Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Cannoli Project - Finished!

The Bianchi Folding Bike project is finally completed! This little Italian gem turned out great after some new components and some meticulous refurbishment. It all started out as a rusty old yellow crudbucket for $60. Now, it has a new life and is ready to rock!





I basically disassembled the entire bike and decided that the frame, fenders, and folding hinges were the only parts worth keeping. I went bargain hunting and found a bottom bracket, wheels, tires, quick releases, saddle, seatpost, stem, and headset. Most of the components were used or cheap BMX components since this bike is built around 20" wheels.

The majority of the work was in the painting. I used a homemade paint booth, spray can enamel, vinyl Bianchi decals from eBay as stencils, and a replica Edoardo Bianchi badge for the head tube. Although this was very tedious, it made the bike.

Here are some photos of the frame and components before the rebirth:





I'll post more details at a later time, but for now - IT'S DONE!

5 comments:

-p said...

Belissimo.

Where'd you get the head tube badge?

Anonymous said...

cool bike...looks rock solid, like it could really handle the bumps and such...

-d said...

-p,

I got the head tube badge off of eBay searching for "Bianchi decals". eBay is a gold mine of original and replica decals.

-d said...

jerryma,

Yeah, the bike is surprisingly solid for being 30 years old. I'm a pretty big guy (200lbs) and it is quite sturdy. The folding hinge is very beefy - all steel.

BG said...

Well done! I have this same bike in green and I know you did a banging job. I stumbled on this page when i woke up this morning and the ball-bearings on my headset were smashed and someone stole my seat (the joys of NYC). I really didnt mind it before when the brakes werent functioning and the right pedal hit the frame on every cycle. But this was the last straw and i want to get my bike ready for the spring. I What kind of headset did you use?