"Well, they said it couldn't be done." - Jerry Reed as The Snowman, Smokey & The Bandit

Before:


After:






I've been having fun with the Park FFS-1...

-Kurt

Nice job on that stay Kurt. Saving a Celeste Bianchi buys you points when you go to cycling heaven.
Seriously, nice work. Are you going to try and repaint it Celeste ( I hope, I hope)?

If its possible to bend a fork straight safely I guess a steel frame can likewise. Curious to see if any of the stiffness was compromised however.

Also: That room looks like a great place to spend time when one is lonely, plenty of crud to sniff around in, plus its super messey to boot, I like it!

Agreed! You can buy touch-up paint directly from Bianchi. It would be a costly affair to do a full repaint with the kind of prices they charge, though. (Of course, if the rest of the paint is in worse shape than I imagine, perhaps a full repaint is better in the end... even though I'm partial to celeste!)

I don't know where on the level of "Nice bikes" Bianchi's fit:

Somewhere with Pugeots, or somewhere with Ciocc's, or ...?

But I found a bianchi frame in the thrift store, covered in a nasty primer job. Someone got halfway through rattlecanning it (taping over the headset and bottom bracket!) and decided they didn't want to.

Hmm.

What spacing did you set the frame to? How do you plan to use it?

BTW, I only see 1/2 dozen or so interesting parts in the background of that first photo that we should begin lining up for! Where does the line begin?

Good job, but, MAN Kurt... How do you have room to work in there?
-Gene-

That Bianchi looks more like mine than any I've seen before. "Alloro", eh? Do you know anything about what year it is? I've had no luck I.D.-ing mine.

Original "What is my bike" thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t=#post6857924

Nice work on the cold spacing by the way, it's always nice to see something repaired and reused instead of thrown away.

banjo it all depends on what frame it is, there are 2 levels of bianchi the ones that are the hand made in italy, they are the racing frames, they are coveted and then the ones that are mass produced in japan they are not bad frames but not the level of steel and craftsmanship as the hand made one of columbus steel.

Well - it looks as if am late to the party (!) -I had intended to write up a little background about it after I started the thread.

First, a little background on the bike: I might have mentioned a while ago that I had located a wrecked Bianchi in Boca Raton - I had intended to use it as the donor bike for Velo Cheapo, as most of the original Veloce group was spared injury, and I was rather curious as to whether it could be cold set back into place as you see above.

Well, it didn't work out for Velo Cheapo - I didn't have the time (or gas money to spare) to drive up there - but Manny (nine14six here at BF) offered to pick it up in exchange for the Dura-Ace 7800 RD that had been mounted on it in place of the Veloce components. It took a few weeks to coordinate the pickup due to the Bianchi's owner presently being in the process of a move.

That said, the wrecked photo shows it about what it looked like when it arrived. I had already pulled the left stay outboard by a half-inch before I took the photo.

Now for the questions and such:

No repaint for this machine - as bad as the flaking sections and rust are, I dare say it is in pretty good condition otherwise. I might touch some of the worst spots up, but I doubt it. There still remains enough evidence of the accident and cold set (two areas where the tubing has very mildly flatted) on the stays that a repaint would be a waste.

I like to stand there now and then myself, though I usually get myself wrapped up in the fact that I'm either too lazy to finish what is out there, or lacking the parts to finish the job (case in point, the Viscount in the darkness - first photo - I still need to get one BB cartridge bearing for it).

I think it came to around 128-130. About what one would expect for a machine from the 8-speed era.

Six interesting parts in that photograph besides the Bianchi? Tell me what they are - I've run out of ideas for the trade forum, and I usually consider most of the objects in this area as past their prime (with exception to the bikes that are present for repair).

There is more room there then you might think, but there are two shipping boxes containing a new workbench which are succeeding in making life miserable in that area.

You've got me. Up until now, I have not followed Bianchi closely. I would guess that the Veloce group would date it better then anything else, but I'm not certain as to which generation of Veloce it is.

There is nothing I find more satisfying then successfully cold-setting a frame that would otherwise remain an unusable wreck - provided the cold-setting doesn't hamper the strength of the machine. If the damage is contained solely in the rear triangle, cold-setting is usually a success.

-Kurt

This one is an Italian machine (note the sticker on the downtube, fourth pic). Surprised the heck out of me, for I wouldn't have expected it from a machine with a unicrown fork, and I did not see the Dedacciai ovalized downtube tubing at the BB until Manny brought it over this afternoon.

-Kurt

That's not really an accurate assessment. As far as the late 70's through the 90's lugged era there were many levels of Bianchi frames that were mass produced in Italy and Japan. The quality of craftmenship between the two countries being at least equal for the level of frame (maybe better in Japan for some).

The only truly "handbuilt" Binachi's from this period are the Reparto Corse frames. Some of these were very nice and on the level of similar top-tier Italian race frames. But I would still use "handbuilt" in quotes, as I would for many of the top Italian marques of the time. More like very high quality production work.

[QUOTE=cudak888;7946541

I've been having fun with the Park FFS-1...

-Kurt[/QUOTE]

I hope you also have a FFG-2 and ***-2, or reasonable facsimiles. The job is not really finished at just straightening the stay.

Agreed. The only other Bianchi I've owned was a Japanese-made model (forgot the model name). It didn't win any prizes for looks, but it rode hands-off better then anything I've ridden since:



-Kurt

I recently sold my bianchi veloce it was from the mid 90's it was a Reparto Corse and it was tight. It had the unicrown fork like the one in this thread. The veloce gruppo is near the top of the campi line up, like the 3rd or 4th down for that time period. Mine had the STI shifters. The point I was trying to get across to banjo was that there were two levels of bianchis the handmade racing frames and the production frames. From what I have read the production frames from japan are still assembled in italy so they are make in italy at least that is what the stickers say. The main difference is in the type of steel used to produce the bikes.

Here is my bike that I had, I kept the gruppo and sold the frame because it was too big for me. It was a reparto frame, and very much different than the production frames. It was an amazing ride.

bmaxwell - did yours also have the ovalized downtube?

Incidentally, I think I just nailed it: 1997 Bianchi Alloro. Components match the description, if nothing else. Can't find a '96, though that in itself doesn't exclude the possibility of being older then '97.

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...loro&Type=bike

-Kurt

yes it had the ovalized tube, both the top tube and the down tube, it was very cool, mine was the columbus TSX they only used that for a couple of years then switched to the MX tubing. It had a real spirit about it, like being on a thouroghbred horse. Lots of fun.

here is the link to all the pics of both the bianchi and the nishiki that got the veloce gruppo.


https://s442.photobucket.com/albums/qq146/bmaxwell1/

YOU HAVE an FFS-1?!!
I bow to you!

Great looking bike. I am glad you could save it.

I certainly do (not to mention Park's FT-4 fork vise).

From what I see of their website, it has been re-numbered as the FFS-2 in the meantime. Why, I don't know.

-Kurt

The newer version works on all carbon frames now.

Frame looks nice Kurt, how much Scratch X will you need for the paint on that one??

*CRACK!*

Already put a quick layer of Scratch X on it by the second picture. Note how the grime around the chainstays, seattube, and downtube have brightened up.

-Kurt