Help identifying vintage Bianchi frame
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Help identifying vintage Bianchi frame
I just recently acquired this Bianchi frame. The decal says it's slx. I'm curious to know the year and model, but having trouble. The decals look 88-89 ish but can't tell if it's a super leggera, giro, or Mondial. I know there are small differences but I'm not expert enough to notice. Was wondering if someone can help me. I've read alot of posts here and it seems like Bianchigirll is the ultimate expert. Any details would be helpful. I'm not going to sell it. Just going to build and ride.
Last edited by Taymob; 05-06-22 at 09:28 PM.
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Read through the catalog again today I think its either a Giro or Superleggera. The differences look minimal. Looked at the headset and aero post and neither indicated chorus or athena, which would be the difference. The headset just says campagnolo brev int and the seatpost only says made in italy and 27.2 . Is there anyway to tell?
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Bianchi USA ‘89 catalog page
This is the ‘90 page for the Superleggera
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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
This is the ‘90 page for the Superleggera
Bianchi USA ‘89 catalog page
This is the ‘90 page for the Superleggera
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Thank you so much Bianchigirll ! Are you saying that the seat post is Campanutello Athena and not chorus ? How can you tell the difference ?
It is almost impossible to tell the difference between the Chorus and Athena seatpost because they are the same post. 🤪
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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.
Last edited by Taymob; 05-06-22 at 05:50 PM.
#11
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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.
The Columbus sticker on the seat tube is completely gone, but is this an SLX frame? It does ride very well.
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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.
The Columbus sticker on the seat tube is completely gone, but is this an SLX frame? It does ride very well.
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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.
The Columbus sticker on the seat tube is completely gone, but is this an SLX frame? It does ride very well.
How do you know?
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
#14
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The best way to ensure it's SLX is to pull the bottom bracket. Reach up into the seat and down tubes, you should be able to feel rifling at the butted area of the tubes.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
……
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
Last edited by Bianchigirll; 05-07-22 at 10:10 AM.
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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.
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Could L-9 be 1989 and L for the month?
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Lol, it's not that bad. it looks like a gab from stretching to 130 or something. It's only the one side though. The white is from the guy riding over paint. I'm gonna try and take that off tomorrow.
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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.
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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
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“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
“One morning you wake up, the girl is gone, the bikes are gone, all that's left behind is a pair of old tires and a tube of tubular glue, all squeezed out"
Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk
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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
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Bianchigirll last question. When I look at the catalog there seems to be only one difference in The frame between superleggera and giro. The Superleggera says chromed fork ends, where the Giro does not. These forks seem to be chromed. What are your thoughts ?