Framebuilders - Messed up Bianchi

I managed to get my hands on a mid eighties Bianchi and it seems to have some problems. First one of the seat post ears is stripped out (someone tried to loosen the seat on the side with the locking little lug on the bolt and tore out most of it) second one of the top tube cable guides that is supposed to have the brake cable housing routed through it got crushed and is no longer there. The second issue is more of a cosmetic thing I worry about while the stripped seat post binder ear is a total functional thing.

So my question is how much would it cost to fix, if it is possible to fix.

Thanks -John

If I understand your description of the seat binder issue correctly, it's not actually an issue. You can simply use a binder bolt that has Allen sockets on both sides. This requires the use of a pair of wrenches, of course, but how often are you changing saddle height?

Another solution is to simply grind off the entire mess and use a clamping collar. This is a poor thing to do to a nice bike, but most "mid eighties" Bianchis aren't that nice, and that's coming from a Bianchi collector. But to correctly, if you want to answer your question, have a framebuilder replace the the binder, you're looking at about $100 plus paint.

As to the cable guide, this is super simple braze-on, but again, you then require a repaint. A clip-on type cable guide is the simple solution.

Bottom line, AFAIC, is that unless this is a top-end bike and you are willing to blow about $800 on repairs and refinishing, you should keep it as simple as possible. HTH!