Originally Posted by
Kommisar89
...I thought it was friendly...heated maybe but friendly
BTW, I tried contacting Bianchi about that to see if they could/would provide any additional information on bikes from that period since their statement was rather vague about how you might identify a "real" Reparto Corse frame but they didn't respond. If somebody could point to a frame from the same period and point out specifically what the differences would be that would be very helpful. It's not like the old days when there were obvious differences in frame tubing, lugs, bottom bracket shells, chrome finish or not, etc. Once they started using Bianchi branded tubing, MegaPro design and TIG welding I don't know how to tell them apart or if there even is a difference.
This is just speculation on my part and unless you could find somebody that worked there I do not think you will be able to find too much accuarate information. But I would guess that after the early 80's the Reparto Corse was pretty much just absorbed into the production facility, and was more just a decal and marketing. Maybe it was around later to build actual team bikes but not production bikes?
Maybe somebody that worked at a Bianchi dealer or distributor in the 80's-90's would know if they were still taking orders for custom size frames during this period. I know the very early 80's catalogs still had the forms for custom orders. If they were taking orders for "build to fit" bikes than I would suppose there was some type of small operation either in or out of house that would be doing that stuff. But I still think the production bikes, no matter what level were still just production bikes.
Out of the three Reparto bikes I own, a '60, '77, '81, only the '60 really shows a nice attention to detail like a true hand-made frame. The others are still nice and terriffic bikes, but the work is nothing above what would be expected from a high end production bike.
I know the 2000 Veloce I bought new when I got back into cycling had "Reparto" stickers all over it, and it was a most basic tig-welded production frame.