High end bianchi frame, low end components or what?
 

http://fredericeklof.se/bianchi/images/bianchi.jpg

Hi...

I been fixing up an old Bianchi i bought some weeks ago. The bike has been standing since 1990 in a garage so it was in quite bad shape. Now however when it starts to shine a little I have been trying to figure out what year and model it is. Been looking at: www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs and in this forum but i haven't found a frame like mine. It looks like a 81' superleggero without chomed headlugs. But if it is a superleggero or similar why is there modolo brakes, rino gears and miche cranks?

Any clue?

More pictures: www.fredericeklof.se/bianchi

P.s. i apologies my bad english... i'm tired and i'm from sweden..

That does look like a nice, upper-tier frame.
May be able to find more info by doing some digging here:

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/my_bianchi/index.html

(No apologies needed for the English - we read worse here from people who are neither Swedish nor tired.)

Maybe purchased as a frame-only and then built up with whatever the owner had on hand, or could find cheap? I am no expert on Modolo or Miche, but Miche is certainly not considered lower-tier. Also, the Ofmega headset is decent, as is the stem. The bars look so-so. Frame is great though.

Modolo brakes, especially the high end speedy ones are on par with the best campy had. And they came in prettier colours! Most of the time, the difference between a low-end italian part and a high end one was the polish!

Speedy are the low-end ones. Nice try, though.

Best are the Team, Professional, Equipe, and some of the later variants.

It is a Reparto level frame, probably from '82. '79-'80 had the chrome head lugs and some in '81 as well. If the rear brake bridge has a "box" shaped center where the bolt goes through that started in late '81 or '82 I think.

They were sold as framesets and called Specialissima, or built up complete as Super Leggera and Super Corsa.

They are really nice frames. I would build it up with Super Record from the era. I do not buy into the "polish" theory, Modolo is mostly junk in my book.

Thank you for your comments! I'm glad to hear that the frame really was what i suspected and i think i'll be looking for early 80's super record components. Right now however, (especially as i just picked up an old rolls saddle!), i'm going to use it as it is and start fixing my old Nishiki speed arrow. It's in desperate need of some love..

Speedy were not the low-end Modolo, but are also nice brakes; sort of mid-range. They were a step below the Modolo Pro. The crappy Modolos were the "Flash" and the "Corsa".
Speedy used a simpler release than the nicer Modolos, but were still very well finished. Consider them sort of a "semi-Pro" brake.

-Feklof- check out the Bianchi scans here: BULGIER SITE

Send me those junky, early Modolo Pro brakes... ;)

Your right - mid-range is more accurate. Got my models confused. The Equipe was also above the Speedy - though I don't know to what extent their availability overlapped. I have Speedys on my Cuevas.

While I respect Otis's opinion a lot, the Modolo Professionals were - and are - very highly regarded.

Nice find, should look beautiful rebuilt with matching high-end components!
Update us with pictures : )

Nothing else to contribute. Just can't resist a Bianchi thread.

I did say "mostly", not "all". :)

Upper level Modolo models or not, I think the sidepulls from Modolo during the early 80's were not designed as well as other good brakes of that time as the caliper arm cross sections were quite thin compared to other brake caliper designs and tended to flex during braking. Their later designs with larger arm cross sections near the pivots were better as they were stiffer. Their "sintered" brake pads they supplied with their calipers were also lamented because they were supossedly harsh on anodized rim finishes. and some even noted that they worked poorly in the wet.
Miche and Ofmega components were considered mid level and not junk. They were and effectuve budget alternative to Campagnolo.
Don't expect to see Miche and Ofmega components on SLX frames though.

Chombi

Good point. I'm wrong twice in the same thread. Stepping away from the keyboard now.

I would say the frame is '83ish, it lacks the small 'rings' at the ends of the decals that go around the frame.

I agree with the frame only purchase or parts were switched out by one of the previous owners.

what page is this bike on in the catalog??

I C now. that "catalogue" is just a bunch of press/advertising material not the catalogue. I believe in the '82ish era there were a few frames with the chrome stay caps, and trim on the fork crown. the frame could be one a few models. bump this thread tomorrow night and I check and see if a Miche crank and the Modolo Pro brakes match up to anything.

Thanks for all your interest and knowledge! i have nothing to add the modolo-discussion more than that's modolo flash sitting on the bike.. and, from my experience with the bike so far, changing the brakes to super record would make a difference.

BTW there IS a picture on the bulgier-site with a frame just like mine:
http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Cat...chi-81b/12.jpg

no facts exept that is ready to be packed and sent to the customer though...

well I just poked throught the '81, '82, '83, '84 ,85 catalogs and with the exections of the placement of the Columbus decal and the abscense of Piaggio decals I would have to say this looks like a '83 Super Leggera frame. as stated above I still agree witht he Super Record kit being removed or the frame purchased seperatly. I further agree that just because the parts on that are not Campi that does not mean they are junk. I am not a huge Modolo brake fan but they brakes and other parts do perform very well and are on par with Campi. the same goes for Miche and Ofmega.