Originally Posted by
jpsawyer
Someone ordered a Bianchi Pista Classica frameset through my shop awhile ago and I was very very very much disappointed with it. Was pretty damn ugly. The lugs looked like garbage and the seatcluster was damn ugly. Its not even nice steel. And the headset it come with is trash. For the money I was expecting a lot more. The lugged Kilo frames look better than this did. I think you will be highly disappointed if you get this frame. For the price you can easily find a much nicer vintage lugged track bike, though it will be used and 1" threaded. So go with the Wabi.
Speaking generally, because I don't have any experience with Bianchi, you do have to be very careful with the branding. What drove me to go custom was me getting all excited about a famous Italian brand that had brought out a steel frame (I forget the exact brand now - old phart's syndrome I'm afraid). I'd seen the geared version and it was beautiful in every detail. Then I got a chance to go over the fixed gear, actually had the money in my pocket. It was rubbish. Unbranded parts and a frame that looked like it had been chucked together in a chook shed ... and painted by one of the chooks. Talk about a cynical commercial rip off.
I think there's a lot of sense in going down the vintage roadie route. Some of those frames are gorgeous with their lugged frames, often with real chrome that polishes to a deep shine. Easy enough to convert to fg and easy to revert to geared if you find your aging legs are asking for more frequent gear changes. Of course, you have to find the right frame, but they're often available from Eastern Europe via eBay.