kimjongill

Hi
I've been looking at this Virata for a while and was wondering what your experiences are on it. Also what would be a good price to pay for it?

BTW, I'm deciding between this or a Basso bike. How does this compare?

Here's the Seller's description:
I have a 1994 Bianchi Virata Carbon frame road bike that has been in my family since new. The frame was custom ordered by a professional bicycle shop in Berkley Michigan and reassembled with some custom ordered equipment. The frame is carbon fiber tubes that are butted into the chrome molly steel wheel supports and front fork. The frame was built in the Taiwan facility that was the Bianchi authorized factory.

The frame measures 51 cm from the center of the crank shaft to the top of the tube.
The top tube to front fork tube center to center is 52 cm.
The ground to top of center bar is 76 cm.
The wheels are 700c x 23 mm.
The tires are 622 mm x 23 mm.
Shimano 105 (Japan) brake calipers, STX front and rear derailleurs.
Sugino (Japan) crank set.
Shimano (Japan) crank set bearing.
Shimano 105 (Japan) wheel hubs.
Mavic (France) wheels.
Shimano (Japan) RSX dual action brake and shift levers.

The bike has less than 250 - 300 miles on it. The paint got chipped a bit from moving so it was completely disassembled and reconditioned. I had the color matched as close as possible and it was touched up using high quality urethane paint with clear coating. The original "Bianchi, Virata & Carbon" decals were reproduced. I was able to preserve the original decal on the front, top of the bottom tube and chain guard.

The frame and fork weigh 5 lbs and the total bike weight is 24 lbs. It has the narrow road bike tires and it's super fast and incredibly smooth to ride. It's very easy to get up to 30 mph on straight roads. I also have a Krypton lock with the mount and a Cateye Mity 2 speed computer that are included with it.

The tread on the tires are OK but they have a tiny bit of cracking on the sides and should probably be replaced soon. Buyer will be responsible for replacing the tires as I have no idea what you would want to put on it.

coolkat

The components on this one are a lot more user friendly: STI's and a clincher wheelset are pretty nice to have, especially the wheelset. And the Shimano components are going to be cheaper to maintain/deal with. However, I'd much rather have the Columbus SL Basso frame...not only is early carbon a little sketchy but there's a good chance the Basso will ride better as well.