I do a lot of restorations for the Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange here in the heart of the Bay Area tech scene. We get a fairly steady stream of interesting donation bikes and I make a point every time I am in the shop to hunt around for something special to work on.
The bike featured this month is a 1982 Bianchi Campione Del Mundo. It isn't Celeste green, but it is in every way a thoroughbred with a full Campagnolo drivetrain including brake levers and calipers, cranks, pedals, hubs, derailleurs, and shifters.
It had been neglected for some time. It was, however, complete and all the Campagnolo bits were in pretty good condition, just needing a good clean. The black frame was actually a blessing as black is the easiest color to touch up. The rear triangle was a mess, with extensive paint loss. The main triangle was in much better condition with most of the decals intact and mainly just dirty. The fork, however, was not in good shape.
The steerer tube was bent back about 3/4" from top to bottom and deemed not repairable. As luck would have it, I had a fork from a Bob Jackson frame I bought a couple of years ago that had a stuck seat tube I couldn't fix. The fork was the right length and had Campagnolo fork ends so I put it on the Bianchi.
Restoration included cleaning everything and rubbing the painted bits with a white polishing compound to remove dirt and scuff marks. The rear triangle was sanded with 400 grit, rust-treated with a phosphoric acid solution, sprayed with primer filler, and finally painted with Rustoleum Black Automotive Enamel.
Next, I touched up the main triangle as much as I could and sprayed the entire frame and fork with Rustoleum automotive clear.
Finally, I reassembled everything, including a new saddle, tires, Cinelli bars and stem, cables and covers, and new Gum hoods for the brake levers for a sweet-looking ride.
Like what you see? This bike will help fund our bike donations to the Bay Area community. Head over to shop.bikex.org to see our bikes for sale.