Bianchi from the brink

S T E E L   I S   R E A L

When is it time to give up on a 90's steel road bike? It's a difficult question, but most of the time if you find yourself asking it then you know the answer: Not until it's died an irreversible and (ideally) honourable death.

The truth is that they just don't make them like they used to, steel is real, and lots of racing frames made in the 90's and early 00's had exceptional build quality, so they can live on, and on, and on.

Our workshop mechanics can bring frames back from the brink, get them repaired, resprayed (powder coat), and refinished, so they can have a new lease on life.

I S S U E S

The problems with old and neglected frames is that they might not have been fully serviced in a while, and some of the bits may have seized into the frame, or been damaged by being poorly maintained.

Fortunately for this Bianchi, only 2 out of the 4 the horsemen were present, and it wasn’t as apocalyptic as it could have been.

After removing the seat post with a bit of penetrating oil and patience, we moved on to extracting the fork from the frame so we could dissolve the remnants of the quill stem in a strong solution of caustic soda for a few days. Meanwhile, we tried a few methods for getting the original steel Campagnolo BB out and failed miserably with all the non destructive methods.

Fortunately there is always the angle grinder + hammer + hacksaw technique to fall back on, which eventually got the sucker out without damaging the threads. Sadly the face of the BB shell didn’t fair that well, but we were able to chase and face the worst of it afterwards.

F I N I S H

Sentient SNEK 31 Wheels

Campagnolo Centaur 2x11 Groupset

Nitto Stem, Bar, Seatpost

Tange Sealed 1” Headset

Celeste Bar Tape

Durano Plus Tyres

We’re sure you will agree, it was worth the effort!