Greetings ,

Have been emailed a scanned copy of a 80s? Bianchi catalogue .
HAs some quite good detail on models etc .

Anybody want a copy ?
A couple of samples included

Snap!



1982 Bianchi Campione del Mondo.

Thanks for your generous offer.

Yes....... I did upgrade a few components to be fully Nuovo Record.

Late inclusion: Oh..... I forgot..... I added Campy's Portacatena derailing system making it effectively a 10 speed bike instead of the 12v (12 speed) described on the frame decal.

Q. - Why did I bother to add the Portacatena system and loose 2 speeds? A. - Because the frame was built with the 2 tapped holes to accommodate the Portacatena chain holder on the R.H. rear dropout and, being a touch 'O.C.D.' I couldn't stand the 2 tapped holes with nothing to do, and..... I live in a very flat part of the world and 10 speeds is well and truely overkill. (Even a 'corn cob' 5 speed cluster is under-utilised at its extremities.) Yes..... it's a very flat environment.

R.H. Dropout Chain Holder:



Gear Lever Trigger:



Yes, you're right! I did paint the top tube cable guides black like the top-of-the-line Super Corsa or Super Leggera models. And..... yes, right again, the paint finish and decals are original but I did add the original Campagnolo decal between the gear levers.

There's a copy here: https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Bianchi-81c/

Looks like you may have some additional pages. Can you please send them to @bulgie to add them to his website?

The Bianchi decals look identical to mine (December 1981 build date code, presumably a 1982 Campione d'Italia, except the "charcoal" color option is not indicated in that catalog.


Original equipment matched 1982 Campione d'Italia specs. Frame date is late 1981. "Charcoal" color not found in catalog listing.
By 1984 (1983?) the decals had changed.

When you have a chance, please see if your scanned pages match the ones at https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Bianchi-81c/

I already grabbed your "specs" page scan, that I didn't have before, thank you for that. Am I missing any others?

To any Bianchi experts, help me with dating the catalogs. They were given to me originally with no dates. Does '81 sound right for this one?

To all vintage catalog lovers, please download any on my site that you like. The server the site is on now is pretty old hardware and a non-sipported operating system. When that server dies, I may not bother replacing it, so think of it as temporary — download while you can! No plans to kill it off though, and this old server may chug along for another decade, who knows?

My site was amateurishly made, and now it has been up for over 20 years, but it's quite obsolete, no reason for it to exist really. Those same pages would make more sense on Flickr or the like. The only reason I haven't migrated it to a new platform is laziness.

Nothing amateurish about it. It is an awesome resource for CV folks. Thank you!

Hi - I have uploaded all the scans to my Flickr account .

Link below :

Cheers

agreed !~ has been hugely useful over the years

Hmmm - the link disappears when I post it .
Figure the BF site has some trick for links ?
Better things to do than figure that out
There is a link to my Flickr in the signature on my posts.

Yeah I got 'em, thanks. A little cropping, rotating, renaming, and now it's all blended together at https://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/Bianchi-81c/

I probably put the bike model pages out of order compared to how they are in the catalog, but I ordered them to match the order they are in the Specs pages.

Since the individual pages are renamed now, any links you had to the old names won't work anymore. But people don't usually link those, they link to the catalog folder, and that hasn't changed.

Big thanks to 1simplexnut

bulgie - I too have used it often and appreciate the existence of it. A little scary to think that server is that old! Are/is the hard drive just as old?

I found one of those catalogs, after I was given a crashed Champione del Mondo frame in my size. It too helped in the build.
Tim

Warning, the following is all off-topic, and boring.

The current physical server is about 15 years old, but it's a "real" server, everything redundant, with eight (10,000 rpm!) hot-swap drives in a RAID array. I have one hard drive fail in all that time, but because of the redundancy, the server kept on working as if nothing happened. I popped in a new drive to replace the bad one without even turning it off, and the redundancy was rebuilt on the fly automatically by the RAID controller. This type of array can actually tolerate losing up to two drives without losing any data.

I got the server for free when one of my consulting clients asked me to recycle it for them. It was too out of date to run a large architecture firm on it anymore, but still overkill for hosting some old bike catalogs.

They actually gave me two of these servers to take home, fully loaded with RAM and drives. (They probably cost ~$30-40k each when new, 'cuz server RAM was really expensive back then, and these two have a ton of it.) The second one is kept switched off but ready to go if needed. They both have VMware virtualization running on them, with bulgier.net running as a "virtual machine", how cool is that? The server OS 'thinks' it has a physical hard drive, CPU and RAM, but it's really like being in The Matrix, with the server floating in a nutrient goo, and a cable plugged in the back of its skull — metaphorically. But the upshot is, if the physical hardware dies, I can restore the virtual machine (which is really just a big digital file) to the other physical server, and the virtual machine has no way of knowing it's now running on new hardware.

If I could afford the enterprise versions of VMware and the backups software, I could do all this 'hot', with both servers running all the time, the second one ready to step in instantly of the first one fails. I have set that up for clients, and it's wicked cool to see it work, but the license is way too expensive for a hobbyist. I use a Free version of VMware, and I have no backup software at all, I have to make copies of the virtual machine files manually. Which I hardly ever do, but but timely backups aren't important on a server that practically never changes. Before this Bianchi catalog, I can't remember the last time I added a new file.

So long story short, we don't need to worry much about the hardware, unless the house burns down (touch wood!) What I worry about more is my versions of Windows and VMware. At some point a server just can't be used on the internet anymore, due to unpatched security vulnerabilities. It's all good for now, but when the time comes, I probably won't upgrade the OS. I've been retired from IT for a few years now and I already forget how to do much of this stuff. If the server runs for a few more years before needing an upgrade, I definitely won't remember how to do it. I was so happy to retire from IT, and I immediately started to forget stuff, as if on purpose. I want this stuff outta my brain! For some people it's a hobby, and so they keep up with the latest 'cuz it's fun. Well, it definitely was not fun for me anymore by the end, in fact I kinda hated it. Too stressful. Now, even thinking about upgrading a virtualization server and virtual machines causes mild PTSD symptoms.

Aw gee I've really run my mouth there. I guess I'll "submit reply" anyway, it's not too embarassing. Apologies for the off-topic blah-blah.

I assume yours is a few years newer, with the unicrown fork? I seem to remember Columbus road-unicrown coming out in the late-'80s or maybe even early-'90s, anyone here know?
Tim, do you know the year and/or the tube-set for this frame?

Amazing to me how much the color changes between the indoor lighting in the first pic and the second pic outdoors. Oh wait, are they different frames in the 2 pics? I just noticed a couple decals on the outdoor that aren't there on the indoor pic. Near the top and the bottom of the seat tube. Maybe you added decals? Anyway the color in the outdoor shot is rich and beautiful.

Edit: I just looked at the photo of Renée Duprel getting Silver in the sprint at 1990 World Championships, <brag> on a frame I built </brag> Her fork has regular blades going into a cast crown. I know I made her another sprint bike after that, with the main goal being lighter weight, and that one had "EL" unicrown blades. So the unicrown fork must have been made in '90 or later, or she would have been on it at Worlds. That doesn't tell us when the Col. unicrown bldes came out, but it brackets when I could have used them for Renée. The second, lighter bike was supposed to be for the '92 Olympics.

BTW the bike that beat her in the '90 Worlds was a celeste Bianchi, ridden by Connie Paraskevin. Of course I wanted Renée to win, so it's heartbreaking that in the classic Graham Watson photo of the finish, Renée is ahead of Connie, but it's a bit after the finish. In the photo, their rear wheels are crossing the line. So Renée was moving faster at the end, but mis-timed her jump by however little time it takes to make the quarter-inch or so difference between them at the instant of the finish, which is when Connie's front wheel hit the line. I never saw the offical photo-finish, but I heard it was a few mm. That was the closest Renée, or any bike I built, got to winning a World Championship*. Ah well.
* Unless you count Masters (age-graded) Worlds, where folks on my frames have won a few golds.

Renée's husband Ken Carpenter got 5th at that same '90 Worlds, also in Match Sprint, on a frame I built. He also rode it to 5th and 6th in the Olympics the two times he went, and Gold 5 times in a row at USA Nationals, which is something, I guess. Ken's frame was the stiffest frame I ever built. Here's a pic of it with no decals...


(photo by Marty Gierke)

... no decals because he was on a team that was supposed to ride Merlins, but Merlin tried (twice!) and failed to make him a Ti frame that was stiff enough.
Later they painted it to look like Ti and put Merlin decals on it.
On his previous team, the same frame had Specialized decals.

Of note, his holder in the pic is Gibby Hatton, and the legs in the background are none other than Nelson "Cheetah" Vails.

OK off on a tangent AGAIN. Don't get me started!

^ What’s that stem on Ken’s bike?

He brought that along from a previous bike. His two bikes before the one I built were a Kirkbride-Masi and a Serotta. I think the stem probably came from the Masi. Though kinda small diameter at only 7/8", it was very thick wall and heavy. So it was tolerably stiff, but not very weight-efficient way to make it stiff. I would have used a larger diameter extension tube, in a straight line not a curve, right from the handlebar clamp to the quill just above the headset ("slammed") unless he wanted a bit of height adjustment range. i.e. make the quill as short as possible while providing whatever adjustment range he needs, which shouldn't be much once he has his position dialed. I never saw him raise or lower the stem, so his position was dialed. Then the stem can me optimized for stiffness and still be a bit lighter.

But I think he just dug the shape of that LD stem. I didn't argue. (You see the size of him? Nobody argues with him!)

Fun fact, it tightened from below, under the fork crown with the front wheel out, with a socket wrench on a long extention. Kinda trick how there's no visible bolt from above.

bulgie No my Champione del Mondo is not newer, but the unicrown fork is. The frame and newer fork were given to me by a mech from a local bike shop, it had been hanging on a wall in the back for some time. A prior owner crashed it, replaced the fork with a newer one, probably cause they couldn’t find an original, lord knows I tried, and continued to ride it. Eventually, it ended up at the bike shop for service, and the bulges in the head tube, top tube, and down tube were noted, frame was stripped, and abandoned as wall art.

Anyway, a few years back, I was in the shop getting a bottom bracket for a French bike I was building, and the mech asked if I had any Italian bikes, saying no, he then said how about this one, it’s your size, and you can have it, if you’ll fix it, build it up, and ride it.
Hard to say no to that kind of offer, with the affliction most of us have.
Took the frame over Andy, at Yellow Jersey for repair, we then decided to paint it the brighter Celeste to match the fork, the newer brighter red Bianchi decals looked better with the new paint, so used those. I sourced the original components for the drive line, brakes and hubs, which were a mish mash of Gran Sport, NR, and SR. The bars, stem, seat post are Nitto.

Frame tubing is as per the early 80s catalog, Columbus Aelle, as per year, I figure 82 or 83, the 81 catalog shows the braze on for the rear derailleur cable on top of the chain stay, the 83 catalog shows it below, as on mine. Never could find an 82 catalog.
Tim



,

Before

After

That site seems to only have the top tier models and some of the catalogs are mixed up. IIRC the '88 catalog is listed as '86 and the there was a nother mix up but I forget.

I think that is the '81 catalog, is the front cover red?

The back has both '80 and '81 on it but I suspect it was printed in '80 for the 1981 model year.


I'll take a copy though, BIANCHIGIRLL@YAHOO.COM it might be a little cleaner than my scan. BTW I have lots of Bianchi USA catalogs and other cool bike and other stuff in my facistbook photo albums.

That is so schmool!!! I'd love to have a Bianchi with a Portacatena on it. I do have one on my Ugly Betty though. the 5 speed "junior" setup works pretty good around here


Sadly and oddly my only other frame drilled for a Portacatena has those stoopid Shipman style shifter bosses

Thanks Bianchigirll, it's always very nice to have your input. You help so many with your knowledge and positive support. I too wish you had your own Bianchi with Campy's Portacatena derailling system but your 'ugly Betty' is still a nice place to have the Portacatena displayed.

Sometimes, (only sometimes, ha,ha) I wish I lived in the US of A to be a little closer to like minded bicycling tragics. If I lived over there I would like to give you my Bianchi as I would like it to go to a good home. I cannot think of a person I would like to have my much loved Bianchi more than you - a truely generous and giving person.

As I get older I have to start thinking about my bikes and what will happen to them. I live in a reasonably small town (80,000 people) and no one here is all that interested in classic bikes. The nearest centres (cities) that I can find people with an interest in classic bikes is about 1000km to 2000km away. There is not even a parcel courier company willing to transport a bicycle in my town. My financial situation isn't all that healthy so am a little restricted travel-wise.

Unfortunately, no one from by family shares my enthusiasm for bicycles. I have loved and been drawn to bikes all my life. Unfortunately there is not a 'Bicycle Tragic' gene in the human body that I could have passed on, ha,ha.

There is one person, here in Australia, that I find similar to you, He too is very supportive and sharing and helps so many others so he is my next choice of recipient for an appreciative bike from my collection. I think he lives 2000km from me so that is another obstacle. Coincidently, he also replied to this particular thread but I am not in contact with him - I'll have to remedy that situation.

Anyway, best wishes Bianchigirll.

I was selling Bianchis through most of the 1980s. They did some odd things with component groups, like putting a Super Record outer chainring on a Gran Sport crank. They must have had close arrangements with Campagnolo, as they seemed to be able to get any combination of components that suited them, and they were big on cutting corners where they didn't think customers would notice. Still, I liked the bikes and we got a much better margin on them than we did with Trek, until we dumped that brand.