The Pink Bianchi

This was the first road bike I’ve had since… well… grade four…? I had a “five speed” then. This bike was probably not so bad in it’s day. I have no idea how old it is. I think the frame was butted cro-mo, definitely lugged and brazed. It was originally hot pink but had severely faded from years of just sitting in the sun. I discovered this when I removed the front derailleur as the clamp had kept the small part of the frame under it preserved.

I picked it up at Flash Cycle for $40. It had no front wheel at the time. I spent about $100 on a decent wheel with a double wall rim?! I put some new tires on it (Panaracer Stradius Pros? Another $50 or so?) and a different seat I had kicking around.

The original front derailleur broke one day – parts of it were plastic! One of the down tube shifters (also plastic) broke as well. These were both replaced by old Shimano 600 parts I found in the used parts bins upstairs at the Bike Doctor ($5 each).

I probably put a new chain on it at some point. For a while this might have even had one of my brooks saddles on it. I also found some old Shimano non-aero brake levers and rewrapped the bars with some pink cork tape I found.

It rocked. I rode it everywhere for a summer and a half. I even rode my first (and last, to date) two road races on it.

I traded it away to a friend when I picked up my Cannondale ‘cross bike and I’ve been kicking myself ever since. I swapped the Stradius’ onto the ‘cross bike for the summer and rode that everwhere and I fiured I didn’t need it anymore. Having horizontal dropouts it would have made an awesome fixey!? …well, except for the fact that it probably was a touch small for me.

I think I put different brake levers and a different front wheel on before I traded it away. Definitely kept my Books saddle…

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