Not Special or Issima
 

Hope nobody here gets suckered into this bit of seller's hyperbole and wishful thinking:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1960s-60s-Bianch...item45f728ba5e

As far the "Guiseppe" thing, I really do not know, but it seems like a guy with a store who had branded bikes made for his shop. Not sure if there is a Bianchi connection or not but, "at the end of the day" it is a bike boom special and not a "Handbuilt racing bike".

Yes, I've been having a dialog with him. He seems to be intentionally misleading.

Ha Ha! Me too. That is not a "real" Bianchi but he doesn't want to hear that. It is a shop branded bike from Giuseppe Bianchi in Florence. I have talked to a number of people on the CR list about it. No relation to Edoardo Bianchi. Yes Edoardo had a son named Giuseppe who took over when Ed died in 46. But he wasn't making bikes under his own name in Florence while he was running F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A. into the ground after WWII.

Caveat Emptor!

I guess its a real Bianchi, just not the Bianchi he claims it is!

E. Bianchi has always been in Milan. G. Bianchi is from Florence (Firenze).

It looks like a steel stem and bars and a chainguard mount on the rear stay. Pedals are junk. Probably a Valentino rear derailler. He won't post a pic of it or the hubs. Campagnolo stamped Gran Sport dropouts are somewhat rare. If you ask me, that's a lowend 70s bike-boom bike. It does have some cool features and a vintage look, but now over 100 bucks plus shipping: someone is going to be disappointed...

It's your typical, boom era, upper entry level, Italian bicycle: Valentino piston front derailleur with Valentino Extra or Velox rear dearilleur, steel cottered crankset, steel bars, steel stem and aluminum CP brakes. The only thing remotely special are the stamped dropouts with integral hanger. This might indicate something just above hi-tensile like a lower tier Falck tubeset. In my opinion, diven it comes without wheels, the bids have already exceeded the value.

The frame looks to be better than the typical bike-boom entry level stuff. You would never find Campy dropouts on such animals, and it looks like it has the built-in headset cups that good Bianchis of the 50's and early 60's had. That doesn't mean it's a Reparto Corsa Milan Bianchi, but it may be worth the $102 current bid.

Of course, the seller's photos do nothing to make that clear, and his reluctance to be comp0letely forthcoming (not to mention that thing isn't even close to my size) make it easy to give this one a miss.

Response from seller on my comments:

"Hey, Yeah, you may be right, I'm not an expert on this stuff. It seems hard to find info on these older rare bikes, and I don't speak Italian so I can't call that shop. But I'm sure somewhere there is a book somewhere that has all the info on this model in it. The rear derailleur is stamped "Patent Campagnolo". I put the bike in storage, so I'll try to get over there and get you a picture this weekend. Thanks,"

During the bike boom, many Italian makers brought back their obsolete 50s designs in low-cost materials that they could sell for cheap. At a glance they look like nice bikes until you start really studying them. The only purpose for the invention of Valentino was for a maker to be able to say "Campagnolo".

I said the frame looks interesting. I doubt its superior materials.

Drop-outs are stamped Campagnolo not forged. That is not a intergrated headset. Frame is low-mid at best.

It just dawned on me. Do you think "Guiseppe" in Italian translates to gaspipe in English?

:lol:

"You like-uh tha gas-uh pipe-uh, no?"

:lol::lol:
I'll give that two "lols" and hope I don't forget to steal that from you next time I run across a low-end Italian frame.

Thanks for all the info! It really helps me to know what to look for. Not that the pictures really provided enough to look at but you all saw a lot more than me!

I'm guessing your monitor is better than mine, so I'll defer. In any event, that is most certainly not a Specialissima. More like a Mediocre-issima.