Cyclocross - Conversion Complete! Steel Bianchi road bike to CX!

Before: 1997 Steel Bianchi (recently restored, road ready)

After: New fork, Cantilever brakes, Pedals, Tires (30mm), flipped stem, went back to old aluminum seatpost (my carbon one kept turning in practice)

I mig welded the Canti bosses myself. Tires fit pretty well. I could to a 35mm in the front, I think a 32mm is all that this road frame would allow for the rear. The rear wouldn't have fit if I didn't remove the road brake hanger. Tire didn't have enough clearance. I raised and flipped the hanger and attached a cable stop. Welds are strong but not super pretty. Rides good. Fork is definitely lighter than my old steel one. It does flex a little and feels like a wet noodle but for $40 what do you expect. Total conversion was under $150.

I actually think it looks better like this. Still trying to get use to the 1x setup. I think the 39 will be fine for the front but may need a 28 or so in the back (23 now).

I had a lot better pictures but got tired of posting and resizing and it not working. If anybody needs close ups of how I did the rear brake set up, I can email some pics. Just p.m. me.

To come:

Bash guard, dog fang, maybe different gearing.

First race (ever:eek:) this Wednesday. Wish me luck!

I likes.

Wow, impressive. Now that is a real conversion there.

Awesome.

Is that the Kinesis crosslight fork? If so, how did you remove the decals?

Is that an 8 speed cassette? What was your rear spacing? Did you replace the rear wheel?

Can I get some more pics of where you welded the brake boss?

Kinesis Fork: Yes Ebay for $39.95. It definitely flexes more than my steel fork. Mainly when you stop/apply front brake. No biggie but I can tell. I just peeled the stickers off by hand, clean up residue w/WD40.

Yes it is an 8 speed cassette 12-23. Not sure what you mean by7 spacing. It is the standard 700c Campy wheel/hub setup that came with the bike. I didn't replace anything. Width clearance was ok. A 32mm will fit. I would be skeptical about jamming a 34 or 35 mm in there. Height now fits since I moved the brake hanger but now I would be running into width issues with anything wider.

Let me look for the pictures. PM me your email address.

Yeah I have a lot of brake shutter when I'm stopping with that fork.

Let me look for the pictures. PM me your email address.

Post them here if you can, we'd all like to see them.

I looked for the pictures and I can't find them. I took a bunch too. O well here is the explanation.

To do the canti-conversion:

1. Need a steel bike
2. Remove the road brake hanger (if there isn't enough clearance. I used a grinder and a dremel). I think you can actually use a torch but didn't try it.
3. Order Canti bosses from Henry James Bicycle Supply. Super cheap, $4.95 each.
4. Put the wheel on and find proper postion.
5. Weld on! I used setting 1 on my mig welder and it was still pretty hot.
6. Be careful to not burn through the bosses. They heat up way quicker than the frame. I thought it would have been the opposite (tubing on frame) being more fragile.

If I find the pics I will post them.

What about paint? Did'nt you have to remove the paint before welding and then repaint? I'm guessing so since the rear triangle is black but you didn't mention it.

Impressive!

I forgot to mention paint. If I was starting a new project from the beginning, I would strip the whole bike, do your welding, then repaint or powder coat. This is a long topic and is beat to death in the C&V forum.

Disclaimer: This is a project bike. It is also a cross bike and is going to get muddy. Please don't flame for the paint method. I actually took the time to do it right. You can find the first restoration somewhere in the classic and vintage forum. Search Celeste Bianchi.

What I did for this project was:
Sand painted areas with dremel(plus some extra room) to be welded.
Weld
sand and tape
Prime
Spray
Clear coat all with Rustoleum spray cans

When I welded on the frame, only about 1"-2" of good paint got fried. I was actually lucky that I painted the seat stays black. It made this job much easier.

If you look closely at the before and afters, you can see how the paint job changed a little near the top of the seat stay. I did this because it was too hard to try and get the Celeste to match. It was just easier to do it this way.

I keep coming back to this thread because i want to weld some canti bosses on my ride. My fork is perfectly fine and the bike was meant for 27" tires. I currently am running 700c with centerpulls. I think the OP only welded on the rears and the fronts came with his fork?? Anyone see any problems with doing a weld job up front as well? Are forks designed for cantis wider??

sweet azz bike

I keep coming back to this thread because i want to weld some canti bosses on my ride. My fork is perfectly fine and the bike was meant for 27" tires. I currently am running 700c with centerpulls. I think the OP only welded on the rears and the fronts came with his fork?? Anyone see any problems with doing a weld job up front as well? Are forks designed for cantis wider??

I don't see a problem with welding bosses on the fork. My old fork wouldn't work because the tire wouldn't fit regardless of what I did with it. I actually thought about removing the front dropouts and rewelding a set lower to give me the tire clearance. In the end, the new fork only cost $40. Basically it was only $20 more to get a new fork than to weld new dropouts and canti bosses to my old steel fork.

hmm.. good point. Thanks!

Any luck with closeup photos or anything? What type of tubing is that frame?

damn, that is one sweet ride.