Originally Posted by
tronnyjenkins
I thought I knew a bit about Bianchi bikes. Turns out I don’t know anything about the stuff from about 98 (minus Pantani)- 2005. Haha.
Would anyone happen to know any details as to this frame? Obviously the components are mehh 105 Shimano 8sp. I’m not sure if the bike was equipped like that as a Bianchi model. I’m thinking it’s more likely the local shop sold the frame and built it up. (See the mismatched shift levers).
Just thinking of upgrading my wife’s ride.
Thanks!
Sorry I am late to the party, surprisingly for late Nov the stone and gravel business is still very busy, plus my notification emails go to the spam folder for some reason.
Bianchi and Bianchi USA had some interesting offerings in the mid to late '90s.
OK does this have a tubing sticker? According to the Bianchi USA catalogs in '96 and '97 Bianchi offered a Ti SS2 road and mountain frame, I guess as a budget option to the MegaTube frame. It was unpainted and sans fork in '96 and with a Time fork in '97.
The '96 just says Bianchi 3/2.5 Ti tubing with SuperSet 2, split wire cable routing, vertical dropouts, dual bottle mounts, peg and alloy seat clamp
The '97 says Ancotech 3/2.5 Ti tubing SuperSet 2 configuration, clamp on FD, semi-verticle dropouts. split wire, dual bottle mounts, and peg. Time carbon fork option.
Looking at the catalog pics the only difference I see in the two, aside from the fork, is an American flag on the '96 so perhaps that is the year they were built by Litespeed.