Originally Posted by Mackers (Post 22495730)

Seat post is Chorus.

Cable stops are Dura Ace. Bottom bracket is a lower range Shimano Octalink.

Originally Posted by Mackers (Post 22495735)

The Athena lacks the shield engraving.

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22495737)

Interesting! Thank you so much!

What about the headset can you tell of its chorus or athena ? The difference in giro vs supperlegera is chorus vs athena. I'm starting to think this is a superleggera.

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 22495773)

It is very likely a ‘89 Superleggera or Giro frameset. The both used the same one and the Superleggera used it again in ‘90 but the Giro model was dropped. The Giro had Campanutello Athena so would match with the seat post, but I think that headset might be from the mid to later ‘90s.

Bianchi USA ‘89 catalog page


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3681ad751.jpeg


This is the ‘90 page for the Superleggera
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bdec2bae7.jpeg

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22495894)

Thank you so much Bianchigirll ! Are you saying that the seat post is Campanutello Athena and not chorus ? How can you tell the difference ?

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 22496582)

It is almost impossible to tell the difference between the Chorus and Athena seatpost because they are the same post. 🤪

Originally Posted by spudly (Post 22496717)

Here is my recently acquired 1988? Giro. I believe its all original except the seat and seatpost. I swapped out the Campy because the bike is somewhat large for me and the aero portion of the post was beginning to dip into the seat tube.

The Columbus sticker on the seat tube is completely gone, but is this an SLX frame? It does ride very well.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6a29d78745.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ef011db97.jpg

Originally Posted by spudly (Post 22496717)

Here is my recently acquired 1988? Giro. I believe its all original except the seat and seatpost. I swapped out the Campy because the bike is somewhat large for me and the aero portion of the post was beginning to dip into the seat tube.

The Columbus sticker on the seat tube is completely gone, but is this an SLX frame? It does ride very well.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6a29d78745.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6ef011db97.jpg

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22496737)

yeah thats a Slx for sure.

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 22496853)

it’s an ‘89 the ‘88 Giro was a Dura Ace bike.




How do you know?

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22496599)

thank you for your wealth of knowledgeBianchigirll
I wonder if theres a weight difference ? If the weights were known then i could tell. Also someone said in an earlier post that the athena doesn't have the campy logo, is that not accurate for this time period ? I did look at some athenas on ebay and that is the case. The logo is missing.

I think well never know if its a superleggera or giro, which is annoying because i want to decal it lol.

2 more questions if you have a sec.
can anything be told from L9 /serial number ?
also it looks like the dropouts were stretched is that normal ?
Also the itm stem seems to look more like the 1990 superleggera than the other 2 in color. In the pic they're both black in 89, but the 90 looks more grayish.

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22496599)

thank you for your wealth of knowledgeBianchigirll
I wonder if theres a weight difference ? If the weights were known then i could tell. The Superleggera and Giro used the same frame so there wouldn’t be the same.

Also someone said in an earlier post that the athena doesn't have the campy logo, is that not accurate for this time period ? I did look at some athenas on ebay and that is the case. The logo is missing. They must be referring to a later group. Athena and Chorus seem to share several components

I think well never know if its a superleggera or giro, which is annoying because i want to decal it lol. **** I wouldn’t worry too much about that unless you plan to built it exactly like one of them. ****

2 more questions if you have a sec.
can anything be told from L9 /serial number ? I can’t but someone else probably can. The style of the Bianchi decals, frame markings, dropout style, shade of Celeste and the SLX sticker on the fork all point to this being a frame that was used for those two models.

also it looks like the dropouts were stretched is that normal ? I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Also the itm stem seems to look more like the 1990 superleggera than the other 2 in color. In the pic they're both black in 89, but the 90 looks more grayish.

Originally Posted by gkamieneski (Post 22498038)

Suggest taking another good look at that DS dropout before you ride it. Maybe it’s just the photo, but it looks a bit sketchy.

Originally Posted by gkamieneski (Post 22498038)

Suggest taking another good look at that DS dropout before you ride it. Maybe it’s just the photo, but it looks a bit sketchy.

Originally Posted by TugaDude (Post 22498062)

I agree! Almost looks like someone used JB Weld or something to secure it. Whitish residue on chain stay looks weird along with the gap where the dropout slides into the seat stay.

Could L-9 be 1989 and L for the month?

Originally Posted by Taymob (Post 22498060)

Yeah , that's what I asked Bianchigirll about. Theres an odd gap. She said she sees alot like that. I'll have my lbs checkout too. This frame has been ridden quite a bit so I'm not too worried about it.

Originally Posted by Bianchigirll (Post 22498426)

Whilst this is a top line frame it's still a production bike. While we don't like to see things like this on a $1500 bike they happen. I've always suspected that these, like many other "hand built" highend frames were built by teams, one building front triangles and building rears and one putting them together. who knows we've seen little gaps like this on bikes of all levels