Just picked this up :) Bianchi Ti Mega

[eshew]

Yes the work janitor closet/bike garage is a veritable toilet paper factory.
The hand warmers are the best, though.... great for cold rides.

So the inevitable bike cleaning is coming along nicely, (albeit a bit slowly. I'm awaiting a short sale to close and have been expecting to move into the new house for the last 2 weeks...so the boxes aren't normal...) I am having some issues with sticker residue... It seams the old stuff comes off well with rubbing alcohol, the fresh sticker gue is a different animal altogether. Any clear coat friendly advice would be welcome.

Parts wise the bike is still a cluster of parts, some awesome, some bleh. Changes will be made, but it will be a slow process... and delicate...the wife...doesn't understand.

I will be tossing a mavic/xtr wheelset with real knobby tires on and will try and source a decent fork. Aside from that the bike feels nice....pedals have to go too, flats only.

Bike pedigree: Can't find shart. There are 1 or 2 photos out there but aside from that I can't seem to find anything on the bike. I assume plenty but know little, it's got to be 96-98. There couldn't have been many made, One of the frame serial #'s is 45B the other is E2231.

Here are a few less than amazing pics of the bike, I did some ham handed photoshop to bring out some more contrast.

 

[marc two tone]

quite a rare beast! nice.

i saw a similar model in sorrento, italy last year.

this was alu i think, but if i could have got it home i would have. shop owner wanted 350 euros.

 

[incorrigible]

Celeste frame with yellow spokes = Beauty!
Sort of reminds me of an aquamarine and fluoro yellow Yeti color combo.

Now if only Bianchi made a celeste-colored Ti e-stay!

 

[Bpool77]

Very tasty like marmite, plus my fav wheels spin spox

 

[eshew]

Today I was lucky enough to contact Scott Quiring, a Bianchi team rider from 96-97 hoping he could shed some light on the bike. He also builds custom frames that look incredible, check out his website below. Here is what I recieved from him.

Hi Eric, That frame is called the ti mega tube, welded in Italy at Reparto Corse. Only a handful of them were ever made or brought to the USA in around 1995-1996.....mostly '95 however. The ti tubing was cold worked at Columbus with 3/2.5 alloy. However, the mega tube downtube was two plates of titanium, formed, and then seam welded on the top and bottom at the Bianchi factory, I think. Inside the mega tube are some strips of ti welded in place to collect vibration, the theory goes. At any rate, the frame you have has the Martini Racing paint job which was the team paint job of the professional Bianchi-Martini Racing mtn bike team which had a small USA contingent, but was mostly an Italian team. I was on team in '96-97, but who's hands that frame passed through I could not tell you. I rode a Mega tube for a bit, but switched to steel which was a lot more comfortable. Good luck with it. Respectfully Submitted--Scott Quiring
www.quiringcycles.net

 

[ibbz]

Man! You’ve had it for quite some Years!
I hope I’ll be much the same with mine

 

[ibai]

Re:

Hi. I have a mint condition frame, fork, control tech post, flite celeste saddle and Miclelin tyres for sale if someone interested.

 

[ibbz]

Re: Re:

Hi. I have a mint condition frame, fork, control tech post, flite celeste saddle and Miclelin tyres for sale if someone interested.

sent you an email using the link on your sig

 

[ibbz]

Re: Re:

Hi. I have a mint condition frame, fork, control tech post, flite celeste saddle and Miclelin tyres for sale if someone interested.

Beautiful - if you don't mind, I have to show the picture of your bike here:

 

[eshew]

Wow that is the cleanest I've seen.

Here's a pic of mine as it sits today.