Re: [CR]Bianchi Specialissma

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2004)

Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 23:29:55 -0700
Subject: Re: [CR]Bianchi Specialissma
To: ADP <aphillips9@mindspring.com>
From: "jack b" <jack_bissell@mac.com>
In-Reply-To: <6.0.3.0.2.20040527134011.03a534e8@pop.mindspring.com>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Ann

Congratulations.! Everyone I know who has a 60s Bianchi loves it. I sure love my black '65 Specialissima #165203 ;-)

The original 1961 on eBay is devastating if you haven't already seen it: http://ebay.com/<blah eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3679214098&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1>

They have a lovely ride - low, relaxed and stable. Mine is forgiving and feels "light guage" with a little bit of ft der rub when pushing in the big ring. I like that metallic green btw. Anyone have one w/ the mudguards?

Some details on these bikes are the oil port on the headtube and a goofy wooden plug in the fork. Adjusting the headset can be done w/ channel locks, but I customized a VAR tool that is still made http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/images/var-16.jpg

Most of what I have learned about Bianchis from this era has been from Stevan Thomas' postings, which are in the archives. If I may geek out a bit - is it a 27.0 or 27.2 post? Does it have "good" chrome or "bad" chrome? 151 or 144 BCD cranks? Do the hubs say 'Record' ?

Looking forward to the photos,

jack bissell tucson, az

On Thursday, May 27, 2004, at 10:55 AM, ADP wrote:
> The bike gods dropped one of these into my lap today at work. I'll
> post some pictures of it over the weekend, but here are some
> interesting things I noticed about it. I've had it in my possession
> about an hour.
>
> It appears to be in very original paint and looks like the
> Specialissma on Dale's CR Bianchi page with the notable exception of
> being a metallic sparkly green. While it has some chips and patina,
> the decals look pretty good.
>
> It's got a nifty integrated headset.
>
> Since someone pretty clearly swapped out the brakes and levers for
> more modern Diacompes and replaced the Campagnolo rear derailleur for
> a Sun Tour Cyclone, I'm not sure what else got replaced. It has a no
> date Campagnolo Strada crankset, in 170, Campagnolo pedals, Campagnolo
> front derailleur, a TTT bar and stem of an age I've not seen before,
> two bolt Campagnolo post, Campagnolo hubs with the straight lever
> quick release and Fiamme sew up rims.
>
> The serial number is on the top of the seatlug, facing front. I'm not
> posting it here because I'm not sure if they can be interpreted in any
> way.
>
> Its pretty nifty but I suspect finding the correctly patina'd correct
> bits to replace the incorrect ones is going to cost some $$$.
>
> So, all you Italian bike experts out there, what do I have?
>
> Ann Phillips, Decatur GA