EBykr

A few months ago I was strolling through an early Saturday morning garage sale when I came upon a pile of bike frames and parts.

There were quite a few nice finds: A minty fresh Peugeot PX-10, a Carlton with Reynolds 531, and a newer Raleigh frame and fork. However, there was one frame that particularly caught my attention.

It was a Bianchi which looked to be from the early 1980’s with the traditional horizontal dropouts, “Bianchi” stamped on the seatstay tubes, brake bosses, and rear pannier braze-ons – which led me to believe it was an early touring bike. The paint was navy blue but totally rusted and chipped off. The frame needed to be totally stripped. On the head tube, it had a faint Columbus tubing stamp engraved into it.

“What a choice find,” I thought to myself, as I happened to be in the market for a frame to build up as a singlespeed cyclocross bike. If there was any frame that would be perfect, a vintage Columbus-tubed Bianchi had to be it. As if it couldn’t get any better, when I presented the frame to the garage sale proprietor, he said “Oh that thing, hell, you can have it!”

Bellissimo! Ciao! I sprinted home in a fury to scour the Internet and find out exactly what I had stumbled upon. In my quest for info on the garage sale score of the year, an abundance of info flourished before my eyes regarding the legend of Edoardo Bianchi and his humble bike shop beginnings 120 years ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t uncover much information on my newly acquired frame, but the wealth of history I did learn about Bianchi was far more interesting than the nebulous specs of a 25 year old touring frame. Like Henry Ford, Edoardo Bianchi was the grandfather of the modern bicycle. His innovations coupled with the success of Bianchi’s “Reparto Corse” makes Bianchi one of the most influential manufacturers in the history of cycling.

On Milan’s Via Nirone 7, a 21 year old Edoardo Bianchi started his first shop in 1885 repairing bicycles, which were a recent invention. Bianchi was quite a visionary because within three years, the company introduced one of the first bikes with wheels of nearly identical size and chain drive called the “safety bike” as well as the world’s first bicycle with pneumatic tires. Within ten years of Bianchi’s inception, the company was officially recognized by building a bike for Italian royalty, Queen Margherita. Her majesty made eating pizza an international phenomenon, and the endorsement of Bianchi by Margherita’s “Royal Crown” had an undeniable impact on Edoardo’s business.

Reparto Corse, which translated means “race department”, was yet another creation of Bianchi in the late 19th Century. In today’s world of Italian automotive, motorcycle, and bicycle racing, Reparto Corse is a universal term which represents the utmost in technology innovation for the purpose of winning. Bianchi first put this concept to work in 1896 by racing their bicycles in order to establish a proving ground for their technology. By 1899, a Bianchi ridden by Giovanni Tommaselli rolled to victory in the Grand Prix of Paris, the predecessor to the Tour De France. The notoriety Bianchi was receiving from its Reparto Corse made the company one of the most popular brands in its industry. Growth was exponential during the early 20th Century as Bianchi became the choice in competitive bicycle racing.

As Bianchi was growing into the preeminent manufacturer of high performance bicycles, World War I interrupted its track of accelerating its bike business. Because of Bianchi’s size and influence, the Italian government mandated that Bianchi focus its efforts on manufacturing in support of the war. By this point, Bianchi had become more than just a bike manufacturer. According to Bianchi, by 1914, the company was producing 45,000 bicycles, 1,500 motorcycles, and even 1,000 cars per year. Therefore, it was clear to see why the Italian government required Bianchi’s assistance. The most notable invention that came from the period of WWI manufacturing was the birth of the “bersaglieri”, the very first mountain bike. Long before Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, and Gary Fisher bombed the downhills of Mount Tamalpias in Marin, Bianchi had developed a bicycle for the Italian army which featured front and rear spring suspension, telescoping seatstays, 60cm wheels with wide Pirelli tires, a frame that could break down and be carried like a backpack, and of course optional mounts for artillery.

After a relatively successful 1920’s and 1930’s with various Giro wins, the 1940’s was a significant decade for Bianchi. The incomparable Fausto Coppi started racing for Bianchi, the destruction of Bianchi’s manufacturing facilities in WWII bombings stopped production for three years, and the invention of Bianchi’s most recognizable trademark, the paint color “celeste”.

There are several stories behind how “Bianchi blue” came about, but nobody is certain what the truthful origin of this blueish-green creation really is. Some say Edoardo created the color in honor of Queen Margherita’s beautiful eyes. Others say that it was Edoardo’s homage to Milan and its beautiful sky, or “celeste”. A third belief was that Bianchi had so much surplus green paint from Mussolini’s WWII reign, that they mixed it with blue to create a unique color. Still another story was that celeste was a complete paint mixing mistake done on the team bikes only days before the Giro d’Italia. Fausto Coppi and his teammates though the bikes were purposely painted that way for good luck, and the rest, as they say, is history. However, according to a Bianchi USA employee, Sky Yeager, none of these tales were responsible for the creation of celeste. According to her interview with Nels Cone, Edoardo created it to be a unique standout in the peloton, and over the years the color naturally developed through a few different early variations. Regardless of what the truth is, feel free to pick your favorite story and spread the legend.

Fausto Coppi won five Giros d’Italia and two Tours de France with the support of Bianchi and its Reparto Corse. WWII not only interrupted Bianchi’s business, but also the career of Coppi. The “Campionissimo” won his first Giro in 1940 and set the world hour record in 1942. After a three year hiatus due to the war, he achieved his greatest accomplishments in pulling a “double” – winning both the Giro and the Tour in the same year, and he did it twice (1949 and 1952). In 1953, he won the World Championships aboard a Bianchi that had an integrated headset – an innovation many decades ahead of its time. The only racer in history with a more impressive dossier than Coppi was Eddy Merckx. Had it not been for the interruption of WWII, Coppi may well have superseded the achievements of Merckx.

As if the destruction of the Bianchi facility in WWII wasn’t tragic enough, tragedy struck Bianchi on several fronts during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Edoardo died in a car accident in 1946, Fausto Coppi’s brother died in a sprint finish of the 1951 Giro del Piemonte, and in 1959 Fausto himself died from malaria at the young age of 40.

Leadership in Bianchi passed to Edoardo’s son, Giuseppe, and his restructuring of the company nearly brought it to its knees. After the Italian government paid its financial debts to Bianchi, the company survived the 1950’s, and in the 1960’s Bianchi became a dedicated bicycle manufacturer, ceasing production on its cars and motorcycles.

After the untimely departure of Fausto Coppi, the 1960’s saw the rise of another cycling legend aboard a celeste Bianchi, Felice Gimondi. With three Giro victories, a Tour victory in his first year as a professional, and a win in the Vuelta de Espana, Gimondi brought more fame and legend to the Reparto Corse and Bianchi. During the days of Coppi and Gimondi, the celeste color that Bianchi trademarked became synonymous with victory. It helped carry Bianchi through the 1970’s and 1980’s. As the nature of the cycling industry changed, and manufacturing costs became less expensive overseas, Bianchi started mass production of less expensive frames in Japan. Although some scoffed at the fact a Japanese made Bianchi was not true Italian, the quality and craftsmanship of Japanese Bianchis were actually superior to some Italian models.

By the 1980’s, Bianchi had long perfected the art of lugged steel frames most often built with Columbus tubing. Models such as the Specialissima and Centenario are especially in demand with their gorgeous chromed lugs and celeste paint. One bike of particular rarity is the Specialissima X-4, which was the flagship bike for Bianchi in 1988. Built with Columbus SLX tubing, celeste paint, black chroming, custom engraving all over (including an X-4 on the rear brake bridge), and equipped with Campy C-Record, according to Sheldon Brown’s site, this model was never offered in any US catalog. It was also during this time in the late 1980s that the Reparto Corse started experimenting with new frame materials such as carbon, aluminum, and titanium.

With aluminum, the Reparto Corse developed their EV4 tubing, which pushed the limits of lightweight and stiffness. A 1.9 lb EV4-tubed Bianchi was ridden in the 2000 Olympics by none other than “Il Pirate”, the late great Marco Pantani. The EV series frames also featured patented structural foam injection for added strength and durability. Other innovations like MegaPro tubing, which vary the diameter and tapering of tubes for added shock absorption and rigidity, sloping top tubes, for light weight and torsional stiffness, and the return of integrated headsets make a modern aluminum Bianchi more race worthy than its competitors. Along with aluminum, Bianchi utilizes aerospace grade titanium and carbon to produce frames and components which are found on many of the Reparto Corse labeled Bianchis. Only eight years prior to Pantani’s EV4 Bianchi, Gianni Bugno won the 1992 Worlds on a bike that weighed more than four pounds more than Il Pirate’s bike, further proving the worth of Bianchi’s Reparto Corse in the 1990’s and its continued influence on the advancement of bicycle technology.

With the recent endorsement of modern cycling great Jan Ullrich, Bianchi has managed to keep itself in the spotlight with the most select bicycle manufacturers after 120 years of consistent performance and innovation. Other manufacturers who are not even half the age of Bianchi have gone the route of complete mass production and catering towards the recreational buyer, but Bianchi’s 110 year old Reparto Corse keeps the company from losing its racing heritage.

After a month of searching for parts and finishing the rattlecan paint job on my Bianchi cyclocross frame, it was ready to race. The paint was a celeste knock off – a pastel greenish hue found at Home Depot which is a bit darker than the actual celeste color, but close enough. The finished product looked gorgeous, and with some vintage parts like Campy Strada cranks, non-aero Shimano brake levers, and first generation Shimano Deore cantilevers, my imposter celeste Bianchi turned a lot of heads. After being used to racing an S-works Specialized ‘cross bike, the feel and performance of the lugged Columbus steel was a welcome change. After being accustomed to riding all the newest carbon and aluminum, I had forgotten about the superior ride quality of vintage steel, not to mention the pride in owning such a unique rig that garnered compliments from all of my cronies. Steel is indeed real, and so is the Reparto Corse. Bellissimo! Ciao!

Sources

Bianchi USA: here, also here

Bicycle Trader

Cycling Utah