Classic & Vintage - Japanese Bianchi Volpe? (pics)

The backstory: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=203291

Anyways I took another look at the bike this afternoon, doesn't look that desirable anymore. Anyone got any info on this bike? What year approx?
How much would you pay for this?
What kind of rear derailler is that?

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9340/b053ly.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8702/b013un.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/8972/b027xq.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7073/b035gg.jpg

The shifters look like those cool suntour power ratchet(?) shifters, which are cool. The derailleur looks like it has an S on it but I don't think it's suntour.

A million dollars. Actually I have no idea.

I think that is a Sachs-Huret. This is an entry-level bike - and it isn't worth a breathtaking amount. Maybe a little more than $100? the cantilevers are cool, but I don't suspect that this would be a real cyclocross bike...

That bike would be great for a backup to your fastback. It has those cool suntour shifters too! Just needs a re-wrap :eek:

Thx guys!
I really looking forward for this bike to be my commuter, because the Fastback is too flashy to be left in the campus' flimsy bike rack.
Unfortunately it will be a while until I can get my hands on it, the apartment manager is out of town and the caretaker is not sure who owns the bike.

The Volpe was one of the orignal dual purpose bicycles. A little more off-road orieneted than a hybrid, but not quite as serious as a cyclo-cross bicycle. Bianchi called them Cross-Terrain bicycles. They first appeared around the late 1980s, but yours appears to be from about 1991. As Luker states, the rear derailleur appears to be Sachs-Huret. The original would have been a SunTour X-1 to match those SunTour Accushift Plus Command Shifters. Original price was about $550 US.

Thanks for the info, T-mar!

"SunTour Accushift Plus Command Shifters"

That's it! I tried to get some of those on ebay once. They're really cool.