These bikes are one of my fascinations. For a company with a tremendous history they seemed to have forgotten about it for long periods of time. Reparto Corsa always used Campagnolo ends on their bikes (at least during the on topic years) and this is always a quick way to check to see if its a top line bike. Here in the USA ,Bianchi seemed to slip back into the murky depths after 1973 or so and I do not think there was a formal presence until closer to 1979/1980 (though I do have scans of 1977 and 1978 catalogs) After the abandonment of the Bianchi Style integrated headset which occured in the 1971/72 Period as they ran out of various size headset lugs, they changed styles of Fork crown engraving and seat stay caps a couple times before settling on the engraved B and Bianchi stamping. I think during the early 70s post Bianchi Headset period we see first raised lines on the fork crown and then the raised circle with the B, then this gave way for the engraved B with no circle in the later 70s (probably 1978) and this would continue until the Flat or semi sloping crown would disappear in the mid 80s. It has always been my plan to start a formal Serial number register and include photographs of the different bikes. My interest is Reparto Corsa production but I feel strange in leaving out their mid range bikes which were nice and offered a nice value in an Italian bicycle. I registered VintageBianchi.com a number of years ago with the hopes of putting this together.My problem is lack of computer skills (Joel Metz's Jack Taylor site revolves around the fact he writes his own HTML) so at this point I will ask if anyone knows of a good off the shelf software package that might allow the register and then in Joels click thru design a place to store photos directly behind? I would have to exert some sort of control over content but do not have a lot of time to dedicate to that. I know the Yahoo discussion site allows photos but it does not appear to be ''linear'' from date and serial to photos (and I could be wrong here)
I think a formal time line would help the many listmembers who are always asking the same question as to ''what year or model is my bike'' etc
Any help would be appreciated
BOB FREITAS
MILL VALLEY,CA USA