Fit for restore?

i-am-iron-man":2o6nnam0 said:

I concur with icantthinkofausername ...

If its worth saving its worth doing properly. From what I can gather it looks like a pretty frame. I'd get the lugs chromed and have it painted celeste. If you give it to Bob Jackson it will come back looking glorious for £70.

Click to expand...

Blimey that is a lot cheaper than I expected. I was thinking of getting it powder coated white, with black decals and black cables but for that price maybe I should go traditional - like you say it is quite a pretty frame, fairly intricate lugs etc.

I still would love to find some more info about the model and rough year etc - any ideas where to look?

Well here it is so far. I have (not very scientifically) weighed it and with the bits still left on it weighs 6.3KG - lighter than I expected!

dylan_bhafc":1m11uvhp said:

extractor threads?

Click to expand...

Usually the cranks have threads to fit an extractor tool. Fit the tool, then wind in the extractor part and it will push the crank off.

If your cranks are very old they will have cotter pins - these are on the side of the crank, instead of in line with the bottom bracket shaft. To remove cotter pins, undo the bolt a couple of turns, then tap gently with a hammer (a bit of wood in between helps stop you mashing the thread).

If you are new to all this (and no shame in that) then have a look at the Sheldon Brown and Park Tools websites.

hamster":3hpvfqkc said:

Usually the cranks have threads to fit an extractor tool. Fit the tool, then wind in the extractor part and it will push the crank off.

If your cranks are very old they will have cotter pins - these are on the side of the crank, instead of in line with the bottom bracket shaft. To remove cotter pins, undo the bolt a couple of turns, then tap gently with a hammer (a bit of wood in between helps stop you mashing the thread).

If you are new to all this (and no shame in that) then have a look at the Sheldon Brown and Park Tools websites.

Click to expand...

The cranks are cotterless. Having not touched anything in a bike fettling sense since I was about 17, I suppose I could be described as a noob, basically since going past 30 I have got all nostalgic over stuff from BITD (early mid life crisis!??). I do now remember having to use an extactor, my dad who is an engineer "made one up" for me - I had just completely forgoten about most of the stuff I have done with bikes as there has been such a gap.... thanks for the advice!

Any Bianchi experts on here who can point me in the right direction for year model?

Got the forks off now, the bolt section of the quil stem had a bit broken off so gonna need to get hold of a new one from somewhere. Gonna strip the paint off and see what is what.

Still got to remove the cranks but havn't got a tool yet. Started to remove the paint, is anyone able to tell what type of tubing it might be? It is very grey coloured!

if your're lucky - you'll find reynolds 531 stamped on the bear metal on the main tubes