I just finished my winter project. Rebuilding my 86-ish Bianchi Squadra. It's a columbus tubed frame I bought on ebay about a year ago. When I got it it looked like this:



I built it up with what I had on hand and rode it about 4k mile last year:



bleh!! that's ugly Brian! What were you thinking?

Now it looks like this:







Mmmm, much better. More pics in a few.

oops, the seat is going the wrong way!




I wish my camera didnt suck

Rad. I want to do something similar to my early '90's mystery Bianchi. All celeste, old-style decals like yours, and lotsa shiny components. Modern steel, modernish parts, retro look. Perfect.

uhmm...where did the right bar end cap go? Oh well, no worries. That tape is temporary until my Velo Orange perf black leather bar tape shows up ...tomorrow. I just couldnt wait to take pics and I had the cork cinelli stuff sitting around.



anyway, I'll post specs in a bit.

I have an old Japanese Bianchi that I want to repaint celeste, what paint did you use here?

It looks awesome and very comfortable.

Very nice change!

I'm also curious about the paint. When I had my celeste Bianchi Axis from the early 90's, I bought a very over-priced tube of touch up paint that was a perfect match, but I was under the impression you couldn't really get "real" celeste in large quantities.

Already said this in another thread, but...that looks nice! I also like the retro decal look. My wife had a Squadra that we sold a couple of years ago, not knowing any better at the time. In fact it, was that sale that led me to discover and join this forum. That is one sale I wish I could take back. It was a nice rider, but my wife wanted something more "modern." Yours looks great.

stan

It's powdercoated from a local shop here in southeast PA.

It looks great Holiday. How do you like the 10 speed Campy stuff? I've never had the pleasure to ride a Campy Ergoshift thingy equipped bike.

Also, is your stem a Technomic or a Deluxe? Gotta be a Technomic at that height, no?

Love it Love it Love it.

That pretty much says it all for me, as well.

Sweet. I was thinking today that now that the weather's warming I need to PM you and set up a little ride...but now I'll add the caveat that you MUST bring that Bianchi!

I think that needs some celeste bar tape.


You know, when I first got into cycling back in 1989, idid't really care for the celeste color. Now, I think that Baianchis just don't look right in any other color.

I have seen the light ! Lordy Lordy I want one !

Thanks for the compliments guys!

I tried my darnest not to post any pics until it was done. I couldn't wait any more even though I still need to get the leather bar tape on. That might not happen until Monday though

I purpose built this bike basically for all day comfort weekend riding in the hills where I live. I'd use this bike for any longer ride that I don't have to carry much stuff as I don't ever want any racks or fenders on it. I have other bikes for that. I tried to give it a mix of "go fast" components while still making it cushy enough to sit on it all day. That's why I went with 25c tires and the taller stem. This is my only "modern" component bike, and my first bike with modern Campy ever.

Anyway, here's the specs as I remember them:

Bianchi Squadra Columbus Formula 2 frame. Made in Italy with Italian threading if anyone cares..

As was mentioned it was powdercoated, then I stole someone else's idea and used a paint pen to paint the lugs, bianchi writing, and bird looking bianchi things on the forks. As far as the powder coating, it cost $125 to strip the old frame and powdercoat it. That price was inflated $10 for the larger size frame and $25 for the "special" color. I can get the powder coat code if anyone is interested. The guy who did it does bikes, but not primarily. There is one spot on the bridge on the chain-stays right behind the BB that looks like he didnt strip good enough and there is a small brown spot I can't get to go away. Overall I'm happy with the job he did though, but I def wouldn't recommend it for a show bike. I knew I'd be using this thing a lot so I went with powder because I thought it would be more durable.

decals from Cyclomondo on Ebay in Australia. I forget what bike the decals were originally meant for, I think it was from the 60s, I just liked how they looked.

bottle cages are from Velo-Orange. bottles are Klean Canteens and they're really just for looks as they rattle (i may try covering the cages with leather to stop this) and you can't really open them while riding unless you don't mind crashing into things.

Seatpost and headset are mid 80's Campy Super Record.

Stem is Nitto Technomatic, bars are Nitto b115 (i think) that I traded someone here on BF for.

Seat is a Brooks imperial narrow that I got last year as part of the test group before they went on sale. It's probably my most comfy saddle.

Drivetrain is all campy, a mix:
Ergo's are carbon chorus from ebay
Veloce Compact 172.5 crank new from ebay (I wanted a 175 but I gave up trying to find one at a price i was willing to pay)
Veloce rear mid length mech new from ebay
Veloce 10sp chain new from ebay
9sp Mirage front Der new from ebay (works fine with 10sp)
token italian thread square taper BB new from ebay
10 speed 20t large cog Centaur Cassette new from ebay. I forget what the small ring is.
rear hub is a Centaur unit that I got for someting like $45 on a sale at nashbar.
front hub is sun that my LBS gave me for cheap
rims are ambrosio laced with dt spokes. I can't remember what model the rims were (i'll check next time i'm out) but my LBS had them sitting around and gave them to me for $25 each if I remember correctly. He cut me a deal because I had him build the wheels. I think I might have around $200 total in the wheelset.
tires are 622x25c Conti Ultra Gator Skins with a wire bead. Just got them today and this will be my first time trying them.
brakes are new Veloce dual pivots from ebay.

It took me all winter to gather the parts because I searched for each part individually to get the best price. I still have not added everything up to see if it was really worth it to do it that way, but I might not because I have a feeling I don't want to know..

That said I don't really care what the cost was because I know i'll keep this bike forever.

So far I've only ridden it around the block and up a really steep grade just to check out the gearing. I'm happy and I love the smooth shifting of the ergo's, marked difference from Shimano IMO. I do have to work something out with the headset because it seems to be binding a little bit. I'm going to take it apart and put new balls and lube in it as I reused the old balls and cages when I installed the headset.

Other than that it rides beautifully and I'm super happy with how it turned out! I even got a matching celeste bianchi jersey to go with it

Very nice! Did you paint it yourself or have someone do it for you?

drool drool droooooooool, drool, Oh man, I am so glad that frame is too big for me cause I'd hate to covet thy neighbors bike! Very nice. Excellent job.

Does anybody else despise the fact that when you go to buy bar tape, the finishing tape (you can expect) will have blatant and not so very pretty advertising on it? I know the electrical tape is in the drawer on my right, but I . . . . : / whatever, lol

I was just going to ask if you had that cut, or if it's the imperial. : ) That'll be my next saddle, riiiiight after I get the new bike O:-) hopefully they'll have the Honey version by then.

I really like the retro look you have achieved. It has improved the original Bianchi 'nothing' look that the factory seemed to churn out during that time period. I think your improvements pay homage to a classic Bianchi era without trying to pass the bike off as an 'original' - well done.

Painting - I have achieved a really close match to the Bianchi Celeste of the 50's and 60's by mixing light blue with green paint. A gradual introduction of the green will bring on the celeste colour then the addition of with white paint will tone the new colour down to achieve a pretty good 'Celeste'. It helped to have a bike with the correct colour to compare the paint to.

powdercoat. Check out my post right above yours.

I know what you mean, but the Cinelli logo doesnt bother me for some reason. Maybe if it said profile design or something I'd feel different.

Thanks so much for your comments Gary. It really means a lot to me coming from someone with a collection like yours! I was indeed going for a sort of neo retro look if that makes sense. It's good to see that you can see that in the final product!

Re painting - I was also able to get very close to the celeste for touch ups on my '80 Bianchi by mixing blue, green and white as you did. Unfortunatey, no matter how close I got it was never exact, I think because of the aging or patina of the original color. I thought of adding a smidgen of brown or tan to the mix to achieve a better match, but never tried it as I was impatient about getting the bike built-up, so I abandoned the effort to touch it up and left the paint as it was.


stan

You are soooo right Stan. The Celeste does fade and it is really hard to know where to match the paint to on the frame. Good tip regarding the brown - thanks.

Holiday76 - I wish I had your ability to visualise a remarkable possibility (like this Bianchi) and have the nerve to make it come true.

By the way, the bottles and cages are a great neo retro look.

Gary.

Beaaauuutiful and very classy! Wouldn't change a thing once you get that leater tape on. Other than maybe adding some pedals

Holiday, nice job on that one...celeste is a huge improvement and I like the red details. Powdercoat is probably nice and durable...my paint is kind of fragile.

I had this one re-painted quite a few years ago...it's not perfect, but it's close enough to make me :










Steve

VERY NICE!!! Did you get the Campy stuff on line or locally? How do you like it? Also where is this "local powder coater" you speak of? I was only able to find one guy around here. He was not real interested in coating frames.....

EDIT: I read you other post! DOH!!!!!

Who did you take it to for powdercoating, the guy on 2nd Ave. in Royersford?