Classic & Vintage - Not Again! Bianchi Reparto Corse

http://www.garberdesign.com/bike/bianchiSet.jpg

My Trek 760 started developing interior surface rust, :crash: , so I got angry. And decided to buy an aluminum, modern frame, that I could thrash around in the rain and mud. :crash: :crash: :twitchy: So, a guy offers a Bianchi Reparto Corse steel frameset for $150... The color, it's sooooo :love: . Picked it up of course. It's my size, but it has some rough spots, so it will be dunked into oxalic acid with my Trek 760, with some Testors touch up paint during the long 4th of July weekend. And then I'll frame-save both of them so they will last.

Does anybody have more information about the frame? I know it's probably from the mid to late 90's, though the fork is threadless... Maybe it was a conversion at some time. The steel is "Mega Pro Lite Steel" and it's tig welded... Something more modern? I don't feel bad at all - I was going to shell out $300 for a new frameset, which would have been pretty low end and made in Taiwan; this is Italian!

Looks almost exactly like my 2002 Bianchi. Some very slight differences in the decals and mine came with a carbon fork but otherwise they are the same. "Mega Pro" refers to the shaped downtube. Mine says "Mega Pro Cromo Lite" which I'm pretty sure is a Bianchi oem'd Dedacciai tubing. I think they started TIG welding those frames in '97 but I'm not sure.

Compare:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z77/Kommisar89/001.jpg

Hello... sorry to disappoint you Kommisar but al your frame and that Mega Pro have in common is the Bianchi name.

Servo888 can you post a better pic of the MegoPro decal? I cannot quite see it. I think your frame is a '98 or '99. the MegaPro refers to the construction of the frame especially the downtube where it goes from being round at the headtube junction to a teardrop shape in the middle and horizontally ovalized at the BB. I will post some more info tonight but I do not have the exact catalog this steel frame is in. does your frines have another one of those in a 59c for $150?

Hello... sorry to disappoint you Kommisar but al your frame and that Mega Pro have in common is the Bianchi name.

Servo888 can you post a better pic of the MegoPro decal? I cannot quite see it. I think your frame is a '98 or '99. the MegaPro refers to the construction of the frame especially the downtube where it goes from being round at the headtube junction to a teardrop shape in the middle and horizontally ovalized at the BB. I will post some more info tonight but I do not have the exact catalog this steel frame is in. does your frines have another one of those in a 59c for $150?

Ok Bianchigirll, you're the expert but clearly that's not true - besides the Bianchi name they share the same Mega Pro design, the same TIG welded construction, and quite possibly the same tubing. At least I suspect they are both Dedacciai tubing though they could be different tubing models in the lineup I suppose. Not to mention they are both hand made in the Reparto Corse in Italy. Of course I can't tell what the geometry is but it doesn't look dramatically different. The only differences I can see are the braze-on front derailleur mount, the slight difference in the fastener for the seat post and a little difference in the dropouts. All of which could be expected given a 5 year difference in manufacture date. So what makes you say that they are totally different? Obviously I'm missing something.

OK yes now I look closer at your frame I can see the MegaPro down tube they must share that the welding and tube set I am sorry I doubted you. it was stupid of me to miss the fact that these are so obviously the same bike frames. I apologize for posting such erroneous information and cheapening the reputation of your bike.