Bought a Used Frame - How to Measure to find Correct Parts?
 

Hi People! Thanks in advance for any insight.

I just bought a Bianchi road bike frame, with seat attached, front fork attached, and handlebars/stem attached. It does not have wheels / drivetrain / pedals etc.

I am at a complete loss for how to identify what size parts I will need - are there any rules of thumb that can tell me how to size out parts?

Most resources on the internet seem to be based on knowing what size the parts are to begin with.

Thanks so much! I can post a pic if that would be helpful :-)

Pics would probably help. What Bianchi model is it?

Pics to determine year would help indeed. Not a whole lot to worry about remaining. Correct rear wheel width would be nice (126 or 130 most likely candidates). Correct bottom bracket threading (English or Italian). I'd buy your Bottom bracket and Crank as a matched set so you won't have to worry about incompatibility between those two parts. You'll want 9/16" pedals. Pretty tough to get anything but that unless you get BMX pedals though.

Thank you for the quick replies! When taking pics I saw a sticker that said "1985" - so I guess that's the year. But I still am clueless as to how to size up the parts.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=203500http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=203501

Vertical dropouts, hmm, I'm thinking it might be newer than 85, not sure, though.

Here's how you measure for proper rear wheel width:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/measure-spacing.jpg

When it comes to cranks, you've already got a square taper bottom bracket in there. Engravings should tell you the make/model. Might be tough to determine if it's for a double or a triple crankset, though. Seems like most Eros' came stock with a triple. I'd probably just get a new BB and Crankset as a pair, just to avoid compatibility problems.

You should've put Bianchi in the thread title, then Bianchi experts would be all over it. ;) Chances are one will find it anyways.

Here's a claimed 1996 model that looks like a close match.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/...4aef79cc_o.jpg
IMG_7889 by DSantos2008, on Flickr

When taking pics of a bike, shoot it from the drive side.

I can't tell if you have a FD hanger or it requires a clamp-on front derailleur. If the latter, you need to know the seat tube's OD.

Unless you are really bike savvy, building up a frameset is an expensive proposition and usually exceeds the value of the finished product. To keep the cost down, you need to find a deal on used parts, best parts deals tend to come in the form of a complete bike.

Date on sticker is relatively meaningless. But if that seatpost is original, it will have a date code on it, as will the stem as well.

Yeah, it has vertical dropouts but a cup-and-cone bottom bracket so it probably isn't newer than the early '90's. As wrk101 noted, building up a bike from parts can be an unattractively expensive method unless you know exactly what you need and have a good source of inexpensive parts.

To the OP: do you have a local bike Co-Op? They often have a large collection of used parts and can give you help with parts choice and installation. Absent that, you will need to go to a bike shop and, at that point, things get expensive.

Bianchi has Taiwan's contract factorys make bikes with their brand on it too..
so I doubt its an Italian threaded,both RH,36mm, BB-shell width 70 mm ,
68 would be british common thread. Lh/Rh

This one appears to have a Made in Italy sticker on the downtube. Regardless I suspect all Eros' have English thread BBs. Bikepedia claims they do from 1995 onward with no data for 1993 and 1994.

Thank you for the replies everyone!

I live in San Francisco and am a member of the local co-op the Bike Kitchen, which is where I intend to do all the work.

You're in luck. There are probably enough spares at the co-op to test fit parts without having to buy them first. It appears that the frame has a square-taper bottom bracket installed. If it's okay, it might be more expedient to try to find a crankset that fits it and worry about the rest of the parts for now.


Did that last sentence make any sense?

You'd prolly find the cheapest way to get all the parts you need is to buy a whole other bike; often the largest sizes are cheaper.

Sell the other frameset down the track.

Hi Folks! As an update I ended doing some work on it ,and peicing it together, with a lot of it done by a bike shop.

Frame was 100 and I spent 430 on the new parts and work.

A bit pricey for a bike, but I'm happy with it!

Any thoughts? http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=212142

That's not really bad. A new entry level road bike would cost at least $1000. And you got to work on it and have some satisfaction of doing your own work and develop some confidence for future bike maintenance.