I remember that add from 1983 when Bianchi asked us what we thought of celeste. In the beginning, I found the color to be ugly, but it grew on me, and now I find these bikes to be beautiful. Some other things have done that with me, like the 1986 Saab 900 turbo I owned. And Bianchi bikes really are excellent. They know what they're doing.

Wait ... you're going 130 in the rear, not 126?

It was already at 130. It's been suggested to leave it be for a 6-speed setup, so I'll do so. As long as I can have six gears and a centered rear wheel, I'll be happy.

DD

I wish I could try this method just once, but it's just not on the cards. As luck would have it, the brass wool approach did the trick nicely

DD

Yeah, I never voted but I'd have voted to keep Celeste. Celeste with blue or red graphics was part of the whole reason this bike was a grail. Well, that plus I finally have another bike with chrome head lugs. I love chrome head lugs

DD

Interesting thread. I'm enjoying your Bianchi saga. Back in the racing days, my best friend and club mate had a copper colored Bianchi (Specialissima?) and I was jealous of him as I rode my Legnano Roma Olympiade. I still have the Legnano, but have always had Bianchi envy. I had a red 90s Forza that got killed by a car but that's another story.

Anyway, great job on the chrome. I recently acquired a barn find $50 Legnano Gran Premio with chrome issues. I tried the crumpled foil trick, with Turtlewax white chrome polish, and it worked amazingly well. I did a quick cleanup for the $100 clunker challenge, but need to do some in depth cleaning and upgrades, now that price is no object. 😉 The chrome lugs are really bad, and not even the foil seems to help them come back.

Here's a couple of "before" and "after" foil polish pics. Looks like you have yours all figured out - nice job, but thought I'd pass this along. I love your Bianchi, but once a Legnano guy, always a Legnano guy, I guess.

Crank as received, steel center, aluminum rings. I haven't attempted to service the BB yet. My first cottered crank.😱

Following foil/Turtlewax polish.

Derailleur and chrome dropouts as received.

After ...

It did wonders on the brass head badge too. Not sure about the Olmo head set, but it cleaned up nice.

Hands down still the baddest a$$ headbadge ever.





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Bike-shaped object:



3ttt saddle is left over from the original build of the Molteni orange Colnago Super waaaaay back in the day; the perfect complement to the 3ttt bar/stem combo:



Dark blue highlights on brake levers and cable housings cut to final length. Tape arrived today, but I am still deciding on lever position so not ready to wrap yet:



DD

[MENTION=459436]Slightspeed[/MENTION], that chrome cleaned up nicely, but yeah, when it's too far gone, it's too far gone. I am having the same issue with a pair of Campy NR pedals. Again, I can't do the aluminum foil approach, so I used the brass wool again - but this time the flaking in some areas was just too much.

I like how you left little bits of rust spotting here and there. I think it looks normal, especially with vintage paint. Sometimes vintage bikes are cleaned up too much (IMHO).

DD

The Turtle wax chrome polish and rust remover can take the plain bare metal all the way down sometimes to shiny where it blends ok with chrome that won't come back very well, then oil or WD40 to help preserve and call it good.

It has produced some pretty good place holders and usable spares.

It definitely requires some stainless steel brushes, scotchbrite and elbow grease to really get after it, sometimes with meager results, sometimes much better.

Hmmmmmm.
Watching this closely as I have a Bianchi project in the works over the summer.
Very different than yours.
Really nice catch, Jeff!

Aren't they all?

Will we see the results of your project soon?

I am going to do one thing to this that I haven't done in a long, long time. A temporary thing, but for the next few months at least. Then I'll go back to normal.

DD

Prolly not for at least another month. Waitin' on the paintin'. But those with whom I hung out at the L'Eroica bike display this past April will likely remember a certain bike that I kept coming back to again and again...this one will have the same flavor.

Bars are taped; for the first time since the 80s I used this:



It was a real pleasure stretching this stuff on. Looks good and the color is a good match for the race bike presentation back in the day:



Because [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] told me we might need to chuck this into a vise to tweak the rear triangle, I'm leaving all the cables uncut/unfixed so the bike can be disassembled quickly for that operation. Once the rear is set correctly I'll plug everything together and do the Gorge ride the following day. Looking forward to Friday!

DD

I like the choice on that blue cello .

Looks great!

I feel you; waiting on paint is always frustrating. I think I'm done with that approach (mainly because I'm done with buying more bikes, whether or not they need new paint); I was super-happy to find this frame/fork in such nice original condition. Just the details (and a slight tweak) are keeping me off the road for the time being, but the test ride will be Saturday.

DD

Thank you - I like it, too. I'll probably go back to basic black in the future, but for now I'll keep the bars a little flashy

DD

Naa, that bike screams "I am great" with that blue bar tape, going to basic black would make this look meh.

I still love Benotto tape, even though it's way out of style.

Well, I don't know about it looking "meh", but yes, it'll lose a little bling when I make the change

But for practicality's sake, I do need a grippier covering on the bars these days. And I sweat a lot on rides, so there's no way I could ride cello-tape and bare hands, for example - which I like to do often. For now, it will stay. When I add the black cloth, it'll go right on top of this stuff.

DD

Me, too - love the look and the feel, especially as it stretches to conform exactly how you want it during the wrapping process. But it's just too slippery and too thin to be practical even with gel gloves or whatnot.

DD

With gloves, I'm fine with Benotto tape. And it stays clean longer than other tapes. I have a lot of trouble keeping handlebars clean. Sometimes they're dirty before I'm even done applying the tape, and they never get fully clean after that.

A little progress is made with each passing day.

Today I received this bike's "special part" from [MENTION=175671]shnibop[/MENTION]: curved Campy Record gear levers. I traded a just-as-rare pair of curved gear levers for these. Received this afternoon and painted/installed about 30 minutes ago:



Friday I get the rear triangle straightened away, then finish cabling up the brakes and derailleurs that evening with the hopes that the following day I have a fun and uneventful Gorge test ride.

DD

Those levers are super cool, DD.