2010 Bianchi lugged steel "Dolomiti"
 

Very pretty - but $5000 worth of pretty?!?!?! Damn! And what's with the ugly fork crown - you'd think that for that kind of dough they'd make a decent lugged fork.

Makes me feel like I stole my De Rosa. :) Hell - I built the Cinelli for >$1500, and the Palo Alto for about $1000. $5000 is just insane - sure glad I know how to build them myself.

http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/gran-fondo/dolomiti/

http://www.bianchiusa.com/fileadmin/...Y0BE7I56CK.jpg

You are buying the name... not the bike....

The bike is ugly....

We'd all be better off paying too much on Ebay for a *real vintage build -- still would come out on top at least $3000 over anyone who buys this thing.

this bike is much better looking than most of the carbon fiber swill on the market. I do agree to some extent you are paying for the Bianchi name on a steel frame. I personally would like to know a bit more about the steel. for that kind of money I would consider a Bishop or some other custom.

Wait, you only get one for 5K? Yikes.

The 2009 model was listed on the Bianchi USA website at an msrp of $3,400. I about choked when I saw the increase in price for 2010.

It is a Maxway production item that Kona and a few others sell with their decals on them. I believe that Bianchi's cost for the frame and fork (including paint and decals is around $200

Not with that butt-ugly fork crown. That thing screams "Tiawan mtb from the 80's". Besides, it's Celeste... >shudder< :innocent:

If the steel was anything special, I wouldn't think they'd refer to it as generic sounding "cromoly double-butted".

+1 Celeste (EWWWW!) What a complete rip-off. A classic in name only. If paying $5k for this bike included an "evening" with (a young) Sophia Loren it might be worth it.......

:eek:

http://www.raleighusa.com/wp-content...-Chrome_LG.jpg

At least the new International is made of Reynolds 853 goodness.

whats the price of that one?

My LBS, a Bianchi dealer, has a 2009 Dolomiti on is wall that I checked out when it first appeared. The lugs looked as if they were an afterthought -- the headtube lugs, in particular, appeared to be simply wrapped around the tubing or pressed on, not brazed. There were also slight gaps between the tubing and the lugs with no sign of hand craftmanship. I was not impressed.

I'll take the craftmanship of my 1980 Super Corsa any day of the week (paints chips and all):

http://gallery.me.com/rockyshores/10...G_7943/web.jpg
http://gallery.me.com/rockyshores/10...G_4525/web.jpg

I think it looks like a nice bike, but $5k and only Athena components? Come on.

I thought Kona only had sloping top tubes on their road bikes - even the steel ones - which is not the case with this Bianchi.

The new steel Raleighs are gorgeous in person. I don't know about the International, but I believe the Record Ace (next step down, Ultegra components) retails around $1800 - and I've seen it in an LBS here for $1400. It's a good thing my bike budget is much smaller than that.

Agreed.

I am not a fan of the fork either, and it is one of the very few knocks I have against my "Tange MTB" framed Bruce Gordon.

For $5,000 bucks, I could have three or four De Rosas, or a Vanilla, or a Kirk, or a............

Clearly, ill conceived at best.

@ retrofit - that baby looks so sweet!

Yeah, for the price it would make a lot more sense to build up a vintage frame.

If I was going to spend that much on a bike, It would be all carbon and Campy 11speed... but I would never spend that much on a bike! I think I have about 1200 in my mtb, and that is the most I have ever spent on a bike. Gotta love used and closout parts :D
and that stem, ugh my eyes it looks like an 80's mtb stem. Shudder.

i have a Kona Kapu (lugged steel frame) with a level top tube

Who is the target market for the Bianchi? Seems at that price, you could have just about anything. Agreed, the stem is heinous and the fork crown should be better. Wonder how many of them they make and have sold?

I stand corrected - my apologies. Out of curiosity, what vintage is it? Their current stuff (and the last few years) seem to all be sloping top tubes.

If I spent that kind of coin on a bike, I'd likely hassle for a Richard Sachs, and I'd likely pay 5K for a frameset alone.

fork doesnt bother me, it's a nice looking bike. not 5k nice. seems priced for those with money to burn.

Damn. For $5k you can build up a better (IMO) chromo steed such as the Tommasini Tecno. And for the Bianchi to NOT be in Celeste**********??? tssk tssk.

Clearly, they had to cut corners somewhere to make their price point.

Actually, I suspect that the problem is that some Italian designers actually like the unicrown fork. See also, for example, some of the Abici bikes.

It also has a strange fork which makes it look as if it has stranger geometry.

That said, I'd like to see some closeups of those strange lugs on the Dolomiti.

-Kurt

Just answered my own question:

http://www.rob4bike.com/images/photo_gallery/EB_004.JPG

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/...cdf1853aef.jpg

Last time I saw lugs that thick, they were on a Free Spirit. To think that some future C&V'ers will hoard it as if its something special in the future :rolleyes:

-Kurt