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Old 11-26-20, 09:12 AM
  #1277  
T-Mar
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Originally Posted by oceanhaitang
This is for both Bianchigirll and T-Mar

So, this is wrong?
https://2velo.com/bianchi-bicycle-catalog-80s/
or this one...?
https://saarf.london/2014/03/01/bian...dbike-catalog/

I believe you guys... you seem to have a wealth of Bianchi knowledge. Just wanna confirm?

So technical question... which model brake levers and rear derailleur do you think it is? I think the levers are first gen C-Record and the RD is Victory S3? And why was Victory groupset mixed with the C-Record levers and Syncro 2 shifters? Was that common practice by the manufacturer? I was thinking maybe they had some NOS lying around? Got the bike from the owner of my favorite LBS and he got it from a friend that passed away who bought it brand new. Was tuned and lubed by the owner of the LBS it’s whole lifetime and said those were the original parts
As noted by BG, the Giro page in the 1986 catalog on those two sites is actually from 1988. The pictured Bianchi logo style was used for the 1988 and 1989 model years but the presence of the round Campione del Mondo decal (more visible on the Limited) narrows that down to the 1988 model year. Also, Bianchi discontinued their Formula tubesets at the end of the 1988 model year.

Moreno Argentin won the road race at the 1986 World Championships riding a Bianchi. The World Championships typically take place around the end of August or beginning of September and that year the road race occurred on September 6. Because of these late dates, the World Champions' reign span two calendar years and if you examine Bianchi's Campione del Mondo decals from this era you'll see that they state 1986-1987.

Bianchi would have started building the 1987 models around September 1986 and placed a 1986-1987 Campione del Mondo decal prominently on the down tube, just above the shift levers. The decal was rectangular. When they started building the 1988 models in late 1987, they changed the shape to round, as seen in those catalogue pages.

As to the components, the shift levers are definitely Syncro II. First generation Syncro had a small 2nd lever to switch between friction and index modes. With Syncro II, you pull out and turn the knurled knob to set friction mode. Syncro and Syncro II were intended as an index panacea for Campagnolo rear derailleurs. They were meant to be used with any Campagnolo derailleur in production, even if it hadn't been designed for indexing. To that extent they were generic, however to make it work with a specific derailleur you had to choose from among several inserts. Some inserts were dedicated to one derailleur while others were intended for a family of derailleurs. In the case of Victory, the insert was also used with Triomphe, Super Record and C-Record, though there were different inserts depending on if you were using a 6 or 7 speed freewheel.

By 1988, you were hard pressed to sell a mid-range bicycle like the Giro without an indexed shifting. While they didn't invent indexed shifting, Shimano perfected it with 1985's New Dura-Ace. Then they trickled it down to the mid-range and entry levels in 1986 and it was a huge marketing success. Campagnolo was caught by surprise and forced to make a quick response. That's one of the reasons why Syncro and Syncro II were quasi-generic. Campagnolo could not afford the time to design and manufacture new indexed derailleurs and indexed lever sets matched for each group. With sales on the line, the most efficient, if not most effective approach, was to use existing derailleurs and design a generic lever with different inserts.

Regarding the brake levers, they are definitely not Victory, as they are not drilled with grip/lightening holes. As noted, there wasn't an optional Victory lever at this time and aero routing was gaining popularity, so they had to mix parts. They could be C-Record but by this time Campagnolo had also introduced aero levers for Chorus and Croce d'Aune. The latter are distinctive but I can't rule out Chorus.

The rear derailleur is definitely Victory S3 as it was the only version to feature the tampo/silkscreen logo.
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