Today a strange thing happened; strange and beautiful. But I would like to start from the beginning...
It was the early 90s, I was 13 at most and I spent the best part of my time listening to the Led Zeppelin and Queen cassettes that my cousin recorded for me. The rest of the time I was pedalling. I always pedalled and went by bike wherever I could, first with a BI.mx, the Bianchi BMX, and then with my dad's old Maffioletti road bike. The beginning of a long celeste thread that led me to love the old MTBs of the 80s/90s.
You can imagine the impact that a Bianchi NTH may have had on a little boy, light blue with fuchsia decals leaning against the box shutter of a neighbour (let's call him Mr.A) who I discovered at that moment to be an amateur cyclist in preparation for the upcoming race. The NTH was beautiful. So beautiful that I remember asking my parents to have one like that myself. I also remember my father's answer very well...
I saw that bike for a couple of years, before Mr.A moved on to the Trek team, run by a very famous local store. The “celeste Bianchi” has coloured my life, sometimes with old racing bikes that had seen better times, sometimes with city bikes of increasingly less convincing workmanship. Then, a short time ago, I finally found MY Bianchi NTH, the one I've always wanted and so a project began that led me to search for the pieces that completed my little two-wheeled grail. To complete the XTR M900 assembly, a couple of brifters was needed; there was no rush, I am well aware of the current quotations of the first XTRs and so I simply decided to take it easy and wait for the right opportunity. I didn't think that soon I would also find those, near me, with some spare parts and also at a good price. I agreed with the seller the date and time for the collection and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The moment came, a few hours ago.
I see a familiar face: it's a person I know but...of course, he lived near me. "I didn't know you were into bikes" he says. I answer that be might have somethingbto do with it, I remember very well he always had remarkable bikes: the first full-suspension I've ever seen was his Trek 9500. So I explain my project, show him the photos of the NTH and he immediately replies: "what a coincidence, I disassembled these from an NTH like that"
I didn't know the seller had an NTH and he insists: "No way! When it came out it cost like my car, I could never afford it but at the end of the race season, I bought it from someone who switched teams. Wait, you know him...you know that Mr. A was an amateur racer!”
Thank you Mr. A!
