Bianchi Bonanza!

   I’ve expressed before in this blog that my interest in vintage Italian-made bicycles is not limited to Colnago and Pinarello products. Bianchi is the world’s oldest existing bicycle manufacturer, and their famous Celeste green machines have been ridden to victory by legends such as Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi and Marco Pantani. Although the company, like many of the large bike manufacturers, has farmed out much of its assembly operations to Asia, the story is that their Reparto Corse (racing department) bicycles still come from their Milan headquarters.

   Bianchi now markets mid-range, affordable bicycles worldwide, yet still puts out top-of-the-line models, such as those supplied to the Belkin pro team. I certainly don’t need to add to my personal collection, but recently I have come across a bunch of Bianchi bicycles that have “project potential”.

   A woman down the street had hoped to purchase the Cannondale hybrid I sold a couple of months ago, but it was a bit large for her, so she asked me to keep a lookout for one that might fit her. A family that lives on one of my regular cycling routes had for sale a pair of red Bianchi Timber Wolf mountain bikes that had hardly been used. One of the bikes had a woman-specific frame that I knew would be just right for my neighbor.

   The owner explained that the bikes had been a gift from her children nearly twenty years ago, but after a short ride or two, the machines just sat in the garage. Except a good amount of dust, the paint and parts were nearly perfect. Strangely, only the tires on the woman’s bike were rotted, and this bike also had a crack in the base of the saddle.

   The men’s bike had a nice bunch of accessories included, such as a pump and saddle bag loaded with the appropriate tools, and the owner even provided the original manuals that came with the bicycles.  I talked down the price a bit, knowing that the parts that needed to be replaced were relatively inexpensive, and I am confident I will be able to make bit of money back when selling the pair.

   Back home, when I wheeled one of the bikes down the street to show my neighbor, she was excited. Rachel told me her kids had been bothering her to ride on the local trail, but discovered her bike wasn’t up to it. Her intention was always to pass the old mountain bike down to her daughter, but she now thought it might be beyond help. I asked if I could take a look at the bike, even though I certainly didn’t want to talk her out of a sale. However, I’m building a reputation in our neighborhood, and if I can save her some bucks by repairing her old bike, I figured that would be smart move.

   Turns out some people were eyeing this Bianchi already. The sidewalk down there had a constant flow of kids and parents, and as we stood there talking, folks were wondering what we were up to. Rachel was becoming my own P.R. director, “He lives just up the street, and he fixes and sells bicycles.” I think that I have one or two potential customers!

   A short time later, Rachel ducked into her house and rolled out a circa 1993 Diamondback Topanga. This was a quality mountain bike that the company manufactured before selling out to become a store-brand bike at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Much like Mongoose Bicycles, Diamondback started off in BMX then took advantage of the mountain bike craze of the early ‘90s. Both companies were innovators in the industry and sponsored pro MTB teams. As the economy changed, the two manufacturers scaled down to consumer-friendly, “off the rack” products, although Mongoose still has higher-end models available through their website.

   Anyway, the tires on Rachel’s bike were deflated and the brakes were totally misaligned, which immediately had her thinking “it didn’t work”, but I knew these would be relatively easy repairs. I assured her that I could put it back into riding condition, and we pushed the bikes back up to my house.

   The Diamondback was mostly in need of a good cleaning, since it had a coating of thick, chalky dust - it looked like it had been stored in a room that had been used to cut drywall!  After giving everything a good wipe-down, the frame turned out to be a really attractive purplish charcoal color. The tires were in remarkably good condition, and I thought I was going to be able to return the bike the next day. Unfortunately neither of the trigger shifters was working properly, but from past experience I knew those could be replaced rather inexpensively.

   I had my eye on another Bianchi, which had appeared on craigslist a while ago until the ad actually expired with no takers. This was a 2001 SL Aluminum Reparto Corse that would have been equipped with Campagnolo components, but as with many of the Italian imports, American shop owners built the bikes with Shimano parts that were easier on the wallet. Luckily this bicycle was outfitted with quality Ultegra parts, one of the higher levels of the Shimano product line.

   After contacting the seller and hearing his price would be cut in half, I told him I was interested, but first I had to make some room in the shop and in the budget for new projects. Luckily someone purchased the Colnago Nuovo Mexico a couple of weekends ago, and I had a nice little profit in my hands as well. Last weekend I drove out to Ephrata and made the purchase, which included a bunch of extras, like the Profile Design aerobars, that I can sell off to cover some of my build-up plans.

   The Bianchi SL is a racing bike, and I had the vision of setting the bike up to simulate that of Marco Pantani’s Mercatone Uno team of the late 90’s. A feature I found on the CyclingNews website specs out the bike exactly, with mostly Campagnolo Record gruppo. There are some concessions  I will have to make, such as with the custom Selle Italia saddle and Campagnolo Electron wheelset, that would otherwise put me in the poorhouse, but I’ll try to get as close as possible for the right look. I already ordered some Vittoria yellow tires!

   There is actually one more Bianchi available in the area at very cheap price, but I have had trouble contacting the seller. This one is a fairly rare ‘90s vintage Boardwalk hybrid bike, also in the classic Celeste color. It is a bit rough around the edges, but I think a little TLC would go a long way. If I can snag it for the $100 asking price, it would be a great “back burner” project.