Help with a vintage Bianchi(?)
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Help with a vintage Bianchi(?)
Good day all,
New to this forum, but a regular cyclist and moderate skill-level mechanic. I picked up a bike on the cheap this weekend and am attempting to identify its make/year. The fellow I bought it off thought it to be a Bianchi, although there is no obvious indication of this. Sadly someone along the way decided it needed a new paint job and got out the spray can and went to town - there are traces of blue spray paint on the crank, cables and elsewhere, although in one of the photos you can see a bit of (maybe) celeste green. Regardless, the bike fits me well and is otherwise in good shape. Unfortunately only two numbers of the BB serial are apparent.
Other details include:
A complete Shimano 600 EX group, 6200 series, placing it somewhere in the '78-'84 range. However the crankset and pedals are of the slightly more modern 6207 series. I suspect Japanese made, due to the Araya rims and Suzue hubs.
Most of the vintage Bianchi's I've seen online have a stamped crown on the forks or a stamped seat-stay, neither of which are present on this bike. My first haphazard guess is '83 Bianchi Limited, although I am certain that folks out there are better equipped for an educated guess. It may not even be a Bianchi, but one has to start somewhere!
New to this forum, but a regular cyclist and moderate skill-level mechanic. I picked up a bike on the cheap this weekend and am attempting to identify its make/year. The fellow I bought it off thought it to be a Bianchi, although there is no obvious indication of this. Sadly someone along the way decided it needed a new paint job and got out the spray can and went to town - there are traces of blue spray paint on the crank, cables and elsewhere, although in one of the photos you can see a bit of (maybe) celeste green. Regardless, the bike fits me well and is otherwise in good shape. Unfortunately only two numbers of the BB serial are apparent.
Other details include:
A complete Shimano 600 EX group, 6200 series, placing it somewhere in the '78-'84 range. However the crankset and pedals are of the slightly more modern 6207 series. I suspect Japanese made, due to the Araya rims and Suzue hubs.
Most of the vintage Bianchi's I've seen online have a stamped crown on the forks or a stamped seat-stay, neither of which are present on this bike. My first haphazard guess is '83 Bianchi Limited, although I am certain that folks out there are better equipped for an educated guess. It may not even be a Bianchi, but one has to start somewhere!
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It's almost impossible to say what it is with only a serial number and no frame markings. It could be a Bianchi, but if so most likely of Japanese make. Most Italian made ones have some sort of stamping on the crown, seat stays, or drop outs. Are there no water bottle mounts? That seems odd even for a low end Bianchi.
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What size is that? Bianchi didn't make many 27" bikes. If it is a Bianchi it is a pretty low end one since most Bianchis had at least a set of DT bottle bosses. Also the '83 Limited appears to have an engraved stay cap but that could be a decal, it would also have adjuster screws in the dropouts.
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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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27" wheels, 60 cm frame - I'm pretty sure now that it's not a bianchi, but it goes like the wind so I'm not too bothered by it. Thanks for the 2-cents.
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Looks like a respectable frame to me. Not the top of the line but at least it doesn't have stamped DO's! Interesting that the RD cable routing is above the BB. I was under the impression that bikes newer than early 1980 routed under the BB. This, coupled with a real fork crown and not a unicrown, might ID it as being older than mid 80's. Another 2-cents. Almost at a nickel!
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