Calling Bianchi afficianados (frame id with pics)
 

The story so far......

A guy I work with has 2 identical vintage Bianchi bikes,one of which he is willing to sell.The bike I can have is repainted and has no decals.The pics below are of the identical frame in its original state,ie. paint and decals.His Italian father purchased and brought them back from Italy(to Australia) in the mid 70's (he thinks).
There are unfortunately no tube set stickers anywhere on the frame.
Seatpost internal diameter is 27mm(measured with ruler not micrometer)
B/B shell is 68mm across.
Frame is quite light and both top tube and head stem to B/B tube give that nice ting when flicked.
Rear part of frame seems to be duller which makes me wonder if just the main triangle is cro mo.
did Bianchi do this with frames?
Would it be japanese or Italian made?

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0039.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0032.jpg
Dropout is stamped Bianchi
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0033.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0035.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0036.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0038.jpg
Head tube with serial 7M34219

Any help with Id'ing model, era, tubeset or origin would be apreciated.

Thanks in advance, Dave

there is lots of knowledge in this forum good luck with the ID's

Cheers Bmax, yeah the depth of knowledge here is the reason I've posted on this forum only.

If it is identical to your coworkers other bike, then it is Italian made. I can see the "made in italy" decal just above the shifter mounts in the first picture.

What is the diameter of the BB cups? 36mm would indicate Italian, whereas everyone else used 35mm = 1.375". The 68mm BB shell width really surprises me, as I thought all Italian Bianchis had 70mm shells.

The leading digit in the serial number may be the last digit of the year of manufacture -- 1977, perhaps? With a 27.2mm seat post and an integral derailleur hanger, I am also guessing it has a tre tubi frame, with butted Columbus main triangle and seamed CrMo or plain carbon steel elsewhere. (You can see the seam on the BB shell.)

Apparently Japanese frames were imported and assembled in Italy, thus making them "Made In Italy".
That's why I'm trying to authenticate it.

No. It's an Italian frame. Early/mid 70's lower/mid model along the lines of a Rekord 745. Good tubes for the main triangle only.

Kind of cool with the Euro market paint scheme and decals.

They would use basically the same frame to build three models, the quality of the parts determining the level of the model. This frame was probably the base for the 3 mid level bikes. Rekord 745, 746, 748, although this frame might predate those model names.

The frame you have there would be a nice road bike built up with some Gipiemme or Ofmega parts, or of course Campy NR if you can afford it. Or it would make an excellent fixed gear platform.

It's nothing real "special" but it's a lot nicer than the gaspipe "boom" model which is the most common 1970's Bianchi found in the States.

That's the answer I was hoping for.Thanks Otis your knowledge and helpfulness are greatly appreciated.

Cheers Dave

Yes, Otis and I concur that it's likely to be a tre tubi frame, like my slightly newer Bianchi (see signature). I can attest that you should be able to build it into a very decent road bike. I still maintain that the only difference between a tre tubi Bianchi and a top-of-the-line full Columbus model with the same geometry is a small weight penalty.

Well, for the CDI and CDM models from the early 80's there might not be that big a difference, but for the midline tretubi bikes there's a big difference in the quality of workmanship and the alignment.

Of course sloppy brazing an un-filed lugs do not make a bike ride bad and alignment can be corrected, so I agree they can still be very nice bikes.

The difference in frame/fork weight between a late 70's Specialissima and Rekord 748 which are built around the same basic lug set is almost a full pound. The difference in "fit and finish" is night and day.

Either way, for me its a classic Italian Marque frame, that will be fun to build and ride in any permutation.

Thanks for the input guys.

Iv'e had a look at the repainted complete(brother's) bike and taken some pics of the components.
Any help with ID'ing them appreciated.

Front derailuer Campy

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...100_0011-1.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...100_0012-1.jpg

Rear Ofmega

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0009.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0010.jpg

Ofmega crank as well

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0008.jpg

Campy levers

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/100_0013.jpg

not sure if any of this will help to ID the hierarchy of the bike in the range or if any of it is of real vintage value.

Cheers dave

That's an interesting frame - I agree with most of what's been said so far except maybe the dating which is problematic based on the components. The first frame has what looks like Valentino derailleurs which would typically date it prior to around 1975 but that Ofmega crank looks like a swaged crank and those were not common until the late 70's so that's kind of odd. The second frame is equipped with what looks like Campagnolo 980 shifters and rear derailler. Those first appeared in catalog 18 in 1984. The old front derailleur looked out of place but lo and behold, Valentino derailleurs still appear in the 1984 catalog so I would date the first one from late 70's to early 80's and the second one to around 1984.

wow, they were still making Valentino FD that late? Shows they were slow learners.

I do not think that is a valid assumption. It would make a lot more sense to me that the rear derailleur and shifters were changed in the 80's.

The crank and front der are correct for a mid 70's low Rekord level Bianchi, and that's what that the blue frame is. The OP states they are identical and were bought at the same time. If so then that is what the repainted frame is as well.

I do not know if the Valentino front der was available in 1984, but if so I can't think of any OEM that would use it on road/sport model, especially in conjunction with a rear der and shifters from a different group. Bianchi certainly did not. Maybe they were being used on "city bikes" or just selling off old stock?

Ha! Changing components is not fair ;) Anyway you may be right. I was pretty surprised to see the Valentino stuff in catalog 18 and I've never seen a 80's bike with it.

Yeah, pretty strange. If I were Valentino Campagnolo I wouldn't want my name on that stuff :D

It's been said though that nothing was ever discontinued at Campagnolo, it just slowly faded away. Somewhat of an exageration but not by too much in the old days.

That frame is wrecked - been kinked at the headtube.


Campagnolo Triomphe rear derailer - '84-85. Same for the shifter levers. Likely a replacement, considering the Valentino FD on this machine, and the mostly complete Valentino group on the blue frame.

-Kurt

Thanks Kurt.

I've got this sitting in my shed at the moment.Rode it with some spare wheels I had laying about and decided the frame is too small for my lanky bod.Thinking of purchasing for the campy bits at $100 aus.
the frame would be suitable for one of my boys ina few years time I guess.