Found this 2 days ago and picked it up for a snap from the original owner's son.

Special are the milled Nuovo Record big chainring and seatpost.

Plans are to strip and repaint Celeste with decals from cyclomondo, and rebuild like it was new and ride it like crazy, as it is my size. Pedals go onto the 1972 Masi I'm finishing up (I bought it for what the pedals would cost on eBay :-)

Questions for the crew -

Was copper an original color?
Does the 173 stamp on right top of the seat tube indicate January 1973?
Does the 204 stamp on left top of seat tube indicate bike 204 for the year?



Fork was toasted when a bar came into the spokes, but the frame is in order, and the components are by and large original, excepting the front wheel.

More pix -

Don't know the specifics, but beautiful! :-) I would love to see pics of your Masi when it is done! Congratulations!

Flash

TTT - I need 50 posts to send a PM (new Rule?, thought I could do it before), and would like to have Bianchigirl or some other expert chime in on the color question, as the paint is in pretty good shape.

The pic of the seat tube has a sticker from the original bike shop, right? That suggests that this is the original color.

Except that's the head tube not the seat tube. I doubt very strongly that is the original color or paint.

The head tube has the sticker, and the shop still exists and belongs to an ex Swiss professional racer but is in Geneva so I might have a problem with the French, but I'm going to contact them to see if they have original records from 40 years ago...

Certainly not a bianchi color I've seen before. And since this is the headtube (not the seat tube as I originally thought), it would be a highly unusual place for a bike shop to place a sticker. Still that is an old sticker.

Thank you for your vote of confidence but th8is is a bit old for me. It is a beautiful bike though and something I would love to find one day.

I would agree that that if the RD is original the 173 could refer to the year.

Great find! What are your plans for the fork?

Replace it with one I have in the basement - the damaged fork has no Bianchi engravings, and I have a very similar one in the basement with good chrome, no dents or bends, and the proper steerer length.

It could be possible that the fork, being fully chromed, is also not original, but there are so few early 70's Bianchis I can find pictures of to compare.

I'm always suspect of the numbers stamped on Bianchi's but this frame would definitely be right around '73 (IMO) based on what details are shown. The seat-stay tops were done like that until about '75-'76. The lack of shifter braze-on's would make it pre '74 or so.

I have no idea on the color. I would think not original, but would tear the bike down and look for signs of a re-paint. The fork (if original) was originally painted, with maybe just the drop-outs left exposed. Some better photos of the frame details would help.

There was a clean '74 on ebay recently, try searching the sold listings for that as I remember it having a lot of good photos.

I know on my 1960 Bianchi Specialisima frame and fork I have the serial number dates like this, the first number is where the bike sits in the line up 1 being top of the line "pro" model and descending in order and rank with the next 2 numbers being year and the next ones the production number for that year. I'm not sure if Bianchi kept that into the 70's. Hope this helps.

Q& A finished:

Was copper an original color? No, it's a repaint.

Does the 173 stamp on right top of the seat tube indicate January 1973? No, top of line pro model for year 1973

Does the 204 stamp on left top of seat tube indicate bike 204 for the year? I think so.

The frame has interesting measurements (C-C), 56.5 seat tube, 58 top tube. Explains the super long seat post, and the fact that the spare fork from a 57cm frame is 1/2cm too big.
Well, here are some more detail photos,

Not sure what's with the holes in the cutouts - looks after-market (was drillium-guy here?)

I guess frame number 204


Top of line model for 1973


BB has standard stand-rash


Interesting vent holes in the rear


annnndddd, lookie what color is peeking out from the head tube


love the heart cutouts

pictures should be working now - postcount++

I'm not sure what's with the BB softwre, but my pictures have gone missing twice now!

I think this frame deserves Celeste, and I'm tired of painting, so I'm thinking of a powder coat. Any opinions?

beautiful bike. congrats on your acquisition and finding out the mysteries.
the screaming celeste in the BB! interesting.

(not intending to jump in the endless wet paint vs PC, debate here.)
but i hear it's hard to apply/fix vinyl transfer decals on powder-coated surface?

Paint! PC will fill in the details of the frame a little. I can't wait to see this once it's painted, I'm jealous!

I recently acquired this from my dad. He says it is a '73. He had it repainted some years ago. I don't believe he did much replacing of anything. Probably a new seat. Here you go:














Regards

^^ Pretty nice! I don't care for the brakes on this one, though. Did they even make black DiaCompe brakes back in '73? My guess is those are probably newer.

The repaint (and decals) look mid/late '80s, and I'm sure that the brakes were added then as well. The frame looks to be late '60s or early '70s (just a guess)?

What's the date on the RD?

Looks like an awesome color. Is it real copper because of the green or it that green paint underneath?

What do you mean you're tired of painting? Do you do it for a living?
IMO, powder coating would ruin this vintage frame.
Someone who really knows how to spray would be my choice.
Look at that last shot of the last bike, seat stay caps with too
thick paint filling in the details. What you don't wan't IMO.
There must have been other colors available in the early 70's.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bianchi-Vint...item4ac8ebbf9c

+3 another vote for paint. Something this cool deserves to be done right, and PC will definitely clog up that beautiful bas-relief Bianchi sig on the seatstay caps - not to mention your serial numbers.

This is a nice find, particularly if you can somehow source a correct fork. Nice catch, and good luck with her!

Btw, that hole in the heart cutout on the fork: vent hole, for sure; I had nothing to do with it, either

Interesting to note that the heart cutout is the same in both the fork tangs and brake bridge reinforcements. Is that a Bianchi fork? If so, from the same era?

DD

Maybe the forks were re-chromed and the plater drilled the extra holes.

Also, I would be interested to see how long the post is pulled out. Is it just over extended or actually longer? I have never seen one that long as think it would be worth several times what you paid if it really is longer.