It depends which material your looking at online. A lot of the online Bianchi stuff comes from the states and Europe. Up until the later '80s, I think '89 specifically, the Canadian market bikes were different from US bikes. I have learned from this forum, T-Mar, Randy and many others that it seems chrome 'socks' were used on lots of Canadian Bianchis up until '87 or so and even all chrome forks on lower end models.


I can't tell from the pics but I think the shorter dropouts and under the BB cable routing would rule out anything much earlier than very mid '80s.

I think the chrome running under that paint is just manufacturing. The areas to be chromed are high polished but then the frame is dipped a few inches deeper so there is a few inches of 'rough' chrome for the paint to stick to creating a better transition area between paint and chrome. Of course I am not a smitty nor trained in the arts of metallurgy so that may all be crap.