First Bianchi
 

Just finished setting up my first Bianchi. It is a Campione del Mondo, '83 I believe. I stripped off the heavily yellowed and messed up clearcoat, repainted all the pantographing, painted the cranks and cleaned and serviced everything else. The complete celeste kit is very nice.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TT...C00374.ARW.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TT...DSC01179-1.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TT...0/DSC01175.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TT...0/DSC01180.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TT...0/DSC01188.jpg

What is the serial number? The decals look like those on my 1981 Bianchi. Is the frame tubing pedigree sticker still legible?

very beautiful I am almost jealous.

john the Columbus decal is right by the shifters TreTubi


PSSST *whisper* that might be a '82 TreTubi main w/Alle stays and fork still a sweet looking Bianchi

Looks awesome :thumb:. Enjoy!

Yes Tretubi. It is a nice high mid range to low high range bike. Yes it could conceivably be an 81, I think it is an 81 to 83. Campy GS crank and hubs, Nuovo Record derailleurs.

sweet bianchi!!!!!
 

liiks great! heres a pic of my first bianchi, wish i would have held onto it:(

81 would be Alle frame not TreTubi 82/83 is TreTubi still either way sexxy Bianchi welcome to the Celeste Club

Sweet looking bike. I love the red decals. That is my favorite bianchi color scheme.

You don't see that color scheme every day. Wow I like it.

What I'm confused by is that my Bianchi's tubing sticker is in the same place? Does that jive BG?

Holy mother of God, that is the Bianchi I want!
So-so jealous : )

Do you have a close-up of the seat cluster?

Here's something that may also inspire:

http://www.raydobbins.com/ebay/bike-...ke-bianchi.htm

Those are beautiful; what an exquisitely restored bike.

If given a choice I would take BlueDevil's - but like that's ever going to happen : )

^^^^^^^
I agree totally. I'm waiting for the celeste green bianchi in the right size for myself


good find:)

That reminds me, I've got to take some pictures of mine today.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TO...DSC01187-1.jpg

Take a picture of the other side of the seat cluster and we can tell you the year.

I am glad you posted this. Bianchi abuse / neglect is a very serious thing. you will be banned from ever owning a Bianchi again

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...5&d=1290652107

BlueDevil I know a good condition Celeste pump is hard to come by but I would ditch that umbrella before you ruin the Piaggio decal

try it upsidedown maybe.

Yes I thought of that. Problem is the Piaggio decal is already messed up and the pump is hiding the mess :-( The decal is still physically intact but the pigment is gone under the pump clamp. Not sure whether to keep it to hide the damage or ditch it. Piaggio decals are available so I could get replacements but only in a full decal set I think.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MHIrzPhNttY/TO...0/DSC01173.jpg

So it was 9669 on the other side and what appears to be 1 L on this side with a dot in between the 1 and the L.

As an aside does anyone have a formula for celeste touch up paint, preferrably using testors model paints as a baseline? You know like 4 parts green to 2 parts white to one part blue or whatever? I am going to try and start mixing some up today to do some minor touchups on this bike and wondered if anyone had a starting point.

Very nice! I really like the chrome border on the fork crown, I thought only Reparto Corsa frames had that. How did you strip the clearcoat without damaging paint and decals, and did you re-apply another layer?

Which should make it a 1982 model.

Well I used aerosol brake cleaner. This stuff is a pretty strong solvent but it evaporates very quickly. Now the clearcoat on this bike was... well I am not even sure it was clearcoat and not just a super thick layer of wax and grease. I think it was just very old and oxidized clearcoat though. The brake cleaner took it off pretty easily but it required a number of applications and some elbow grease. The interesting thing is that the main Bianchi emblems, which I think are decals, seem to be under still another layer of clearcoat because they were not affected at all by the brake cleaner. It did take the paint out of the pantographs. The underlying celeste paint seemed completely impervious to the brake cleaner and didn't take it off at all. I then polished the paint with rubbing compound and then polishing compound to get a nice shine on it. Then a thick wax. I never ride in rain and my climate is pretty dry so a regular waxing should be all it needs to stay protected.

Yes that was one of the things I liked about this bike. It has a fully chromed fork with crown and ends revealed. Interestingly enough the entire read triangle is also chromed but the reveal is only done on the face of the dropouts. The rear triangle has a bunch of nicks and scrapes and you can see chrome under all of them. The bike is very elegant in my mind. That is what Bianchi always kind of was to me - elegant. If it was in the budget I would probably put a stitched on bar cover and leather covered toe clips to complete the look. But I am trying to keep the bike on a tight budget as I may have to sell it next spring. The herd is getting very large and I just bought another Ciocc so something might have to go. This bike is just a touch small for me.

BlueDevil63 - Thanks for posting the seat cluster pictures.
It's official now: your Bianchi is the one I want most.
Lucky Devil : ))

stien - Yes, please take some pictures of yours!
(And hey, weren't you thinking of selling it at some point?...)