celesteguy 

Okay, the short version of this is "does anyone know if the mid 90's Bianchi EL OS frames were fully chrome, or was it just the fork and stays?"

The long version (dont read unless you want to fully geek-out with me on this) is that I am looking to greatly reduce the amount of bikes I've acquired over the years and get the ones I want to keep into a sort of "forever" configuration with the proper groups and kit on them. I have a Bianchi EL OS frame that I will probably never part with. The ride is as close to floating or flying as I can imagine and the handling is amazing. And it's a Bianchi. One of the things that bothers me is that it can only accept 23mm or smaller tires, which shouldn't bother me because even with 23s it still rides better than some of my bikes with 25s or 28s on them. The second thing that "bothers" me is the paint job on my frame is the one that leaves the dropouts and unicrown fork shoulders unpainted. Some of these frames have celeste (or other color) on the dropouts and fork which I much prefer, but I have never found one in my size (57cm) with this tube set and paint job. To mitigate this, I was thinking of exposing the lugs on the headtube if they were fully chrome. ie scraping the paint off carefully from the lugs to add some pop to the frame. But I dont want to jerk around with the paint job if theres no chrome under there. I've read somewhere that it is full chrome, but I dont know if some frames are and some aren't or what, or if anyone has an idea how I could find out.




Here is the bike now. I ride it often, so it's not a garage queen. As far as the configuration, I'll be replacing the Athena 11 speed with a mostly Veloce 9 or 10 speed set up, and a longer stem. Also black tape and saddle with skin wall tires, though I guess those can be easily swapped around for quick aesthetic changes. Also, I'm considering painting the dropouts and fork shoulders to match the other paint scheme on these frames. I know these are dumb details, but I think bike appearance is super important. Just want to make sure scraping paint off or adding paint to spots on a frame like this isn't sacrilegious.

Old Fireleg

It's your decision!
But...


(Sorry)

francophile 

Chroming requires a certain level of metal finishing to have a perfectly smooth quality to the chromed surface. By the time we got to the 80s, for production volume an cost savings purposes, only the rear triangle and fork blades were finished well enough and those parts were what got dipped.

General rule of thumb I've found to work through the mid-70s is: If the lugs are chromed, there's a solid chance all tubes are chromed. Given your bike is in the 80s and has no chrome lugs, I'd find it highly doubtful it was chromed all over, and even if it is, the parts covered in paint would likely have an orange peel texture to them.

Primary exception to the rule is with bikes that have chromovelato paint jobs, which requires a reflective coating on the tubes before laying translucent lacquer or candy paint over it.

(PS - I also agree Old Fireleg , sorry!)

repechage

Mona Lisa's and mad hatters.
I doubt the frame has suitable chrome lugs to expose.

celesteguy 

Thank you for the replies! That picture says it all, so I think I'll refrain from any custom paint touch ups or removals.

friendofpugs

I've owned a Bianchi EL-OS before, and I don't think the lugs are chromed. I would leave it alone and enjoy/appreciate it for what it is.

thinktubes 

celesteguy - nice ride, fantastic as is, no need for gimcrackery.

Old Fireleg

celestemate!

I apologize once again,for direct expressing my opinion. But for your reassurance: chrome is a beautiful complement but really comes to darker tones. With a midnight blue or a ruby red metallic color is much more uplifting than a pale color like celeste or other pastel colors.They knew it at Bianchi, and they did not accidentally leave it among the first. It was not used in the '70s and' 80s, but perhaps not even in the '60s, while at Colnago, Pinarello etc. appears even on some types in the' 80s.

I have a '93 Genius from the EL-OS era. But it was already made by TIG welding, without lugs. So I'm not going to face this issue. Anyway, I checked the head tube, and I'm sure a white primer was blown underneath the celeste and it seems, but I'm not sure there is no chrome. While the chainstays and the seatstays are chrome.
Scusi maestro Raffaello!

Reynolds 

That's a great looking bike as it is, I wouldn't try to improve it.