Help identifying an old Bianchi

[cycleguy03]

Hey everyone, got this bike off a friend, no idea what it is or how old, any help would be great:














Frame has a made in Italy decal, other than that see pics for more info. I have no idea what it is, but the size is 59cms. The serial number is stamped on the head tube and is something like this' OE 30848' could be wrong about the first letters tho' they are quite hard to make out. maybe OL or 01 or something similar. Stem is a ttt and handlebars are Cinelli. Rear derailleur is a Campa Nuovo Gran Sport. Crank is a Campa 'GS' (Gran Sport I assume). Front derailleur is a Shimano 600. Rims are Mavic GP4's, hubs say Campa 'Record'. Still has the original Campa drinking bottle, maybe it helps. Brakes are Universal (MOD-125), levers are Modolo. If anyone knows anything about what year it is, what model and any other info it would be awesome! Cheers!!

 

[alfeng]

By my reckoning, the bike is circa 1980, +/- 3 years ...

 

[steve]

Originally Posted by cycleguy03 .

Hey everyone, got this bike off a friend, no idea what it is or how old, any help would be great:

Nice pick up mate!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"By my reckoning, the bike is circa 1980, +/- 3 years ..."

About right. The Nuovo Gran Sport was produced from 1974 thru 1984 or 1985 (replaced by Victory and Triomphe in 1986). The derailleur should be date stamped for a closer approximation of the vintage of the bike. The crankset is the later 5-pin style (early Gran Sport was 3-pin)

Columbus Zeta was the cheapest tube set they sold, straight gauge and slightly thicker walled than Aelle. It was a late 1970's product IIRC. It's just a plain old carbon steel with a 0.9 MM wall thickness.

The shimaNO front derailleur should be removed and burned.

The Universal calipers are probably OEM and the levers are likely replacements (although Bianchi did assemble with matched Modolo sets of higher quality in the mid-1980's). It's been a lot of years, but I 'think' the 125's were the last derivative of the 68 and preceded the 77's.

QR nuts are incorrect for Record.

Nice old find!

 

[danfoz]

Very nice find. Love those wheels, GP4's were tough as nails.

I concur on the removal of the Shimano FD as something in the same vintage and pedigree can readily be found on ebay for $30-40 and considering the circumstances does seem a bit of a sacrilege. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

 

[cycleguy03]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I looked again but could not find any additional info on the derailleurs besides whats seen in the photos.

I did some research and found some old catalogs on line, the closest match I came up with is a 1981 Nuovo Racing:



Some details are still off tho': rear derailleur is a GS and not Nuovo Record, front derailleur is a Shimano, the seat post on my bike is engraved and is closer to a Campione Del Mondo from the same year - but the decals are blue on mine. also mine had a Piaggio decal on the head tube (which I removed...)

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by cycleguy03 .



I did some research and found some old catalogs on line, the closest match I came up with is a 1981 Nuovo Racing:

Some details are still off tho': rear derailleur is a GS and not Nuovo Record, front derailleur is a Shimano, the seat post on my bike is engraved and is closer to a Campione Del Mondo from the same year - but the decals are blue on mine. also mine had a Piaggio decal on the head tube (which I removed...)

Pretty close. One difference is the lack of dropout and fork eyelets on your bike. Also as far as I remember the Nouvo Racing sported Aelle tubing, but I could be wrong on that. It was one of the bikes a lusted after as a young teen, but at my minimum wage earnings of $3.35/hr the $550 retail price was still slightly out of reach. Interestingly I remember the RD on the Nouvo Racing reviewed in one of the early 80's 'Bicycling' magazines as being a Campy GS. Maybe I'm going senile.

 

[cycleguy03]

True about the eyelets - I missed those. here's a Campione Del Mondo from the same catalog (Racing Bikes 1981), could also be a match but the decals are red, so I have no idea.




The one detail I cannot find any reference to on my bike is the engraving of 'Bianchi' and two lines on the forks instead of just a 'B' as seems to have been the case in 1980/81 bikes.
Also the Piaggio decal on the head tube seems odd.
I couldn't find any 1980/82/79 catalogs to check, so if anyone has any I would greatly appreciate it!

The Shimano will be removed, i already have my eye on a GS Campa on ebay
I would also like to fix up the frame and cover any scratches before any additional rust sets in. Is this possible without repainting the whole frame?

 

[cycleguy03]

I think it might be a 1980 Rekord 748. Based on this bike here and the accompanying catalog entry it seems like a pretty good match:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celeste-BIANCHI-RECORD-748-Road-Bike-Made-in-Italy-Small-51cm-Vintage-Campagnolo-/111083953310?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19dd1e9c9e

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"Also the Piaggio decal on the head tube seems odd."

Bianchi was owned by the Piaggio Group at the time...along with Vespa scooters IIRC.

 

[ambal]

Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB .

"Also the Piaggio decal on the head tube seems odd."

Bianchi was owned by the Piaggio Group at the time...along with Vespa scooters IIRC.

You know your bikes pretty well!!!!! walking, talking, typing bikepedia.