Bianchi San Jose
 

Just thinking about getting one for the winter to mix things up a bit. I can tell from the specs that it mentions a 17t freewheel, and I was told it had a flip-flop for fixed... can't figure out how it works, and wanted to make sure that it was set-up to work as a fixie as well before deciding.

Anyone have any thoughts/experiences with these? Good/bad review sorts of stuff?

I looked at the Pista as well (want something not too expensive), but it just felt a little cramped to me, and having brakes already on and slightly heavier tires seems like a good thing for the pounding the city gives you.

I have a Bianchi San Jose with a lovely mullet (front disc brakes and rear canti brakes). Check ebay for these bikes at about $150-$250 below MSRP. From my experience, there was some chatter with the steel fork that I did not like, and the stock brakes were marginal to say the least. I had access to a front disc brake for cheap, and I then found a generic carbon cyclocross with disc mount fork from Nashbar for $108. Building a 700c wheel with a disc hub was a first for me, but enjoybale nonetheless.

Mine is a 2006 and as such did not come stock with a flip/flop hub (one side of hub threaded for lockring + cog other side threaded for freewheel). Rumor has it that the 2007's do have a flip/flop hub. I rebuilt the rear wheel with this flip/flop hub. Truth be told, however, if you are going to use the bike offroad as a cyclocross bike, few people would suggest switching to fixed. For around the city, which you mentioned, the San Jose as a fixed has been enjoyable with the upgrades. I am not certain that I would have trusted the stock front brakes as the sole braking method (unless you are well skilled at back pedaling).

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...anchi+san+jose

That is a large discussion of the bike.

Jeff

here 's the tiny 44cm we picked up for my wife. unfortunately no flip flop, supposedly some out there do have the pista wheelset, but only because bianchi screwed up somehow. anyway, it seems like a decent ride. the paint quality is really nice. the only minor issue right now is the stock kmc chain has wide protruding rivets and it rubs a bit on the little chainring guard. today i'm gonna pick up a sram pc-58 or something similiar and that should remedy it.
i should say getting this one took almost a month from my local shop (a bianchi dealer). they layed the blame squarely on bianchiusa and said that while the people there are all good guys, their business is suffering growing pains and they are a nightmare to deal with.

sorry the pics are so sucky. btw that seattube center to center is like 41cm!

That bike is TINY! It also makes the chainring look huge. Looks nice though.

what's the rear spacing on a san jose?
130?

it's a snug 130mm.

Once I get a chance to take pictures of the San Jose with a mullet, I shall post them. I had to add 5mm of spacers to each side of the the formula hub (120mm stock), and as surferbruce noted it fit well/snugly.

JAH

yea jeffreyahorn, i was just gonna post that i would love to see picture of that. get em up!

that's by far the nicest looking 44 cm 700c frame i've ever seen

there's an extensive san jose thread in the cyclocross forum

i love how 700c wheels look on small bikes. i wish i had wheels that proportion to my 61cm frame.

You mean like this:
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/3496/bigbikeka6.jpg

Here she is:

http://static.flickr.com/96/281320805_e90a118620_o.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/83/281320807_578d5989fb_o.jpg

I built a flip/flop wheel for fixed in the city, but I have yet to install it. Let's just say that the notoriously weak braking of the San Jose has been corrected.

Jeff

I've always heard that Cane Creek makes good brakes. Why are they so ****ty? Is it the pads?

They were not horrible, but they certainly did not compare to the Spooky cantis on my 6 year old redline cross bike. My concern was in using the stock front brake as my only brake when I switched to a fixed setup.

I <3 Avids

Well, you could have corrected the ****ty braking for $10 with some adjustment and new pads, but whatever rocks your world.

You really should put the front canti back on and wire it to the other lever some time. Remove the rear and raise a couple of eyebrows with dual front braking.

yeah, where'd he get those?

Also, to the OP, if the new san joses do come with a flip flop hub, you will probably still need to buy a fixed cog and lockring. Probably between $20 and $45 depending on quality.

The 07 San Joses have to come with a flip-flop hub. I came to this realization when I was looking at the Bianchi website and I noticed that the Pista, San Jose, and Fremont all have the same wheelset. Why would they spend more to change the hub on the San Jose? It's a flip-flop fo' sure.

well i wish the one we just got came with a flip flop. it's fresh from bianchiusa and has alex a-19 touring rims (eyeleted double wall) with decidedly-freewheel-only bianchi hubs. the flip flop set has alex solo rims.
aside from the no flip flop, its a pretty sweet little 600$ bike.

Noooooooooo! Bianchi lies! Unless that was the 06 you got.

Ken_Wind: The brakes are fine mechanics-wise, but the stock pads are crap. I suppose that if I had switched to kool stops, like those on my spooky's, braking would have been adequate. Creating the above bike, however, was much more entertaining.

this is a possibility, although they told me it's spec'd for no flip flopper. doesn't seem like any good reason not to offer the fixed option.