konakai

picked this up yesterday off of local Facebook. the seller had 3 or 4 poor pictures in sections not showing the complete frame and Def not showing the rear stays. his ad said something like bianchi frame with some vintage bits. frame is straight with no damage that I can see. I was jazzed driving over to get it. I almost cried when I saw the stays. I still drug it home after renegotiate, the serial number starts with 160, 1960 maybe. does anyone know who could replace these stays....thanks for letting me vent

Bianchigirll 

degan

Sort of looks like there was a rack on there that was so overtight for so long it became structurally integral to the frame.

bertinjim 

konakai-

Could you narrow your location? Your profile says US but people will recommend builders depending on your location. And yes, it is to weep.

konakai

sure, I'm in the midwest, missouri. I'm sure there are many who could make this repair, I just don't know anyone. thanks

iab

1605XX is 1960/1961.

Yellow Jersey in Wisconsin could fix the stays. They are relatively local to you.

Neat bike though, would have cleaned up nice if it weren't for those stays.

konakai

yea, that's why I was sick when I saw it, don't know what was up with all that tape, thought maybe it was holding it together.. I'd like to repair the stays,, just repaint them,, and leave the original paint

noobinsf 

Definitely talk to Yellow Jersey, and I;m sure you'll get a few more recommendations from folks as this thread progresses. It's a brutal discovery, but certainly fixable, and that's a bike that's worth the trouble.

iab

If it makes you feel better, I'd spend real money on the stem/bars/cage combo. Maybe even more than what you paid total.

bikemig 

Jeff Bock in Des Moines is a very fine frame builder. He could do this repair. If you're not too far from Des Moines, you could even visit his shop which is north of Des Moines and talk to him about the repair.

konakai

I'm not crying about buying the frame, I've got a sweaty folgore, and have been looking for an early celeste bianchi for a while. I like something as nice as I can find it original, but I really appreciate the sweaty, battle scarred originals. I saw half the bike in pics, then the rest when I went to pick it up. it was a blow, but it's all good, I'm a happy camper

AZORCH

If you're in Kansas City, Missouri area Julie Ann Pedalino could easily do that job.

gugie 

Question for @Doug Fattic,

Seat stays are probably the easiest things for a framebuilder to replace; it's the last part of a frame that goes on. I'm looking at the mitered end caps and chrome socks, and would think these should be preserved if possible. If'n it were me, my first thought would be just to cut out the damaged portion and splice in a new section, preserving both the mitered "bullet" original ends at the seat lug as well as the original chrome, then of course adding a new brake bridge. This would save most of the original paint (the OP stated he appreciated the battle scars).

Probably the hardest thing would be matching the paint color and matching the patin, but an automative paint shop could match it.

Thoughts?

Rage

Didn’t actually cry. Just teared up some, is all (sniff).

iab

The Bianchi seat cluster is cast, including the bullet, there is no miter. The seat stay is square cut to fit.

gugie 

Another reason to keep it.

Alsobay

It looks like this Bianchi is in the right hands. Can’t wait to see the end results.

mackgoo

For another source check out Lightweight Classic Vintage bicycles. You'll find a bunch of qualified individuals.

merziac

IMO, you hit the jackpot.

Plenty here to be thankful for, that kind of thing up front would be far worse and way more $$$$$$ to fix.

This is a holy grail of Bianchi's this old, Specialisima, Celeste, bars, stem, HS, levers, crank, BB and pedals, check, check, check and check.

Pretty much whatever you paid was a deal.

Get to it and make it so, this is going to be fantastic.

bikingshearer 

What's the big deal? That'll buff right out. (Hey, somebody had to say it . . . .)

Even if iab hadn't provided the serial number/date info, I would have said that was a bunch older than 1980. The head badge, the pressed-in headset, the decal style and the placement of the serial number all say "early to mid 1960s" even without iab's (as usual) great info.

As for the previous owner, some people just should not be allowed to have nice things. What was done to those seat stays has to be banned by the Geneva Convention. And if they had to splash gray paint/primer on the damaged seat stays, why did they also have to splash it on the back of the (seemingly undamaged) seat tube? I mean, really, ?

verktyg 

Some people shouldn't be allowed to pick up any tool more complicated that a hammer! A stone hammer!



Ed Litton would be the go to guy for first class repairs on high end Bianchis. He had a contract for years with Bianchi USA to do all of the warranty repairs, resprays and other work on their top bikes. He has decals and can mix any color of Celeste you'd like.

Unfortunately like many of the other top builders, he has a back log. I'm going on a years and a half waiting for my new frame.

That said, as gugie suggested, splicing in some new seat stays would be a good option if done by someone who knew what they were doing.

Bianchi used cast lugs; the bullet points were part of the of the seat lug casting.



The seat stays slide over he spuds or spigots like on this lug.



Trying to un-braze the stays from the lug can easily result in overheating the lug and seat tube because the remelting temperature of the brass is higher than the original melting temperature when the frame was being built. Look up eutectic effect.

I would recommend cutting the seat stays off near the lug and use a mechanical method like filing, grinding with a burr etc.

The NDS stay looks OK above the brake bridge until you get to the butchery. Cut it off below what could be the heat affected zone - 3" below the scar. The drive side stay need major reconstructive surgery. Remove the diseased portion and go from there.

Fit smaller diameter tubes into the implants, even a sold rod might work OK as weight is not an issue. Braze using low temperature silver, file, sand, respray.

The over spray on the back of the seat tube could be just that, the nimrod got carriesd away with the rattle can... or they could have burned the paint while trying to cauterizing the wound...

UMM ROCK GUD !

verktyg

gugie 

Those details are pretty much exactly what I was thinking. I think the overspray could be carefully removed, or resprayed to match, then some accelerated patina to match the rest of the bike. The goal would be to make it look like there was never an issue to begin with - an "invisible" repair.

There are lots of great builders mentioned above, if their queues are too long, the OP could contact me. Looks like something I'd enjoy bringing back to life. This frame is definitely worth saving.

BTW, a solid "implant" wouldn't be advised, it'd take a lot of heat to get silver to melt and stick to it. A few times when doing this kind of spice I've use both undersized and oversized tubing, slotted it, and reshaped. The OD of the seat stay should be easy to match from stock tubing.

verktyg 

I was thinking of using a small plug near the bottom of the mangled DS stay because the small diameter stays are usually taper gauge. The tubing wall thickness increases as the diameter decreases. Maybe a Roll Pin of the right diameter would work?

Years ago a friend of mine got interested in C&V bikes after seeing and riding some of mine. We went to a bikes swap at the Cow Palace. He's quite impulsive and bought an old custom built ultra light French frame from the 50's or earlier without consulting with me first. It was lugless with main tubes that could have been as thin as 0.3mm like the post war French Trials bikes.

It had been sand blasted and rattle can sprayed flat gold. Visions of sugar plums danced in his head as he was looking forward to restoring it to period correct and riding it. Not sure if it was me or him who discovered the rust cancer in the seat stays and forks...

He's an accomplished machinist, designer, fabricator and so forth but had the common sense to take it to a local builder who sleeved the seat stays rather than try to replace them (can of worms). Now it will always be a wall hanger.

The OP's Bianchi has a much more robust frame... but any time I see chrome socks I get suspicious because I have 3 rare bikes that were not properly neutralized after chrome plating and you can hear the rust flakes rattling around in the forks and stays.

Most recently, I bought this low mileage 1985-86 Bernard Hinault Look 753 bike. There were only 50 or 100 of these frames made in each size. Someone was bugging me to buy it. On close inspection of the rust worms on the NDS seat stay, he asked "what's that spot?" I pushed on it and became instantly ILL... Stage IV carcinoma!




The NDS stay can be replaced but what about the other side? Then the chains stays??? and the cost to replace the 753 stays and so on...

verktyg

gbi

Very nice! Is the crankset an early version with the raised lip around the pedal eye?

konakai

thought I'd show an update on the bianchi, its still a work in progress,, but it looks a little better