Classic Bianchi

malt · Aug 5, 2018

Hello all,

I’ve recently acquired this Bianchi and wondered if anyone would be able to pinpoint the model and year? I’ve searched high and low but haven’t really got anywhere.

Clearly she’s seen better days but in my opinion she’s worth saving, it’ll give me something to do when the winter arrives anyway.

Thanks in advance.

NeilM · Aug 5, 2018

Re:

Wonderful. What tubing is it made from?

Mike Muz may have some information, he's a steel Bianchi fan.

malt · Aug 5, 2018

Cheers.

It's a Columbus SLX tube set and a full Shimano 600 groupset. Most likely 80's but not sure when.

Midlife · Aug 5, 2018

Internal routing? Reparto Corsa type of thing......

malt · Aug 5, 2018

Yup, run through the top tube.

NeilM · Aug 5, 2018

Re:

SLX, very nice, early to mid 90's I'd say.

jackosbournesnr · Aug 5, 2018

Re:

From the decals its probably a 1984-88 model. There are a couple of Bianchi serial number databases kicking around, but they're far from complete (or they were last time I looked)

It may be a custom build as I don't think Bianchi used Shimano in the off the shelf SLX level bikes such as the Leggero, Mondiale etc. They were pretty much all Campag-equipped

Further down the range, there were all sorts of groupsets and mixtures of Shimano, Suntour and Ofmega

jackosbournesnr · Aug 5, 2018

I've done some digging and I reckon theres a very good chance that its a 1988 X4 frameset that just happens to have Shimano kit attched to it.

If it is, you have bagged an absolute classic frameset, and it is absolutely worth saving!

Have a look at the rear brake bridge... there might be an "X4" stamped on it.

malt · Aug 5, 2018

jackosbournesnr":2krfr6qy said:
I've done some digging and I reckon theres a very good chance that its a 1988 X4 frameset that just happens to have Shimano kit attched to it.

If it is, you have bagged an absolute classic frameset, and it is absolutely worth saving!

Have a look at the rear brake bridge... there might be an "X4" stamped on it.

That's great, thank you so much. At least a now have a direction to head...next job will be trying to get some decals :shock:

jackosbournesnr · Aug 5, 2018

There are lots of repro decals for X4's on the web. Originals might not be easy to source though!

Have a look at the restoration project below... this guy went the whole hog to replicate an X4 he'd raced on...
its got some great info on things to look at to identify your frameset as an X4

https://veloaficionado.com/bianchi-specialissima-x4/

Classic Bianchi

malt

Retro Guru

Attachments

NeilM

malt

Retro Guru

Midlife

Retro Wizard

malt

Retro Guru

NeilM

jackosbournesnr

Senior Retro Guru

jackosbournesnr

Senior Retro Guru

malt

Retro Guru

jackosbournesnr

Senior Retro Guru

Similar threads

Latest posts