It’s been a few years since I’ve restored a bike older than the 1970s, and this Bianchi Sport was the perfect candidate. With a timeless, classic design and high quality details, it was born to cruise the streets in style. Mechanically simple, it retains a few distinctively Bianchi features that set it apart from the rest. Read on to learn about this lovely ladies’ bike and the restoration process.
A few months ago I acquired a 57cm Bianchi Campione del Mondo that I believe to be from the early 1960s, serial number 201-533. This gorgeous masterpiece was Bianchi’s top model back then, created in the late 1950s to commemorate the World Championship victory of Fausto Coppi in 1953 at Lugano, Switzerland. I bought it from an older gentleman in the East Village, NYC, who said it had belonged to his brother. It was bought new in 1960 and rode it in several races in Italy and France around that time.
It was in truly impressive condition; the previous owner had it in dry storage for several decades after his brother’s untimely death. It still had a faded Italian flag tied around the brake cables. There were a few small scratches in the paint and some of the Bianchi decal on the downtube had come off.
Unknown Bike Co. is a new California-based manufacturer of fixed gear bikes. Based in Long Beach, they currently offer five different frames. Most are aluminum and all offer an extremely lightweight and stiff ride. This particular bike is their “Combat” model, which is more of an urban fixed than a purebred track beast. I got a size 52cm new in a trade earlier this year, complete with Unknown carbon fork and their “K6” track crankset.
The Combat is a surprisingly well-made frame, considering the $175 price tag, making it very competitive with aluminum fixed frames from the big names like Bianchi or Cinelli.
The fork will set you back an additional $225 and the cranks are $200, bringing the overall cost up quite a bit. However both pieces of kit are impressive, both in looks and manufacturing quality. Where many other companies cut corners with steel forks and cheapo single speed cranks, Unknown sets the bar high.
I built it up with a brand new Bianchi Pista wheelset, matte-black track pedals, classy black saddle, SRAM PC-1 chain, Specialized stem, and lightweight OS aluminum riser bars. The logos are very low-key and blend into the frame and cranks beautifully. It’s up on NYC Craigslist right now as I’ve got too many bikes already, and hopefully it will go to a good home soon.
Check out more hi-res photos after the jump…
I restored this little blue Bianchi last year, starting with just a beat-up old frame and fork. It was a Bianchi Backstreet from 1990, an early “hybrid” that combined the frame of a hard-tail mountain bike with 700c wheels. It was constructed from good quality Tange tubing and was fully lugged.
After sandblasting the frame, I re-painted it a deep blue and gave it matching fenders. Then I added a brand new 26-inch wheelset with a Sturmey-Archer S-RC3 three-speed internally geared rear hub. I also added a brand new crankset with a single chainring. The handlebars were NITTO brand, and I added cork grips wrapped in deep red cloth bar tape to enhance the grip.
The result was a classy townie bike / commuter designed for cruising around the city in style. Mechanically, it was extremely simple: no brake levers, just a coaster (“kick-back”) brake and the gear shift lever up front. It sold to a petite girl at the beginning of the spring season this year, and I hope she’s still riding and enjoying it.
Click “Read more” to see a gallery of hi-res photos of this bike.
Another day, another bike post! This is my geared touring bike that I built up from a 1998 Bianchi Volpe frame. I wanted to build a geared bike for century rides and other rides where a single-speed wouldn’t be the best choice. I also wanted to try out a bullhorn handlebar setup, which I enjoy. It’s very stable and perfect for when you really want to go fast. This bike is still sort of a work in progress; it’s comfortable and fit to me but I’d like to replace the stem to match the rest of the white & blue theme.
More details and pictures after the jump…