Bianchi L'eroica
 

Ok it"s beautiful
But what do you all think of a $K3 copy of a vintage machine just to enable the privileged few take part in a rally.
Oh but it is pretty

Two issues. One, three grand for a bike - not a chance on my bank account. And, if you want to ride a vintage bike, buy a vintage bike. I truly do not like this retro stuff. To that add that if Erocia allows brand new bikes tin their rally, then to heck with the rally and Erocia.

What, they can't ride it anywhere else?

Not a fan of these retro styled new bikes. They fail to have the quality and workmanship expected in an old machine. Often they don’t have the features one would expect on a nice new bike. I poor compromise at best. The worst of both worlds.

Just my opinion.

If $3K is all it costs, then it costs less than do a lot of bikes with CF frames and shouty logos.

I'm glad that there's a wide array of expensive bikes for middle-aged [insert your least favorite profession here] with too much money. The more such people spend on cycling, the less they have left over to spend on polluting alternatives.

With the understanding that you're a fairly recent member, do a little research and you'll find that this topic has been rehashed several times.
Dead horse, etc.

All true. I need to add that the units brought to Eroica CA by Bianchi looked very nice. And a complete Spcialisima with nice new paint might be $,$$$

“Privileged few”. Please stop the derogatory name calling. I certainly would not be able to afford it nor buy it but I don’t see the need to label those that do with an insult.

Well, apparently it isn't currently available from Bianchi anyway so try not to worry about it. At least they do not show it on their website as available, though you can find an archived listing for one.

But, at that $3000 price point the L'Eroica is still one of Bianchi's least expensive road bike models. Virtually every other model in their 2021 line up starts well above that price. The base model "Sprint" starts at $3200 USD, the Aria is more, the Infinito much more and the new Specialissima at around $15,000 is much, much, much more!

These prices are in-line with what other manufacturers are offering and bike shops can't keep them in stock! Bicycles are in such high demand that the shortages are likely to last well into 2022, which also means that prices will likely remain high. Maybe the Bianchi L'Eroica should actually be considered a "value bike", if one is looking to buy new. Or perhaps bicycles in general are now only for the "priviledged few."

Not in the spirit of L’Eroica, even if the rules allow it. Not something the truly heroic would do,

I have a locally built frame, Obrien, I bought used, investigated the manufacture. Their price for a custom built steel complete bikes were in the range of $5,000-$6,000. Depending on how it was kitted up.

Good looking bike. It's $3,000 for the frame. $4,000 for the bike! And it's not a good groupset on the bike. Someone here bought one and it came with clincher wheelset.... which would have pissed me off.
Good luck friction shifting 10 gears! And you don't get any pedals! Where are the Campy retro pedals?
https://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/road/vintage/eroica/

It's made of Zona tubing, which is just seamless 4130 CrMo. For $3000 you'd expect at least SL or Spirit.

There are quite a few on this forum who have actually purchased one. They tend to keep their head down though because of the hostility shown towards these bikes. :mad:

To keep the price this low they sourced currently available components. Campy just isn't making high flange hubs anymore. Go figure. :foo:

Friction shifting a 10 gear casette works fine. There are many examples of people doing that in this forum. :thumb:

The bike did come with pedals. :rolleyes:

The link you've shown is an archived page and the 2021 Bianchi website does not show this bike as being currently available in the US, although some old stock may still be out there. :beer:

I'd rather spend 3k on a new "vintage" bike than $30 on an old production bike, European/American production especially in the 60's-80's wasn't exactly high quality I'll take modern machining and bonding methods with people who GAS any day no matter the cost.

I recently rehabbed an old Nishiki ONP with full Superbe. I already had the frame, and did not have it repainted. With the exception of the headset, all of the other parts on the bike were purchased for the build, and only a few were NOS. I spent north of $1k to complete it. $3k for a fully-built, all-new machine with some special qualities (style, in this case), is not totally unreasonable, IMO. It seems to me that you would have a very hard time building a real vintage frame, with new paint and decals, and all NOS parts for much less.

Friction shifting 10sp is easier and faster then friction shifting 5/6/7 speed. I like me some tubulars but high quality clinchers in 2020 are simply incredible and better than any tubie made 40 years ago, yes an FMB is marginally better than a boutique clincher but since most won't splash out for $220 plus shipping for an FMB nor the $160 for the RH boutique clinchers and that's not to mention you need three of the FMB's..Modern chit is just better no matter the qualifications you put on them.

I love throwing modern stuff on old boutique chit but lets not kid ourselves on what modern v old is I'm not interested in bleed down oiling, adjusting points, or having a choke on anything I drive every day and I'm not interested in unpinned and ramped chainrings or cassettes nor am I interested in corncobs w53/42

Full disclosure: I own(ed) three of these.
#1 was a complete bike purchased at auction at Eroica in 2016; I was the winning bidder at something north of retail. Good cause- Hospice of SLO. Still new in the box in storage with a commemorarive Eroica Brooks saddle, it will be a present for my oldest grandson when he becomes a teenager tall enough to ride a 57. He’ll turn 6 this year,so has plenty of time to grow into it.
#2 was a frame purchased at auction at Eroica in 2017. Also a 57, I built it up with lovely vintage Campagnolo Nuovo Record and donated it to the Eroica auction benefitting Hospice of SLO in 2018. It fetched $3000 if I recall correctly. When I took it to the LBS to have the steer tube cut, it got more attention than any other bike I’ve ever shown them.
#3 is a 55cm frame purchased at auction at Eroica in 2018, still new in storage. Just in case my oldest grandson turns out to be shorter than me or his parents or if the younger one turns out to be less tall than his bro. If not, I’ll wind up selling it in a dozen years or so.

They are beautiful bikes and beautifully built. Yes, they piggyback on the Eroica name and popularity, but let’s not forget that Bianchi has poured a bunch of money into Eroica events as a major sponsor.

Here's a real one, selling for about half of what the EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEroica model sells for. He's a forum member here, too.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bianchi-Spe...UAAOSw0axfuBL~

You can do L'Eroica and similar events on a $10 bike and have just as much fun, so you don't need it.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...756f5e9da9.jpg

But, for the money it is a really nice bike and, in my opinion, a more attractive proposition than many other similarly-priced bikes. So if you prefer new, then sure, get one.

Ferget about Eroica, somebody did Cino on a Schwinn Varsity.

That's Cino.

We'd run out of things to talk about if we didn't beat a dead horse or two once in a while, ;)

It's all good as long as the OP doesn't start a chain lube thread . . .

It's pretty, but sentimentality is both dull and expensive. An old bike is better at being an old bike and a new bike is better at being new.

Cool that you like modern friction shifting. There have been a lot of improvements over the years and new clinchers for sure are nice.

But folks don't generally ride 40 year old tubulars. Riding older gear doesn't mean you have to ride a corn cob. Nor do you have to spend a lot of time keeping it going as you suggest. And the unpinned and ramped chainrings do just fine as long as you are friction shifting. That is what you are doing with your new 10 speed gearing, right?

Yeah, it's pretty. No, I don't want one. Other than that, ride what you like. The fact that I or anyone else likes or does't like something you like to ride should not make any difference at all to you. It's about time that we all realize that someone who disagrees with you, doesn't like what you like or likes what you don't like is not automatically stupid or morally defective.

That applies to a lot of things. A few of them are even more important than bikes - but not many. :D