maddog34

Cool Lookin' Bike, Dude! it's a step up from the Bianchi MTB's of that age i've seen... Well worth Restoring.... REMEMBER.. As you clean up the Frame tube, the DEBRIS will fall Into The Bottom Bracket area... my advice is to Remove the Crank and Bottom Bracket! If you can't do this, then Lay the Bike On It's SIDE as you clean the rust out of the seat tube, then Empty the Seat tube frequently... and Do Not sand too much out,or your new seat post will slide right down in and be a pain to set correctly.. you can make a flapper sanding tool with a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" steel rod and a Hack saw with a fine tooth blade, 24 tpi or 32 tpi... and some 2" 120 grit Emery cloth strip from a hardware store. you'll need a hand drill too, but WAY easier. Just remove the outty rust, no need to polish every pit out of the inner surface... test frequently, dump debris frequently.

maddog34

like i mentioned earlier... seats AND posts get swapped as a unit fairly often... those 6 piece steel rail clamps baffle most folks. Seat gets a hole or cracks from age, Swap the entire thing from a lesser bike... Real common.

and good point about those mud catcher Brakes...;-)

JohnDThompson 

There's nothing new under the sun…

https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/1935-raleigh-x-frame/

ser_gio

Thank you for the advice. Regarding overtightening, you have the eyes and experience to note right away! You are correct. I was at the age of 15 when this bike was bought. I did not have much knowledge back then. So, overtightening happened at that time. But still, I should take some credit that I am the only one among my peers who still have a bike from that age and which is still good looking I no longer overtighten.

Andrew R Stewart 

John, like me, looks to be a sort of historian of design. I had the great opportunity to work for a shop that collected turn of the century (the1899/1900 turn, they considered WW1 as their cut off for collecting) bikes. Each winter we would service one or two of the collection and I got to have hands on experience with bikes that were 75ish years old. This just as the Asian invasion began and through the 1984 Olympic build up. The claims many made as they brought out new products were interesting as I had that 75 year old example of the "NEW and BETTER" product, but done in wood and hide instead of metal, plastic and vinyl. I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Shimano had a department that only did patent searching for both the base designs and their expiration dates, than "borrow" the expired designs.

An interesting part of Bianchi's claim is the separation of the pedaling stiffness need and the bump compliance and how a frame handles them. It seems to my lay eyes that going from a main frame that is a 4 sided structure (common "diamond" frame) to a design that has only triangles as the structural shapes would result in greater stiffness. Not exactly the changes that I would think adds compliance or absorbs road shock. But I'm sure that this claim was written by the marketing dept (or by extension, the magazine writer) and not by an engineer.

I do agree with the comments about the poorly done seat post binder. I've seen many of this type of welded on ears become bent inwards on many bikes. That, as a MtB, the binder could/would be loosened/tightened often this poor binder design is particularly sad. I suspect this bike is one of the Asian made Bianchis and that Bianchi didn't have a lot of design detail involvement beyond the "X" main frame aspect. But this is one more example why Bianchi is a bit player in the North American market, both back then and now. Andy

ser_gio

Thank you for your advice. I am a new member and glad to join such experienced and generous (to share knowledge) group of people. My restoration plan is to dismantle all parts, including the bottom bracket, clean, sand, prime, touch-up the frame, clean and reinstall all parts. I don't want to upgrade this bike but restore using original parts. As you pointed out, the bb will come out and the tubing will be cleaned, lightly sanded, and greased with ParkTool SuperGrip. This has cup-and-cone Japan made SAKAE brand bb. As much as I love to keep the original, I also enjoy Shimano cartridge type bottom brackets. I need to make the decision during my work whether keep the original (with new loose bearings + marine grease) or replace with a new cartridge bb. I also like those dust-cap integrated hex-type crack arm fixing bolts and I can use those if I upgrade to cartridge bb. But if you tell me the keep the original bb, I will strongly consider. A photo from internet for an identical bb as mine. Of course, mine will be in a rough shape after being used for 30+ years with no service.

zandoval 

I am late to post to this party... Ha... I have not really considered a 1992 bicycle an old bike but looks like the time has come. So now it can be hard to find the proper seat post size on a 92 era bike. How time fly's. Just think of trying to find the seat post size of a 70s era bike after you have salvaged the frame from a junk pile. Yep, that's a challenge. Even if ya know what seat post is supposed to go into it. Here's the way I do it and remember its not "The Way but just A Way..."Hope to see you on the forum as ya go along and thanks for educating me that bikes made in the 90s are now having the same problems as those made in the 70s...

zandoval 

Possibly, but these buggers can be pretty tough. Especially the ones made in Japan. Chances are it will be just fine. For a bottom bracket on a Mountain Bike I would prefer a Cartridge instead of loose balls. But still... Loose Balls Rule...

grumpus

You've not looked on Ali Express, have you? 18-35 mm dial bore gauge ￡34.46 with free shipping (that's not the cheapest one). Almost certainly not toolmaker quality, but probably plenty good for a bike workshop. I may try one myself, I've had some good stuff from Ali Express (and some total junk).