Restoring a Bianchi Special
03-08-23, 08:08 AM
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Restoring a Bianchi Special
Serial # is JS19424, trying to determine year and if it worth the money to have a shop do the work. It is bright blue with chrome forks. My father in-law used in for a Whitcha Falls, Tx hundred mile race for several years in the seventies. The frame and crank are in good shape the rest not so much. I sent the serial number to Bianchi and they stated they had no information. Help please if someone can, Thanks in advance.
03-08-23, 08:10 AM
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Restoring a Bianchi Special
Serial # is JS19424, trying to determine year and if it worth the money to have a shop do the work. It is bright blue with chrome forks. My father in-law used in for a Whitcha Falls, Tx hundred mile race for several years in the seventies. The frame and crank are in good shape the rest not so much. I sent the serial number to Bianchi and they stated they had no information. Help please if someone can, Thanks in advance.
03-08-23, 08:11 AM
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Thread moved from General Cycling to Classic & Vintage Appraisals.
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03-08-23, 08:11 AM
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Restoring a Bianchi Special
Serial # is JS19424, trying to determine year and if it worth the money to have a shop do the work. It is bright blue with chrome forks. My father in-law used in for a Whitcha Falls, Tx hundred mile race for several years in the seventies. The frame and crank are in good shape the rest not so much. I sent the serial number to Bianchi and they stated they had no information. Help please if someone can, Thanks in advance.
03-08-23, 08:47 AM
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If it's worth it for the sentimentality, then it doesn't really matter if it's worth it monetarily.
IMO, the people that might be willing to pay for a old bike restored to museum or pristine new quality are going to be very few and far between. So how will you even begin to hope to find them and interest them in your Bianchi if you were to want to sell it and it did turn out to be a special bike?
IMO, the people that might be willing to pay for a old bike restored to museum or pristine new quality are going to be very few and far between. So how will you even begin to hope to find them and interest them in your Bianchi if you were to want to sell it and it did turn out to be a special bike?
03-08-23, 08:52 AM
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Merged duplicate threads.
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03-08-23, 09:05 AM
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We can't answer your question for you. Not really. We can tell you what the existing bike is worth (to us!) and we can speculate on what having it restored might do for the value. What we can't do is determine whether any or all of that is "worth it". That, to me, has to do with your motivation and only you can assess that.
We'd love to see photos of the bike. Take lots of pics from all angles and some nice close-ups to show the condition. You can post them to your gallery and we can access them from there.
If your desire is to restore it, there are other ways to go about it, such as doing much of the work yourself. You seem to be retired, maybe this could be a fun project for you? Lots of help to be had here and on the internet where you can find lots of tutorials.
Good luck!
We'd love to see photos of the bike. Take lots of pics from all angles and some nice close-ups to show the condition. You can post them to your gallery and we can access them from there.
If your desire is to restore it, there are other ways to go about it, such as doing much of the work yourself. You seem to be retired, maybe this could be a fun project for you? Lots of help to be had here and on the internet where you can find lots of tutorials.
Good luck!
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03-10-23, 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Flytalk17
Serial # is JS19424, trying to determine year and if it worth the money to have a shop do the work. It is bright blue with chrome forks. My father in-law used in for a Whitcha Falls, Tx hundred mile race for several years in the seventies. The frame and crank are in good shape the rest not so much. I sent the serial number to Bianchi and they stated they had no information. Help please if someone can, Thanks in advance.
Good Morning and welcome. Can you tell us more about the bike? Is there a brand name on any of the parts? Suntour? shimano? Dia compe? While you can't post pics yet for security reasons, you can upload them to your gallery and we can see them
The Special in the '80s a good quality recreational bike and yours is likely similar. Depending on how much rust it has it is likely worth refurbishing as a rider.
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
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03-11-23, 10:33 AM
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Answered on another one of your postings, but basically, very few vintage bikes are worth paying a shop to refurbish the bike. Even if you start with a free bike, it's VERY easy to get way upside down $$ wise if you pay to have the work done. Depending where you live, a shop might charge you $75 to $100 per hour for their repair work, then charge you full retail for any and all parts. I'm not blaming shops. It's a very difficult business to conduct, they have plenty of overhead, taxes, insurance, and a lot more.
Sadly, some shops will tell you it is worth it, give you some inflated value of the finished project. IMO, this is done to encourage you to spend $$ on the repair. The same shop, if you went in and asked them, How much would you give me in cash for this bike today?" would give you a different answer.
Sadly, some shops will tell you it is worth it, give you some inflated value of the finished project. IMO, this is done to encourage you to spend $$ on the repair. The same shop, if you went in and asked them, How much would you give me in cash for this bike today?" would give you a different answer.
Last edited by wrk101; 03-11-23 at 10:55 AM.
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03-11-23, 01:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Flytalk17
Trying to determine if it's worth the money to have a shop do the work.
But it may be highly rewarding to buy $100 of tools and do all the work yourself.
