Cromovelato Celeste?
08-15-19, 09:01 PM
#26
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In a subsequent discussion, @Lascauxcaveman (who, among his many talents, is a proficient artist) asserted that it's not possible to have a cromovelato celeste because the creamy base is essential to the color and necessarily opaque.
So....what have I got here?
So....what have I got here?
Even if that bike isn't really celeste, I like it! Actually I think it looks better. I got celeste burnout at some point. I think I'd call it laguna, not celeste - which isn't really celeste anyway, but that's another topic.
08-15-19, 09:21 PM
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I think Hugh's bottom bracket picture above nails it down as a 1989 Mondiale/Superleggera/Giro. I don't think any of the other models from that year had the chrome chainstay and SLX tubing. So, I'm gonna call it a Giro because that's quicker to say and type than the others. I guess I could take a cue from you and figure out which one would have had the headset that matches my steerer length, but that'd be a lot of work.
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08-15-19, 09:22 PM
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08-15-19, 09:35 PM
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Actually I'm sure that it is possible to do a chromovelato in actual celeste - or at least something very close, though it would be difficult. A 'creamy' color is not necessarily opaque. Just keep adding clear lacquer until it has the right effect. Translucent pastel finishes were very big in the 1950s. It's really no problem at all. The trick would be getting the balance just right so that when the translucent topcoat is combined with the plating color, the overall color is correct. Undoubtedly it would take lots of experimenting, but it could be done.
Thanks. I'm kind of torn on this. My whole reason for wanting a Bianchi in the first place is that I wanted a proper Celeste bike. I didn't even care if it was one of the more mid-level models like a Limited. I just wanted a Celeste Bianchi. So when I first saw this one I was like, "that's cool but not what I was looking for." But it was cool enough that I looked again, and again, and again, until finally I decided that this was what I wanted after all.
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08-15-19, 10:12 PM
#30
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It does require a bonding agent to stick paint to chrome. In the past, clearly this was often omitted. A skilled hot rod painter may know how to do this, and be up to the challenge. And it would be a challenge.
Another option would be to do it as a candy finish, that is to say a translucent top coat over a metallic undercoat. I'm thinking a pearl white mixed with silver or something might be nice.
OTOH if what you want is a proper celeste bike, that may be what you should get. I kind of dig the older celeste from the 70s and very early 80s. Translucent paint will never look exactly like opaque paint, because of the physics of it. It's a subtractive process rather than additive.
Another way to go would be to replicate the original celeste, by painting a light sky blue, and then overcoating with ambered lacquer to turn in greenish.
08-15-19, 10:56 PM
#32
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Yes I do. Possible, but it won't look exactly the same. FWIW I deal with this finishing and color stuff as my profession. Clearly Bianchi was not trying to do a cromovelato celeste in the bike you picture. That's an 80's style gunmetal tinted black "chrome".
Last edited by Salamandrine; 08-15-19 at 11:00 PM.
08-15-19, 11:12 PM
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Well you're more qualified than me then. I just thought it was interesting that when Bianchi decided to do a cromovelato finish they reversed it instead of doing a celeste cromovelato. But I guess unless they could get it unmistakingly celeste, it wasn't gonna happen.
08-16-19, 07:41 AM
#34
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i'll take a step further and postulate that it would take a lot of time to find three identical shades of celeste in a group of randomly assembled celeste Bianchis...
08-16-19, 08:54 AM
#36
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Something about that color has me visualizing white lugs
08-16-19, 09:52 AM
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I see what you're talking about with the Celeste undercoat. The bottom bracket shell and the front derailleur braze-on definitely show that. I hadn't noticed that. Most of the scrapes strike me as yellow, but there's definitely a layer between that and the outer coat.
To me, in person, in a poorly lit room it looks extremely teal. Outside in direct sunlight it looks very blue with at most a hint of teal. In good artificial light, it's somewhere in between.
Anyway, I see that I've made a mess of my intentions, starting a thread that is about the color but trying to also get any information anyone might have about what this bike is. I suppose an exact ID might not be terribly meaningful. I've read that in the mid-80s Bianchi often had several models with basically the same frame. I just like to resolve things like that and have something to call it. Any guesses? Paging @Bianchigirll
To me, in person, in a poorly lit room it looks extremely teal. Outside in direct sunlight it looks very blue with at most a hint of teal. In good artificial light, it's somewhere in between.
Anyway, I see that I've made a mess of my intentions, starting a thread that is about the color but trying to also get any information anyone might have about what this bike is. I suppose an exact ID might not be terribly meaningful. I've read that in the mid-80s Bianchi often had several models with basically the same frame. I just like to resolve things like that and have something to call it. Any guesses? Paging @Bianchigirll
It is a cool color whatever it is. Where did it come from?
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08-16-19, 10:14 AM
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The lack of any cartouche on the stay caps agree with your theory
The big question is.... is it really SLX? Does it have the rifling? That would likely make it an '89 Mondiale, Superleggera or Giro frame set.
It is a cool color whatever it is. Where did it come from?
The big question is.... is it really SLX? Does it have the rifling? That would likely make it an '89 Mondiale, Superleggera or Giro frame set.
It is a cool color whatever it is. Where did it come from?
I had to look up “cartouche.” Nice word. Perfect for this.
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08-16-19, 10:17 AM
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I do like contrasting lugs, but what I really would like is chrome. Probably not in the cards for this one though.
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08-16-19, 10:19 AM
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I plead the fifth. It’s hard to deny the N+1 factor, but I really don’t even have room in the garage for this one.
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08-16-19, 10:36 AM
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08-16-19, 10:43 AM
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08-16-19, 10:49 AM
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Oh yeah, it is pretty similar to that color, isn’t it.
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08-16-19, 11:00 AM
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...here is a Bianchi that is painted celeste over chrome. But they did not use the transparent sorts of paint that gives the beautiful chromovelato effect, so you don't get the same impression. I've found in trying to reproduce some of those paint jobs on my bicycles here that a lot of that was done with transparent lacquers, with the resulting somewhat fragile nature of the finished product.
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08-16-19, 11:15 AM
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Tell me more about this. I've got a Pinarello Montello that was bare chrome when I got it but red when it was new. The chrome is mostly smooth. I was told it would be necessary to scratch the chrome up to get paint to stick. Is there another way?
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08-16-19, 01:42 PM
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@andy k If I am not mistaken, all Montello's are chrome under what ever paint is on them. I think I remember you posting a pic of it. Since we are talking finishes here, I am puzzled as to what was the final finish on my Montello. It appears to be a pearlescent semi transparent finish. It is fading fast. what is also strange is that like all Pinarello's, the decals have fallen off but left a ghost of them on the frame as if they were under the pearlescent finish!
P1010724 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
It had a very nice impression in the sun:
P1030581 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
P1020153 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
P1010724 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
It had a very nice impression in the sun:
P1030581 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
P1020153 by Patrick Boulden, on Flickr
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08-16-19, 01:54 PM
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^ for some reason that paint scheme always reminded me a of rainbow trout.
I think there was something wrong with the paint and paint they were using in Italy in the later '80s.
I think lots of the upper end Bianchis were chromed, I am pretty sure my '88 Super Leggera was plated but it likely used the same frame as the Mondiale.
I think there was something wrong with the paint and paint they were using in Italy in the later '80s.
I think lots of the upper end Bianchis were chromed, I am pretty sure my '88 Super Leggera was plated but it likely used the same frame as the Mondiale.
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08-16-19, 04:21 PM
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Sherbet, of course. Makes sense; my understanding is that particular Pinarello color scheme was called Spumoni.
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08-16-19, 10:17 PM
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I see Pinarello mentioned. When I first read your thread, it reminded me of a Pinarello Asolo I used to own that had quite a similar colour to your frame.