Sean Donahue

I read a post last year that was very informative. I bought a bike second-hand in 1995. It was orginally ordered by and delivered to Escambia Schwinn in Pensacola, FL. It has many of the characteristics of an X4: Bianchi in cursive on the seat tubes; "B"s on the bottom bracket and down tube lug; sloping crown/ lugged fork with the eagle and "Bianchi" across the the bottom of the lug; Campy dropouts front and back; I know it's an SLX model - I saw the sticker prior to repainting it.

Here's where I'm confused:
>The rear brake hanger isn't stamped or engraved in any way and it's rounded - not square and sloping like I've seen on most X4's
>External cable routing - top tube and bottom of chain stay;
>The head tube isn't engraved -- it was -and is- a decal;

The bottom bracket is stamped 56 on one side and 11 on the other. I think it is an early 1986 model or late 87 because it did not originally have the world championship sticker on it. Either that or it was possibly a one-off special order - the bike shop purchased it as a gift for a sponsored racer at the time - he went on to ride it at Junior nationals and several other major races.

Needless to say, it's my main ride and I'm afraid to try something else for fear I'll just be let down. The frame probably has in excess of 50k miles on it, but it's still rock solid and handles like a dream. Stiff ride, but isn't brutal. You've probably heard this all before.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

cyclotoine

Did it come with a full suite of campagnolo components pantographed with Bianchi and X4? All X4s should have. The X4 was not so much a frame as it was a total package from my understanding.

yellowjeep

Pictures!

Sean Donahue

No, I believe it was a frame-only special order. Assembled with a full group of Superbe Pro. It did not have any decals on the top tube indicating it was another model. It had the dark blue/gold decals on the down tube and seat tube - like the X4's. I've always thought it was an X4 due to the lugs, the decals, and the year. Either that -or- it was an exception: used the X4 lugs, but because it wasn't ordered as an entire bike, the head-tube and rear brake hanger(which says X4 on it) were omitted - to distinguish this frame as NOT an X4, but a 'special-order' SLX.

Picchio Special

Let me preface by saying I'm far from an expert when it comes to Bianchis (though I'd love an early-to-mid 60's Specialissima). But I don't think it's a slam dunk that all of the X4's had the engraved headtube, bridge, and internal routing. I believe some of the earlier ones had decals on the headtube and external routing, and may have lacked the engraved bridge too. I can recall some discussions involving Bianchi experts about how to distinguish a later model X3 from an early X4 along those lines. And I'm pretty sure you could have purchased an X4, one of the earlier ones anyway, as frame-only, or at least without all the special C-Record bits.

Sean Donahue

Bianchi 1.jpg

Bianchi 2.jpg

Bianchi 3.jpg

Bianchi 4.jpg

Sean Donahue

Sorry for the haphazard way the pictures were uploaded -- hopefully the basic representation can be seen.