Bianchi 29 incher. Now What?

Dave Mayer said:

I bought a bike at a yard sale a few months back. It had
no stickers on it. I first thought it was a Bridgestone,
but I could not find it in any of the catalogues. A very
close examination of the front dropouts yesterday revealed
it to be a Bianchi.

The bike is a mountain bike, but with 700c wheels and
canti brake bosses. The frame has a sloping top tube. I
now think it is either a Bianchi Project 5 or Project 7
model from around 1991. It came with a weird mix of
Ritchey, Suntour XC Pro/Comp and Shimano DX components
(no, not the BMX stuff).

Seems to be a great bike for bike riding on the road and
anything but really rough off-road conditions. BTW: I
love the Suntour XC Pro thumbshifters and the XC Pro
canti brakes.

Any previous owners of this type of bike out there? Any
particular failures or ride instabilities to be concerned
about? I've read that this bike was tough marketing for
Bianchi. Why? Any current equivalent bikes out there?
Thanks in advance...

Bianchi Project series were on the cusp of cyclo cross with
a few concessions to touring. Ahead of their time IMHO.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1
April, 1971

Dave Mayer said:

I now think it is either a Bianchi Project 5 or Project 7
model from around 1991.

...

Quoted message said:

I've read that this bike was tough marketing for
Bianchi. Why?

It and the small handful of other early 700c MTBs all
suffered the same ailment: no decent fat tires. At the time,
tire manufacturers were falling over each other offering
endless undistinguished variations of the 26x2" knobby, and
to a one they were all too cowardly to produce a quality fat
tire in 700c that would allow the more serious "hybrids" to
live up to their off-road potential.

I offering the 29x2.1" Nanoraptor, WTB revived 700c MTBs as
a category almost singlehandedly.

Chalo Colina

Dave Mayer said:

I bought a bike at a yard sale a few months back. It had
no stickers on it. I first thought it was a Bridgestone,
but I could not find it in any of the catalogues. A very
close examination of the front dropouts yesterday revealed
it to be a Bianchi.

The bike is a mountain bike, but with 700c wheels and
canti brake bosses. The frame has a sloping top tube. I
now think it is either a Bianchi Project 5 or Project 7
model from around 1991. It came with a weird mix of
Ritchey, Suntour XC Pro/Comp and Shimano DX components
(no, not the BMX stuff).

I can't help with your questions, but a Bianchi Project 3
sold on eBay a fortnight ago. There are a few reasonable
pictures linked from the auction page:

cgi.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗
59

James Thomson

"Dave Mayer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:Xcv6c.105728$Up2.54514@pd7tw1no... ... Any current
equivalent bikes out there?

Quoted message said:

Thanks in advance...

In the late 1980's, Bruce Gordon was promoting his Rock 'n
Road bike as a true hybrid. It was designed to take up to
700c x 45 tires and was setup to have a quick change between
drop bars for road use and flat bars for trail use. He also
had his own tires made in ~ 700c x 43 because there weren't
any off the shelf tires at the time.

He is still doing all this same stuff today, so I guess this
could be considered a current day equivalent. Given how the
mt bike world has changed since then, he no longer promotes
the bike in this manner, but calls it a touring bike.

A Muzi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Dave Mayer said:

I bought a bike at a yard sale a few months back. It had
no stickers on it. I first thought it was a Bridgestone,
but I could not find it in any of the catalogues. A very
close examination of the front dropouts yesterday
revealed it to be a Bianchi.

The bike is a mountain bike, but with 700c wheels and
canti brake bosses. The frame has a sloping top tube. I
now think it is either a Bianchi Project 5 or Project 7
model from around 1991. It came with a weird mix of
Ritchey, Suntour XC Pro/Comp and Shimano DX components
(no, not the BMX stuff).

Seems to be a great bike for bike riding on the road and
anything but really rough off-road conditions. BTW: I
love the Suntour XC Pro thumbshifters and the XC Pro
canti brakes.

Any previous owners of this type of bike out there? Any
particular failures or ride instabilities to be
concerned about? I've read that this bike was tough
marketing for Bianchi. Why? Any current equivalent bikes
out there? Thanks in advance...

Bianchi Project series were on the cusp of cyclo
cross with a few concessions to touring. Ahead of
their time IMHO.

IIRC, around that time the wackos at MBA were advocating
the use of 24-in wheels, front & rear, for OR. according
to them & noting moto-X's switch to smaller wheels,
suspension made the big wheels obsolete.

Dave Mayer said:

I bought a bike at a yard sale a few months back. It had
no stickers on it. I first thought it was a Bridgestone,
but I could not find it in any of the catalogues. A very
close examination of the front dropouts yesterday revealed
it to be a Bianchi.

The bike is a mountain bike, but with 700c wheels and
canti brake bosses. The frame has a sloping top tube. I
now think it is either a Bianchi Project 5 or Project 7
model from around 1991. It came with a weird mix of
Ritchey, Suntour XC Pro/Comp and Shimano DX components
(no, not the BMX stuff).

Seems to be a great bike for bike riding on the road and
anything but really rough off-road conditions. BTW: I
love the Suntour XC Pro thumbshifters and the XC Pro
canti brakes.

Good stuff.

Quoted message said:

Any previous owners of this type of bike out there? Any
particular failures or ride instabilities to be
concerned about?

If there were any instabilities, you'd have noticed them on
your first ride.

Quoted message said:

I've read that this bike was tough marketing for
Bianchi. Why?

Because the marketplace didn't accept 700C wheels on
mountain bikes- real mountain bikes had 26" wheels. God
knows why, other than perhaps a insistance on separating
mountain bikers from the roadies.

Quoted message said:

Any current equivalent bikes out there?

Lots of 29 inchers. Enjoy your new bike, which is now back
on the cutting edge!

Tim McNamara said:

Because the marketplace didn't accept 700C wheels on
mountain bikes- real mountain bikes had 26" wheels. God
knows why, other than perhaps a insistance on separating
mountain bikers from the roadies.

Wheel strength maybe ? A smaller wheel is stronger and
that's desirable on MTBs. On road bikes rolling resistance
is probably more important, so larger wheels is better.

Jens Kr. Kirkebø said:

Tim McNamara said:

Because the marketplace didn't accept 700C wheels on
mountain bikes- real mountain bikes had 26" wheels. God
knows why, other than perhaps a insistance on separating
mountain bikers from the roadies.

Wheel strength maybe ? A smaller wheel is stronger and
that's desirable on MTBs. On road bikes rolling resistance
is probably more important, so larger wheels is better.

Well, actually it was that the first MTBs were modified old
Schwinns and that's the wheel size they used, and fat enough
tires were available, which was not the case with 700C
wheels at the time. The anti-roadie sentiment was quite
strong among early mountain bikers, too, and I think that
led to a knee-jerk rejection of anything that smacked of
road bikes including 700C wheels.

Rolling resistance is very important when riding off road,
because speeds are low enough that wind drag is a minimal
factor. The larger diameter wheels are a decided advantage
over uneven terrains, as well. The down side is that the
larger tires are much heavier, and that's an issue too.

Wheel strength is a red herring, IMHO. People have been
bashing gossamer weight tubular wheels over Belgian and
French cobbles at 25 miles an hour for nearly 100 years. If
wheel strength was a problem, we'd see these things
collapsing left and right in those races, but the only
common problem in that regard is punctures.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tim McNamara said:

Jens Kr. Kirkebø said:

Tim McNamara said:

Because the marketplace didn't accept 700C wheels on
mountain bikes- real mountain bikes had 26" wheels. God
knows why, other than perhaps a insistance on separating
mountain bikers from the roadies.

Wheel strength maybe ? A smaller wheel is stronger and
that's desirable on MTBs. On road bikes rolling
resistance is probably more important, so larger wheels
is better.

Well, actually it was that the first MTBs were modified
old Schwinns and that's the wheel size they used, and fat
enough tires were available, which was not the case with
700C wheels at the time. The anti-roadie sentiment was
quite strong among early mountain bikers, too, and I think
that led to a knee-jerk rejection of anything that smacked
of road bikes including 700C wheels.

Was John Tomac an exception?

mtb-classic.detomacpurgatory1.jpgOpen ↗

He was not the only rider to come from mountain bikes into
road racing in those days.

Quoted message said:

Wheel strength is a red herring, IMHO. People have been
bashing gossamer weight tubular wheels over Belgian and
French cobbles at 25 miles an hour for nearly 100 years.
If wheel strength was a problem, we'd see these things
collapsing left and right in those races, but the only
common problem in that regard is punctures.

I daresay that a typical mountain bike ride puts a wheel
through a lot more stress than a kermesse. Smaller wheels
are inherently stronger, and they can weigh a bit less for
the same amount of strength.

29ers have some interesting characteristics, and may end up
being the way to go for some racing and certain types of
trail riding, but I don't think the huckers and freeriders
are going to find any reason to switch. The trend is still
running to 24" rear wheels a bit.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Wheel strength is a red herring, IMHO. People have been
bashing gossamer weight tubular wheels over Belgian and
French cobbles at 25 miles an hour for nearly 100 years.

I daresay that a typical mountain bike ride puts a wheel
through a lot more stress than a kermesse.

Like two orders of magnitude: cobblestones produce a
vertical drop on the order of one centimeter, MTB jumps are
on the order of one meter.