thirdgenbird

do i own a real reparto corse?

here is what i know:
made in italy
mega pro concept tubing
absolutely no model markings
semi horizontal dropouts
downtube says reparto corse "handmade in italy"
the fork is a curt goodrich

according to one source it is a 2001 due to the paint/decals

here are my questions:
what year is it?
was this a frameset only?
can i call it a reparto course in good faith?
if not, what model is it?

here is an in progress picture. she now wears proper all black cross tires and cabling. still waiting on a ck locknut and bar tape.

Ragooch

You can call it a Reparto Corse, as Bianchi did. But they called almost all their mid to high end racing models Reparto Corse by this time period. It no longer had any of the significance it did up to the mid 80's where it was seperate race shop where the actual team bikes as well as the top consumer racing frames were built.

thirdgenbird

what model is it is the question? and what dedacciai tubing is it?

Bianchigirll 

yes unfortunatly that is true, some marketing idiot thought it was a good idea. good thingthat clodhopper was not involved in the GM restructure last year. every car coming of the line would be a Corvette LOL

I think I saw this bike on another thread yes? now lacking a model name on the frame I would say this was sold as a frame only and most likely could be considered a RC frame set. I think the model year is right around 2001.

thirdgenbird

i think i threw it in the winter project thread. i didnt see a comment from you there so i threw it up here. there is defiantly no model name on it and my own research also says it was a circa 2001 frame with about an $800 msrp. do you think it came with a fork originally? not that it is a huge loss. the curt goodrich one it wears now is very nice and looks great.


am i correct in saying that in the early buyout years the "RC" decal got thrown around some and then by the early 2000s it started to just represent "Italian" frames?

any idea on what tubeset it is? it doesnt feel real heavy (maybe slightly heavier than 853) i should have put the bare frame on the scale...

if you have any sales or catalogue info i would appreciate it!

Bianchigirll 

sorry i had a great posting worked up then someone called and my train of thought got wrecked.


I am not really sure what you mean by buyout, but I believe the RC started in the late '80s mostly as a American thing, maybe T-Mar hase more detail. then in the mid '90s, so far as I know, is when the name started going on everything and in the early 2000s they started going on the frame onlys.

this bike haveing that decal on th TT is a good sign it is a real RC frame. the lowerend bikes had th ovalized decal on th DT near the bottle cage.

that is a Chromolite frame? like I said I don't have a '01 catalog but for some reason Bianchi does not give alot of info on their tubing in those days.

I don't think the fork is original. the original would have been a unicrown I believe.

thirdgenbird

not a problem.didnt bianchi get bought out in 97?? i thought this was when RC got "diluted"

it is a chromolite frame. any info you have on that would be great. i see they have put that decal on several modern lower end frames as well.

i know it is not the original fork, this one was made in Minneapolis by a former serotta/rivendale builder. i just wondered if it was sold as a frame or frameset when new.