1988 Bianchi Nuova Alloro
Part Diary, Part Technical Manual, Part Tips & Tricks

As my bicycle collection and experience has grown, it has begun to take on a life of its own. The other day, my good friend Dave asked if I'd like to have two old bicycles to restore. As a young man, he was an avid cyclist and had racked up thousands of miles on his bikes. As his interest has shifted to auto racing, he had two bikes sitting in his backyard under a tarp for many years. One was an old Paramount and another one was a Bianchi. Of course I said yes, there was no way I was going to turn down a Paramount and a Bianchi, especially when they have been sadly sitting in the backyard, under a tarp, for many years. So on October 29, 2011, I picked up the two bikes. They were quite rough, but they were straight, complete, and about my size. With a little work, they would easily be rideable; with a lot of work, they could be restored.

The Bianchi was a big mystery to me for a long time, I could not figure out the year or model of this bike. The frame had no decal describing the model and Bianchi seems to have been relatively inconsistent with the style of their logo by model year. Also the bike had a mix of Gipiemme and Shimano 600 components with Campagnolo brakes. Finally I came across some pictures online that confirmed that this was a Nuova Alloro (New Laurel) model. I even found a Nuova Alloro with full Gipiemme Crono Sprint gruppo, which is how I imagine this bike originally started.

1/7/2012 - With the bike disassembled, the frameset hung in the garage while all the components sat in a paper bag for the past couple of months. Today, I took advantage of a mellow Saturday and really dug into cleaning the parts. It always amazes me how well quality parts clean up. As hideously rusty the Chorus brakes were, they are now quite respectable. The finish that Campy puts on aluminum is amazing, it gives off a soft glow and is also strangely soft to the touch.

4/7/2012 - Sandblasted and powdercoated the frame, the intention was to paint it the same dark silver as the 2005, 125th Anniversary framesets; but the frameset came out a lot lighter than the color sample, so now its just a regular silver color. The powdercoating did, as usual, radically transform the frameset from old and tarnished to brand new and shiny. With the chassis ready, the carefully cleaned parts started getting assembled. The front wheel was a mess with 5 broken nipples, but the hub and rim was fine. The rim tape was basically a clear plastic packing tape, which would not allow any moisture to dry out. So since the bike sat outdoors for a long time, a lot of the aluminum nipples simply oxidized and broke. I removed all the old nipples and put on 32 new brass nipples, then trued the wheel to near perfection. For some reason, the rear wheel had the same rim tape, but there were no broken spokes or any sign of corrosion, so I just trued the wheel a bit and it was ready to go.

4/9/2012 - I basically finished the build last night, but realized I didn't have any bar wrap. But it couldn't be just ANY bar wrap, it had to be the right shade of celeste that goes with the suede saddle. So during lunch today, I rode all the way to Valencia Cyclery in the Mission during lunch to buy some Cinelli tape (darker), then I dropped by the Marin Bikes Factory Store to buy some Serfas tape (lighter). When I got home, the Cinelli tape was definitely the better match, so I wrapped up the bars and that's all she wrote.

5/14/2012 - I sold the bike on craigslist to a guy that never even saw or rode the bike, he paid my asking price sight unseen and had a couple guys pick it up for him - kinda strange.

Here are the specs:

Frame: 1988 Bianchi Nuova Alloro, 57.0cm CTC, 58.0cm CTT. Serial Number: N.9 6856. Bianchi Formula Two tubing by Columbus with Gipiemme dropouts, 126mm spacing. Italian bottom bracket threading, but specially machined for Mavic 612 RD bottom bracket. Powder coated DuPont RAL 9007 Gloss Silver.
Fork: 1988 Bianchi Nuova Alloro, 1" threaded. Bianchi Special Formula Two tubing by Columbus with Cincelli investment cast crown and Bianchi eagle pantograph. Powder coated DuPont RAL 9007 Gloss Silver.
Rims: MAVIC Open 4 CD with hard anodized finish, 32h.
Front Hub: Shimano 600, HB-6400, 32h.
Rear Hub: Shimano 600, FH-6400, 32h.
Tires: Continental Gatorskin, 700 x 23c, wire bead. Taken from my Kestrel 4000.
Cassette: Shimano HG 7spd, 12-23T.
Cranks: Gipiemme 100 CC, Crono Sprint, 52x42, 170mm. Stamped 065149 on drive side and 065150 on non-drive side.
Bottom Bracket: MAVIC 612 RD, 116mm axle. This was an innovative design with chamfered sides that would attach to any frame, entirely independent of frame threading, kind of a precursor to BB30 but not proprietary.
Front Derailer: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (0104007), 28.6mm clamp.
Rear Derailer: Shimano 600, RD-6401.
Shifters: Shimano 600, SL-6400.
Headset: Gipiemme 500CC, Crono Sprint.
Chain: SRAM PC 850.
Stem: Coda 1" quill, Cro-moly, 100mm, 26.0mm clamp. Came off the Cannondale R700.
Handlebar: Mavic, aluminum, 26.0mm clamp. 40cm wide, 11cm reach, 16cm drop.
Bar Wrap: Cinelli cork ribbon, celeste.
Brakes: Campagnolo Chorus Monoplaner BR-02CH.
Brake Levers: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (2030).
Pedal: Bianchi SPD, celeste.
Seatpost: Gipiemme 600DD, Crono Sprint, 27.2mm x 160mm. Stamped 125255.
Saddle: Bianchi by Velo. Suede cover, celeste.

The original bike weighed 23 lbs 4 oz, the bike currently weighs 22 lbs 7 oz as shown. The frame weighs 4 lbs 13 oz and the fork weighs 1 lb 11 oz.

The following are the parts that I am currently not using:

Stem: SR 1" quill, 80mm, 25.4mm clamp. Somehow they got a 26.0mm bar on a 25.4mm stem, but after I removed the bars, I threw away the stem.
Aerobars: Scott Aerobars, satin gunmetal.
Chain: Sedis.
Pedal: VP, nylon, black.
Pump: Silca, celeste.