Hello all,
I just got the Bianchi TdF back from Ed Litton and spent all day Sat. building it. Here are some notes from the build.
The neat thing about this Bianchi is that all of the nuts and bolts are odd sizes... ok, it really drove me nuts for a while. I didn't have a HS pin tool but a pair lock jaw pliers did the job without messing up the knurling on the top cup.
This bike 's oversized bb cups renderered my bb tool useless, so was the Campy BB tool my bike shop has. Fixed cup unscrewing is a problem with Italian BB.... The headset is an integrated type with pressed in races, not concave surface but V grooved, and holds 32 tiny tiny ball bearings at ea. end.
For the first time in a long time, the cotter pin press my bike shop had was retrieved from the vault and put in service. What a tool!! made by VAR. Sure beat hammering.
The original Bianchi chainset, wt. 780 g. on the gram scale , was rechromed and had to be reamed, faced, or tapped in order for it to work - solid steel with Bianchi engraved and highlighted in blue. Just loovvely!!
Finished bike, built as a fixed for now, wt, 22 # 4 oz. rides uhmmm NICE!!.... chain line- perfect... but the left hand arm seems awfully close to the chainstay. Ran into the "last gr- bike mechanic"- Tim Parker on the Sunday club ride and he said that that's normal for 50s bikes, he also gave me a tip on how to tighten the BB cup. BTW, he's got a lot of nice steel lug bikes but he rides a C-40 on Sundays.
BB cups and HS cups stamped Bianchi 1953.... so that makes it about 10 yrs older than me. 57 cm c-t seat, 57 cm c-c, top. chain stay 44 cm, 73 degree seat, 73 head it appears, huge rake, 60 or more. Wheelbase.. about 104.
Ed's work?? thumbs up, but be prepared to wait.... you know the drill. He's the authorized Bianchi warranty service so you get PC celest color and PC decals too. Ed felt that it was appropriate to preserve some of the original "warts "on the frame, i.e. .brass spills around the BB area for authenticity.... Hah!! :)
!!!Ed , please look for that one missing chainring bolt, probably around where you paint them last.!!!
Parts is a mixed bag, some O, some PC, and some PCE.
PCE???.. like in "period close enough"....;)
7 mos. was plenty of time to think about parts for this
project and to LOOK for them.
Resources: my garage, Ebay, Sheldon Brown/ Harris Cyclery, Renaissance
bicycles, Bicycle wreck marketplace, and of course, this list. Photos ???
Why of course, since you made it this far.
http://members4.clubphoto.com/
Enjoy,
Tom Truong
Dublin, Ca