noglider 

@bradtx, maybe I had the wrong length yoke cable, or whatever it's called. I had to squeeze like hell to stop well. I have very strong hands, and thank God for them. I would not survived with those brakes and weaker hands. I'm thinking of shorting the yoke cable on the new brake for a little extra leverage. This one is adjustable, unlike the one on the Alivio.

bmthom.gis

I love my Volpe. Picked it up cheap from someone who found it at a yard sale for 10 bucks. He made out like a bandit with me paying him 100. Totally worth it IMO. My brifters were all messed up - I soaked the left in degreaser and freed it up. The right one needs more work. There is a guy on FRIDAY who can fix a 7 or 8 speed for fairly cheap. The frame is small on me ... right now it is set up with riser bars and mtn bike shifters (cheapest solution at the time to get it workin - before I found the guy who will work on the brifter). It works for me. Does my commute quite well and I love the feel of the ride

joepeeden

Volpe update:
Paint has been retouched, frame cleaned and waxed, fixed up some wheels, and putting on some parts today. Goal is an end of week ride.

Darth Lefty 

If I were able to proliferate my bike collection, I'd get a brand new Volpe. They presently come in a beautiful satin finished metallic slatey blue. The shifters are Tiagra triple, which I've found twangy on test rides, but if I could just get the frame/fork... I'd give it a compact double and mini-V brakes.

revcp 

Very nice bike, Tom. Several months ago I found a Volpe for a friend on CL. His commuter was destroyed in a run in with a car and he had been using his wife's Trek 1000. The volpe fit his needs perfectly. Nice steel frame that would carry weight well, accept fenders, but still be a fairly quick ride. If I ever find one for myself near the price of what he picked that one up for it would be tough to turn it down as a gravel grinder.

noglider 

Here is a collection of pictures of the bike over the time I've had it.

meaculpa

NoGlider - Your rebuild looks great. I'm not surprised you're enjoying this bike so much. Back in late May I'd crashed into the back of a car (my fault). That hit crumpled the downtube & snapped the toptube of my Volpe. That was my first new, 'expensive' bike and man o man do I miss it. Unfortunately, Bianchi won't sell me a frame/fork only and I don't want the stock components. I'm 5'10 and I'd had a size 58. If I find that bike on CL or Ebay in that size, I'll be back in the Volpe-club.

BTW - the last few months before the wreck, I'd fitted her with Compass 38 Barlow Pass tires and, while clearances with my fenders were a little tight, wow what a cush ride.

noglider 

Rebuild is probably too strong a word. The drive train and most of the bike are still original. But thank you.

But hmm, I just remembered that about a year and a half ago, I started breaking spokes on the drive side of the rear wheel. I replaced all of the drive side spokes only, and it's been fine since then, so there is a bit of a rebuild.

I know someone with a 58cm Volpe, a bit newer than mine. He might be willing to sell it. Should I ask him? He's in eastern PA.

RobE30

Hmmm. I know that guy too Tom It's a sweet Volpe!

noglider 

Sweet guy, too.

09box

When did the Volpe go from a 7 speed to an 8 speed?

agmetal

I was about to suggest a San Jose frameset, until I looked it up and realized that it has track-style rear dropouts, so it wouldn't really work as a geared bike, unless you used an IGH.

Here's my late 2011 Volpe (drivetrain is all 2011 specs, but the seatpost and stem match the 2012 specs). I bought it NOS last summer, and put over 5000 miles on it within the first 12 months of owning it, through all kinds of weather. I've recently made a few tweaks to the fit, and just built up a new wheelset, but this bike has been great!

RobE30

Here's a more recent pic of mine. I think it's a 99
Yes, there a Chiquita Banana stickers on my bike

bradtx

This post had me thinking about my beater's brakes. They're the standard Alivio canti, but the yokes and straddle cables have been replaced with what looks like Dia Comp pieces. I tinkered with them a bit and improved braking considerably! Certainly a plus to not be required to find the correct length Shimano straddle cable. Braking may now be better than it's sister bike equipped with the Shimano straddle cables.

Thanks for the head's up.

Brad

PS More on topic, my daughter's Volpe has entered phase three of it's existence. It's now the mom with two toddlers sidewalk escort vehicle.

joepeeden

Not the best photo, but here is the updated bike. It is running a 1x10 setup (sugino rd crank with basher), 12x28 cassette, dura-ace rd, and celeste handle bar tape. Frame has been touched up and polished. Running 32mm cx tires on updated road wheels. While I originally planned on keeping it as original as possible, there were too many issues with the old derailleurs to make worthwhile and the crank had a slight warp to it.

noglider 

I don't know if anyone mentioned this before, but in the top tube decal thread, @verktyg posted this link, which I really like.

The Bianchi Volpe

gerv 

Volpe Trivia: My 2006 Volpe has a sticker on the back of the seat tube that you have to strain to read. "100% chick designed".

The chick in this case is Sky Yaeger. Cycloculture: Sky Yaeger on Integrated Design and Derailleur-Free Riding

noglider 

About a year ago, I changed the cantilever brakes on the bike with Tektro cantilevers. They caused the fork to shudder badly, but I lived with it. The fork shuddered back and forth up to an inch, maybe more. It got unbearable. A couple of months ago, I changed to less sticky pads, and the shudder didn't decrease, but the braking did. I got a cable hanger that mounts to the fork crown instead of hanging from the headset, but it doesn't fit. Tonight, I scrubbed the pads and figured out how to toe them in. I had been using the spherical washers wrong. Now they are clean and toed in. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. I stopped riding the bike because the front brake was so bad.

tricky 

I'll take care of that dangerous situation for you @noglider. I'll even schedule the bikeflight. Really though, I hope that shudder gets straightened out. Seems like a good bike and it's silly to have a little thing like that get in your way.

noglider 

Yay! Problem solved. There is a tiny bit of shudder at very low speed. I can live with it, but I'll clean the brake tracks on the rim, and maybe it will eliminate the tiny vestige of the problem.

neonmartini

Hello. There is a local bike shop that has a 2011 or 2012 Bianchi Volpe for sale. It's not used, but it's probably been test ridden a few times. Just wondering what price it should be selling for. They have a sale price of $1199 on it but they'd be willing to make me a "deal" for $1000. For a bike a few years old and has been in their stock for a while, that seems high. I don't want to offend with a low offer. Just want to know what's fair. Thanks!

carbomb

I just entered "2012 bianchi volpe" in Google and this was the second link.
https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/sear...spx?id=3041440
$1200 was the MSRP new, and nobody should ever pay that. Talking them down to $1000 on a 5 year old bike isn't a deal either. You can do better with your money.
Just a quick search on Craigslist in my area (which does have a lot of bikes) gets me a nicer Bianchi for only $600 quite easily.

rocks in head 

I had a 58 cm Volpe in that color... with bad brifters. I think mine was a 1998. It's got semi-horizontal dropouts, so I made it into a fixed gear commuter, with cheap Weinnmann dp 18's, a 110 stem, and bullhorns. It was a great bike but just a little small for me. The replacement was just as close as I could make it to the Volpe - an IRO Rob Roy which is on it's way to becoming vintage itself now. Anyway, Volpes are great. They'll fit some pretty big tires and full fenders well, and handle nicely.

Wow... just realized this is one dinosaur of a thread!

Squeeze

But still a good one. I've read this whole thing in the last couple of days since it was bumped back to the top.

I'm considering N-1 (gasp!) or at least replacing one of mine with another (one in, one out) and have been watching for a couple models on craigslist. "Volpe" is one of the keywords I search regularly.

It's not that I'm not finding them in my size -- I'm not finding any at all.

Are used Volpes rare?

noglider 

@Squeeze (and others), I've decided to sell my Volpe. I don't ride it any more. I could sell it as is, all tricked out, or I could revert it to near-original condition. I'm in NYC. The bike is a 55cm (seat tube).