Last week I noticed a crack in my pista frame by the seat post...brought it in to my LBS on Thursday (where I purchased the bike in February) and within minutes, my guy was on the phone with Bianchi. I just received my brand spankin' new frame today.....no charge, no questions asked. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering Bianchi guarantees their frames for life, but I am just amazed at how quickly and easily this was resolved. Just want to give credit where credit is due. Good job Bianchi - a very satisfied customer.

awesome congrats

It would hurt to also give credit where credit is due to the bike shop. If you'd bought the bike online or through craigslist or on ebay or even at a less quality shop, it wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly. Props to them for getting the ball rolling with Bianchi, and taking care of getting the frame into your hands.

^^ absolutely.

The LBS definitely made life a lot easier for you...

Keep supporting them by accessories often and bikes/frames as need be.

totally....I meant to give credit to my LBS as well...they are great. Been supporting them since I moved to my neighborhood.... If I ever move somewhere else in NY, I will continue to support them, no matter how far the trip.

+1 for bianchi customer service
-1 for bianchi

a customer at my lbs has had a d2 cross bike where all the paint bubbled off the down tube. he replaced it with a cross concept... the carbon rear triangle became unbonded at the deraileur hanger and they replaced the frame under warranty. Also, they did a crap job chasing the threads on the bottom bracket for a 1000 plus frame.

And they sent out a whole seasons worth of poorly boxed comfort bikes, the result of which was dents and missing paint on the top tubes of more than a hand full of bikes.

Agree props to the LBS.

Bianchi must have had some really large quality control issues with the pista seat post juncture. I had the same issue with mine cracking. And there have been numerous posts on several boards as per the same.

I'm also guessing that Bianchi's quick response at this point is due to seeing multiple occurances of this type of frame failure.

pista or pista concept?
what area of the seat post juncture had the crack?

Yeah which one? and what year did you have? I'm concerned cuz I have an 08 Pista.

oh and which Bike shop in NYC?

No dis, but for some reason (unknown to me truth be told) I never trusted/liked (in that order) the Bianchi pista frames. They've got a new (made in Italy) track frame that I would scoop up in a milli second had I the bones to do so! The name escapes me at the moment.

This was a regular garden variety Pista.

Here are a couple of shots of where mine cracked.

For reference I'm 49 years old and 145 lbs., so there's nothing to do with over/mis use.

Again, the Bianchi folks were great on the replacement so no issue there.

But if you're riding one of these keep an eye on it. My first sign was "where's that seat tube grease coming from?"

woah that's pretty bad, what year was yours? And is this a common prob among pistas?

wow...that is exactly like my crack...

Not saying you guys don't take care of your rides, But I can't help but notice Rust on both of your bikes, as well as grit and dirt.

Props to Bianchi for the great customer service.

for the third time, what year pistas are guys riding?

mine is '09 ... .and Lord, I am out in the weather all day every day with my bike....I try to keep it clean but its gonna get beat up... and that screw was the only rust I noticed on the bike.

Shouldn't matter, new bikes that crack when they get a bit of rust? If that was the case (which its not) Bianchi would sit along side all the other "Toys "R" Us" bikes. I have Schwinn bikes (and others from the 50's) that have rust and ride like new! Not trying to steal your thread but I'll post this one.



and this one from the late 70's early 80's. (had its fair share of rust)








Not the best bikes in the world, but they didn't crack from a bit (or more than) of rust.

FWIW mine was an '07 purchased very late in the year. And no rust...in fact it was never even ridden in the rain...I'm too old for all of that crashing in wet weather It was so clean you could eat off of it (not that you'd want to...)

I would if you paid for the food.

I had to dig up this thread for an update. So after two years of having this second pista frame, I cracked it again, in the same spot. Apparently this is a recurring theme with these frames. I ride a lot, but I don't believe I have put them through extreme circumstances. Anyway, again, my LBS contacted Bianchi and they sent me a brand new frame... Its not the same color (black instead of blue) but they upgraded me to the 2011 model. I gotta say, another win for Bianchi's customer service, but I will likely never buy another one of their frames, no matter how much I love riding them. This my third frame in as many years....not normal. At least I didn't have to pay for the replacements....

nice! glad i snagged a super pista

i have a lynx and good to know about the frame warranty. still have the documentation, but the lbs is long gone. i s'pose it doesn't matter which one i go to if'n i need help. been a good ride for these 8 years, and the parts/components held up well for the first
6.

This. When I called SRAM to complain about that first set of Omniums I had (that wouldn't stfu) they wanted me to take it to two bike shops and have them both call to verify the click. I was like 'uhh, why would they go through that trouble when I purchased it from a shop across the country?'. Ended up just selling them on craigslist