Bianchi Gold Race Team 2000 - Visual tweaks / Parts Upgrades

I recently bought a beautiful Ferrari Red Bianchi Gold Race Team from around 2000. My local friendly bike shop, East Coast Bicycles in Hull (shameless plug) took it in in part exchange. From what we can gather it spent a lot of it's life on a turbo trainer and not much getting out.

The original brochure image is here (courtesy of http://classiclightweights.net/italy/bi ... catalogue/)



When it first came in it wasn't looking great with it's red tyres and white tape but i thought it had real potential. My regular road bike was a 2010 Specialized Allez which i upgraded over time with a full Shimano 5800 11sp 105 and Fulcrum Racing Quattro wheels but I never loved it. This Bianchi I thought just might be the ticket.

Although in garish tyres the bike was incredibly original with great lightly used components. It had a touch up here and there on the paint but overall was very nice indeed.

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The specs when I the shop got it were as follows:

Frame: 7000 Aluminium
Forks: 6061 Aluminium
Stem: ITM Alutig bi-cone 90mm quill
Bars: Bianchi Dural
Brakes: Bianchi CMP-1 dual pivot
Front Derailleur: Campagnolo Mirage (Double)
Rear Derailleur: Campagnolo Mirage (9-speed)
Chainset: Campagnolo Veloce 39/53
Seatpost: Bianchi SP-353
Saddle: Cinelli Volare SPX
Wheels: Campagnolo Mirage hubs laced to Mavic CXP21 rims
Pedals: Shimano SPD-SL
Colour: N2 (Ferrari Red)
Tyres: God knows! bloody horrible

The bike shop made some upgrades for sale. These were Schwalbe Durano DD tyres and black bar tape. This how I bought the bike:

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The first time I took the bike out I realised that because of the shape of the standard Bianchi bars, the brakes were quite low down. I was just too stretched out. I could ride comfortably on the tops but I wasn't comfortable on the hoods. On my very first ride a car pulled out in front of me and I just couldn't get to the brakes quick enough and ended up t-boning the side of the car. The bike bounced off, I bounced off and the car had a big Bianchi shaped dent in the side. He might look next time before pulling out.

So anyway, I did some looking around and settled on some Deda Piega bars. 26mm bars because I wanted to stay away from oversized for visual reasons. This raised the hoods up and made a hell of a difference to my riding position.



I also bought some black Miche Supertype chainrings. I wanted to slightly freshen up the appearance of the bike while staying true to the age and look. These were the same BCD as the original chainrings so fit straight on to the Campagnolo crank spider.

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I wanted to further improve the spec of the bike without 'modernising' it. I looked around for some original Bianchi carbon forks but they don't come up very often. 1 inch carbon forks aren't that common anyway. I finally found one set of Bianchi forks but missed out on Ebay. I also missed out on some LOOK forks.

After a trip to a bike jumble recently i managed to pick up a few bits. A pair of brand new old stock ITM VISIA 1 inch threadless carbon forks. An ahead version of the stem that was already on the bike (albeit the 100mm version) and a period correct bottle cage. So after getting my LBS to do some work for me converting the headset to threadless and cutting / fitting the forks, this is how the bike currently stands.

Next things i might look out for is a period correct Selle Italia Flite Titanium Saddle and a slightly shorter stem. 80mm i think would strike a balance between look and riding position.

THis is looking great. An improvement on the original design. THe black chain ring and forks look good. Very stealth. Alloy bikes are fun to ride and much better than people think.

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Thanks. I wanted to just break up the red and silver and give it something else. I think it works. It's hard creating a visual balance.

It rides great. I really like steel but alu with a carbon fork is stiff but with enough to absorb the shock

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Well done that looks very nice indeed.
The Bianchis in non celeste can look very nice and I ride an alloy version on some audax.
What's it like to ride?
Kerry.

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Really nice. It was nice before but slightly harsh at the front end. The carbon has just given that little bit of forgiveness. Unless I'm imagining it!