There sure seems to be a lot of Bianchis popping up on these threads lately. I should know, mine's one of them. I've tried everything I can think of and I'm slowly preparing myself for the fact that I may never know the exact year and model of my new found love. I've had enough comments from this forum and others to conclude that, in it's day, it was a probably a relatively high-end frame. Probably mid-90's TSX. Although the bike rides GREAT with the 105 gruppo I put on it; I would imagine that it probably came with Campy. I'd like to restore it as close to what would be considered original as possible. tingSo, without the benefits of knowing it's heritage, I'm putting to the C&V forum community the question of what components would be most appropriate on a mid-90's high-end Bianchi racing frame that would preserve the most value without breaking the bank. I'm a working class guy.

I'll start off with what I'm thinking of:

RD- Record 8/9 speed.
FD- (I will keep the 105 flange mounted for now.)
Crankset- Currently Shimano 600. I would eventually replace with Campy. Which one?
Ergo Brifters
Headset- Currently Tange Levin, what do you think?
Brakes- Currently Campy Athena, I think. Should I upgrade?
Rims- Currently Wolber GTX, is this OK?
R. Hub & cassette- Currently 105, I'm assuming that I will have to get a Campy cassette, will it work on a a Shimano hub?
Stem & Bars- Currently SR Sakae, I'm thinking on replacing with Cinelli?
Seatpost- Currently SR Sakae- You tell me?
Saddle- Getting a Selle Italia something, probably Flite.
Cable Housing- Probably stay with the new white Jagwire.

I still think the bike is probably early (rather than mid) 90's. I'd personally go with an early 90's 8-speed Chorus gruppo.

You might ask a moderator to move this thread to the main forum, where you'll get more traffic. This subforum is intended for monetary appraisals.

I looked at the FAQ's and didn't see one about how to move a thread.

Picchio- Can you date a bike by it's decal. The "Bianchi" on the down tube is blue with gold trim. Also, I don't think the fork came with this bike. It's slightly a mintier color and is stamped Gipiemme, the rear drop out isn't. I looked at the Japanese catalogs. Many of the mid-90's had the bare chrome stays. I think this bike probably came with a uni-crown chromed fork. What's dif between Chorus & Record?

I take that back Picchio, I checked the catalogs again and did see some with chromed rear. The 90 TSX Chorus looks very close. I'll change my thinking from mid to early 90's. Thanks!

Or, I could quite easily be wrong. Not my main area of expertise. Dating from catalogs can be iffy, though there's not always much else to go on.

Try an early 90's Chorus Ergo group. Install it and ride.

I think I have come to the same conclusion Robbie. I've been looking on EB for that exact group. I saw a nice double Chorus crankset, but it was marked as a 10-spd. Are the teeth spacing different on a 10-spd from a 8/9 speed?

Here ya go, moved to the main C&V for ya.

Not necessarily. Back in the '80s, there are a LOT of Bianchis with 105/600 gruppos.

Campy pretty much stopped making headsets due to the Tange Levin. They were as good as the Campy Records of the day - and cost 1/3rd as much Lire. They knew they'd been done. You can still buy the same Tange Levin's.

I'll start off with what I'm thinking of:

RD- Record 8/9 speed.
FD- (I will keep the 105 flange mounted for now.)
Crankset- Currently Shimano 600. I would eventually replace with Campy. Which one? MID '80s CHORUS/ATHENA/TRIOMPHE
Ergo Brifters
Headset- Currently Tange Levin, what do you think? IF IT WORKS, NO NEED TO CHANGE IT
Brakes- Currently Campy Athena, I think. Should I upgrade? NO
Rims- Currently Wolber GTX, is this OK? YES
R. Hub & cassette- Currently 105, I'm assuming that I will have to get a Campy cassette, will it work on a a Shimano hub? NO, YOU'LL NEED A CAMPY HUB
Stem & Bars- Currently SR Sakae, I'm thinking on replacing with Cinelli? GOOD IDEA
Seatpost- Currently SR Sakae- You tell me? MID '80s CHORUS/ATHENA AERO
Saddle- Getting a Selle Italia something, probably Flite.
Cable Housing- Probably stay with the new white Jagwire.[/QUOTE]

A 90's Bianchi with 600 Gruppo! For some reason that never occurred to me. Since this post has been moved to a new forum, I wont bore you with the complete backstory, but I've been communicating with the C&V crowd on a separate Bianchi ID thread which led to this one. I came upon this frame, fork, 600 crankset, & Campy brakes that I've been trying to find out more about. I've since put the 105's on it to get it on the road. What a ride! I'd been assuming that the crankset was not original. If it was, it may help in the ID. Here's some pics.

(Manage Attachment button doesn't seem to work, I'll try in another post, or you can see under "Bianchi ID Help".)

Here ya go. Thanks for the interest.

Tom, I just saw your Avatar. I was born in Evansville and my cousin's Dad had a little resort on a lake in Montecello I think it was called. It's been a long time. Lafayette brought the memories back.

Frpax, what's you opinion of the 8 spd Veloce Group? Someone just offered to sell me one with wheels included.

A step down from Athena, but still very nice stuff. I think that it'd go perfect on your Bianchi!

Very nice looking Bianchi, you have. Looks like your saddle is too far forward. Hard to tell exactly from that angle, though.

I agree about the saddle. It's strange but that's as far back as it would go. It came off of one of the first carbon bikes ever made. The Giant Cadex 980c. Don't worry, I just won a Selle Italia on EB.

I think I might pass on the Veloce. If I'm going to do this, I want to do it in a way that I wont regret in years to come.

How much does the guy want for the Veloce stuff?

Don't know yet. He sent me a private message that I just responded to. Haven't heard back yet. Chances are he doesn't live in my area. Don't think I want to buy anything sight unseen. Unless it's on EB of course. Because we all know we can trust EB, right!

All considerations for upgrading my bike will have to cease until I find out whether the apparent hairline crack I just noticed on the headtube/downtube lug is serious or not.

Hopefully, it's just a crack in the paint

FYI. I've been corresponding with a Japanese gentleman with an amazing Bianchi collection and knowledge about Bianchi. I found his website link on the Forum. Bottom line is, he thinks it's 94 or 95 and probably had a Campy Chorus gruppo. He also doesn't think the fork is original, which is what I have been thinking. Probably had a chrome unicrown. I just wrote him back asking if they were 8 or 9 speed, and if they had brifters back then. If anyone is still working on that Bianchi serial # database, I'm ready to call it an 94/95.

Here's pictures of the crack. Hopefully someone can tell me how serious this is.