Originally Posted by
Bianchigirll
Welcome to the forums Wyn! The most likely candidate (IMHO) would be an '83/84ish Randonneur although ours came with a more pedestrian frame made from Mangalloy and had a vertical drop. Oddly Bianchis touring offering in that period had flat bars and regular side pull brakes.
Yes I am pretty sure this come from Japan. Are sure about the tubing? The Piaggio decal is the Parent company of Bianchi and for some reason (maybe Italian marketing?) most Bianchis carried that decal through this time period.
Thanks Bianchigirll. I had eliminated the 81 Nuovo Touring and 83 Rallye stock configurations. So I had been starting to think Randonneur too but had noted the tubing and colour didn't match stock. The 022 CrMo on the tubing decals is very clear but I will look again, and try to find the good camera.
So, because of the Piaggio decal, it can't be any earlier than 1980 no matter the styling. The chrome socks on forks and stays were trendy on 1970s bikes going by what I've seen (random internet + 1975 bike book). The early 80s Bianchis don't seem to have them stock -- all the ones I've seen are all paint, or paint with chrome fork, no chromed-both-stays. I will be taking a closer look at those chromed areas to see if they could have been originally painted over. (I can tell you it wore wheels on that chrome long enough to make marks on the drop-outs, though.) That suggests either this is a (1) red Limited frame with lots of paint worn off and touring braze-ons, or (2) custom finished frameset, probably Randonneur, because the buyer really wanted both pairs of chrome socks with sparkly red paint.