Old Bianchi mountain bike
 

I have a Bianchi mountain bike frame a bought c. 1990. It was new, but I do not know its model name because its original paint job had been scratched at the factory and it had been repainted by Bianchi. I am a little curious about the Cro-Mo tubing. The decal on the seat tube says "Superset II" and "Tange Cro-Mo". Does this mean 4130 Cro-Mo or something less. The top tube where the model name should be is blank, but the rest of the decals and the dark blue color are the same as the picture I saw on the internet of a Bianchi Advantage. I have recently re-setup the bike as a road bike with a Nexus 8-Speed hub.

Superset II is definitely chrome molybdenum steel, made by Tange in Japan to Bianchi's custom specifications. My understanding is that the main tweaks Bianchi made were to the top tube (slightly smaller) and the down tube (slightly oversized/ovalized at the BB juncture).

What that means is it's a substantial bit lighter than Tange's MTB, and close in weight to Tange/Logic tubing (which was pretty lightweight for non-heat treated CrMo). It's decent stuff, meant for lugged-frame construction.

I have a Bianchi Boardwalk hybrid set up for gravel/cross, and that one is also made with Superset II. The ride is compliant, without being squishy. It's definitely much less harsh than the MTB tubeset ever was, and slightly less sharp than the Prestige line was.

Any pics? What components came on it? Superset 2 tubing decals would mean a '93ish or later frame. Bianchi repainted a scratched frame? Where do you live? Here in the states you would be hard pressed to get Bianchi to replace a frame that got broken in transit.

No components came with it. I bought it as a bare frame for $95. I bought it in State College, PA.

How about some pics of the frame then? I never heard of Bianchi USA repainting a frame that was scratched in transit, but we never had any real serious damage either. Most likely it was a complete frame replacement from warranty stock.

I believe you have a '91 Ibex frame/fork in Sierra Blue. the tubing is simply listed as Tange ChroMoly in the afore mentioned SUperSet 2 configuration, the downtube is ovalized at the BB shell right?

I still don't buy the whole repaint thing and think perhaps it was simply a warranty replacement frame.

How is the IGH setup working out?

No sign of an oval. No visible lugs at the bottom bracket, just weld.

I have been using this nexus wheel four 4 years and I love it. I have a two year old alfine 8-speed on my Cannondale. I also have an old Bottechia with a Sturmey Archer 3-speed. The 3 speeds are not close enough together to cope with the Florida head winds and not far enough apart for the Maine hills. So I built the 8-speeds. I use gears 5,6,7 in Florida and all 8 in Maine. My Raleigh Folder with its 3-speed is also a real nice ride. (It called itself a Folder, I suppose that predates the word Twenty.) The only derailleur bike I have is the Trek XO1 which I do not ride. Used to use it on the dirt forest roads in Central Pennsylvania.