you are in the midst of all the cyclists and the sport and I want to bless cycling and all the riders." That really touched me deeply when the Pope said that.
CN: Do you think that Pope John Paul II actually rode this bike?
Ernesto Colnago: No, I don't believe so. After a year or so, the Vatican contacted us to give this bike back and the Pope requested a sports type bike with regular flat handlebars so we built him one, a white one. That's the bike he rode in Castel Gondolfo.
He talks of it at the beginning of this vid.