sickz

wow ceramic rims... didnt know they experimented with that material for bike rims (quite cool).

i do know from my work that ceramic is right up there with carbide in terms of hardness; would annihilate anything via abrasion. guessin those hoops were intended for no brakes.

how heavy r they relative to the avg open pro?

Mumonkan

not sure comparatively, but these wheels are very light at 32h (1654g w/ cassette and skewers)

its just a coating not solid ceramic, definitely designed for brakes tho, rim walls last a lot longer than aluminum

velofinds

Ah, in that case I agree 100% I once had someone tell me it was "just a Pista"- I had to chuckle silently to myself.

TejanoTrackie 

You need to start a Celeste Love thread and post your celeste Bianchi. If you show me yours, I'll show you mine.

johnnytheboy

new bars. salsa bend 23*

50voltphantom

Oh hell yes. Love the cables.

Edit:

and the headset spacers.

Leukybear 

I've never actually personally owned a full on true-to-goodness eco-pista.
Besides my chrome 1st fixed gear, I also had* the black maintubes/ celeste stays/ fork one w/ celeste bianchi decals and chrome track ends.

There's actually a pista mega-thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespee...ta-photos.html
Feel free to add to it, mega-threads live on forever and most of the image links are still intact.

rex615

Mine is "faded rose" (AKA pink), so no Celeste Love for me .

Mumonkan

is there somewhere that shows all the pistas throughout time?

ive always wanted a celeste one with chrome stays and dropouts and a lugged fork, not sure if that ever existed

Leukybear 

Unfortunately no, maybe bianchi has some sort of archive which obviously hasn't been accessible to the public.

I don't believe those ever existed, closest pista that comes to mind would be my sqrl's pista via condotti with an aftermarket chrome lugged fork which I've yet to get around to do myself.

A good way to start is by looking @ the decal style and whether or not it has a piaggio decal as well on the seattube. Next would be casting marks, "Bianchi" or circled "B" on the seat stays toward the top cluster and "B" or lack of, on the tops of the fork crown.

velofinds

Sorry, I know I've been a bit shameless/overboard lately but I her so damn much.



That's a nice one also- looks very Nineties, but in the best way possible. Pics?

No Celeste no cry. Post it!

X2, it doesn't exist (would look sweet, though, so I certainly get where you're coming from). @Leukybear's suggestion (pista via condotti with an aftermarket chrome lugged fork) is spot-on. Then again I've never loved that particular shade of Celeste on the Via Condotti- to my eye, it looks like Bianchi mixed in too much azzurro and not enough verde.

rex615

Actually it is a Squadra, but I do love the lug work.

TejanoTrackie 

Normally, I think white tires look tacky, but they look great with that frame color. White saddle, too.

rex615

Thank you!

Leukybear 

Yup; didn't fit me though, hence "had". I ended up parting it and selling the frameset. I should still have the listing pictures on a HDD somewhere.

It was like this one but a size down:

not mine

/not mine

JeremyLC

How close is this? (NOT MINE)

Leukybear 

^Ohhh yeah I remember seeing that one in store, $1300+tax

Mumonkan

literally exactly what i was thinking of. any more info on that sexmachine?

IAmSam

Unfortunately they made it with the chrome for only a year or two - they still make Pista Classica (and Tipo Corsa road) but now with painted lugs

Mumonkan

happen to know what those years were?
was it made with good toobz or just regular flavor crmo?

velofinds

Doesn't have chrome stays though

My view of this frameset:

- Nice pale color, seems more true to 'classic' Bianchi Celeste than the Via Condotti, which looks hypersaturated
- I love the chrome lugs, nice homage to the Bianchis of the '60s and earlier
- They call it a Classica but couldn't be bothered to give it a threaded steerer? That means you need to run a modern threadless headset (unless, of course, you get into monkeying with it), which bothers me a lot for a frameset this costly
- I believe it's just plain jane chromoly toobz.

My bottom line at least- seems very expensive for what it is, and doesn't even do what it's supposed to do perfectly. For the most part, they do look very nice and I wouldn't mind building one up if I could get my hands on one inexpensively, but they're pretty hard to find (talking about the ones with the chrome lugs, not the later ones with the cream lugs and dropouts).

jpsawyer

We ordered one of the new ones for a customer and I was very very disappointed with the quality of the frame. And the tubing was nothing special. The frame itself looked shoddily built and the paint was horrible. The lugged kilo is a nicer frame in my opinion compared to the new pista classicas

Leukybear 

2011; 4 years too late

JeremyLC

It's pretty much been said at this point. 2011 Pista Classica. I don't think the fully chromed fork is stock. This Bianchi Pista Classica is one that was built up with a threaded conversion and fully chromed fork.

velofinds

I have seen that before and it is a sexy, sexy bike that wouldn't look out of place in the pr0n thread. One can debate the merits of the frameset, but that build is just superb.