Horochar

It's time again to play "What year is my Bianchi"? With bonus questions, "What's the frame material?" and "Where was it made?" I cannot find a reference to it online. The black, gray and white paint scheme is seen on the 2003 model, but that model evidently was aluminum and not steel. This bike is steel frame and fork, 9 speed full Campy Veloce, ITM stem/bars with FSA headset. It has a small black label on head tube "Made in Italy" and "Handmade in Italy, Reparto Corse" on the seat tube. A former Bianchi dealer told me that he believes these decals are a big fat lie, and that the bike is actually an Asian import. He also believes the frame material (not identified by any sticker) is Dedacciai, a company founded in 1993 that evidently makes good quality steel tubes. Any information would be greatly appreciated: model year, frame material, country of origin.

Horochar

More pics:

T-Mar

OEM 9 speed Veloce would place it 1998-2003 but the absence of the Veloce name on the brifter levers indicates pre-2001. A steel fork, as opposed to carbon fibre also suggests earlier, as opposed to later. However, it's a traditional threaded model with lots of spacers, suggesting it may be a replacement. There should be date codes on the components like the crank arms.

I have no reason not to believe Italian manufacture, but the extent of Reparto Corse involvement is questionable. I doubt they manufactured the frame and suspect they were only involved in the design. The serial number should verify the origin and may provide the year of manufacture.

As to tubing, Dedacicai has always been my leading candidate for this period, though I have no evidence to support this, other than similarity of decal colour scheme and that Dedacciai was their prime supplier at this level during the immediately preceding period.

Bianchi models exhibit lots of variation between markets, even between those aa close as Canada and the USA. Most online catalogues are USA versions, so it possible that differences are market oriented.

Horochar

Thanks! Very helpful information.

thook

definitely a replacement fork!

so, the former bianchi dealer doesn't believe the frame to be a bianchi at all..simply made up to be one?

Horochar

He's not saying it's not a Bianchi. He's saying it's an ASIAN, not Italian-made Bianchi. Naturally I hope he's wrong, as the above poster suggests. Why would they lie so flagrantly on two separate decals? Concerning the fork, why are you so confident it is a replacement? Not saying that it isn't. There's a 2003 Bianchi Triple Veloce in this black and white paint scheme that I found online that matches the bike in all other respects except it has a black carbon fork. But is it also not possible this is a Canadian market (or some other country) bike that was equipped with a different fork?

T-Mar

Regarding the fork, it has a threaded locknut and it's atypical to put abpout an inch of spacers under the locknut. This indicates the fork's steerer is about an inch too long for the frame's head tube and suggests that the fork is a replacement.

The only other possibility that comes to mind, is that the owner threaded the end of a threadless fork so that he could install a locknut and use a threadless adapter to get an even higher bar position but it would have been a lot simpler and less expensive to just procure a higher rise stem.

Regarding the country of origin, the serial number should tell us if it is from Japan, Taiwan or Italy and possibly the year.

Horochar

Thanks. Will take a look tonight at the serial number to see if it lends any clues, but I thought that Bianchi serial numbers are a great mystery of the universe. There's no reliable guide to them online, that I could find at any rate. Can you direct me to one???

chainwhip

Your picture search confirms the fork replacement, imo....

Barring a disconfirming picture( looking more like your current bike),
the color combo above
is more likely the original colorway....

How closely does the paint on your fork match your frame?
Fork looks silver, frame looks pearl-white....

Horochar

Very well could be so. Not saying yes or no. The steel fork has a distinctive "Cromo" decal which SHOULD help to ID it. To early 2000s (ideally), the 1990s or even 1980s. I'll inspect it more closely tonight to see if the Bianchi fork decals (font, color) and paint match what else is on the bike. It seems pretty far-fetched someone replacing a busted carbon fork would find a vintage steel substitute that perfectly matches paint color and decals of the rest of bike. Indeed, white isn't a common color for Bianchis. Such a perfectly matching fork likely wouldn't even exist! (Holding onto any shred of hope that I can find that it's the original fork, maybe under the theory or delusion that it's some odd-market variant, like Canadian or Australian or something).

Horochar

Found the same decal on a 1999 Pista. FWIW.

chainwhip

How closely does the paint on your fork match your frame?
Fork looks silver, frame looks pearl-white....

We (I) can't see accurately from the online pics.

Are they a close match in person??

Horochar

Yeh, that's kinda what I was saying. Need to fly-speck it tonight when I get home (although the fork is definitely white, not silver). I'm here at work right now. Not working (obviously).

thook

right. i thought that might be what you were saying (asian bianchi) because it really makes nooo sense at all for someone to go through that much trouble to make it look like a bianchi if it wasn't at all. just wanted to get clear

other than what T-Mart says, in my exposure to the goings on in shops, cyclists commonly bust carbon forks and replace them with hopefully something matching as much as possible. the shop i used to frequent before the guy closed had aallll kinds of forks in the back room he'd sell for a little cash under the table..... along with wheels and other parts people gave him in exchange for his service. at any rate, the color scheme just doesn't match....as i see has been noted

noglider 

Don't be afraid of Asian-made Bianchis. I had a Taiwan-made Bianchi, and the quality was super-impressive. It was flawless, and it was the most durable paint I had on any bike.