|
|
FEATURES: BEING THERE: INSIDE LOOK AT THE BIANCHI FACTORY
Zap
July 29, 2011
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
It's been three years since I last visited the Bianchi factory in the outskirts of Milano and it's safe to say that there have been a few changes since then. But, some things never change and one of those would be the heritage that the Italian bike maker is proud to call its own and equally proud to celebrate. One hundred and twenty five years. That's a long time. And, it was 125
years ago that a young Italian by the name of Edoardo Bianchi had the
idea to start up his own bike company. In the years since, Bianchi has
not only seen it's fair share of success, but it has also remained one
of Italy's grandest marques in cycling.
Though there are quite a few different tales as to how it all started, Bianchi Bicycles is the one bike company who can truly say that they "own" a color. That color is "celeste" and it remains the most easily identifiable in racing circles.
Marco Pantani was a flamboyant rider whose ejection for doping at the 1999 Giro d'Italia marked the downfall of his career. Photo: Yuzuru Sunada
Of all the riders the company has sponsored over the years, the brand remains solidly attached to just three: Fausto Coppi ('40's-'50's), Felice Gimondi (60's -'70's) and Marco Pantani ('90's). Each of the riders had at least one Tour de France victory to their credit and helped propel the brand as one of the most successful for it's legion of partisan Italian fans.
While the Bianchi of today is much different from the Bianchi of yesteryear (it's owned by a Swedish company) when the brand both employed thousands of employees at their Milano factory and made thousands of bikes on site as well, they remain a fixture at the races today with the Androni Guicattoli team (above). Today, just a portion of the large factory space is put to use and not much in the way of frame building (versus assembly and testing) takes place. But, in a sign of how strong the brand itself remains, Bianchi opened a concept store and cafe "Bianchi Cafe & Cycles" in Stockholm with more planned.
Unfortunately, we didn't arrive at Bianchi until late in the day and so didn't get the opportunity to get into the famed Reparto Corse (race shop). However, on my last visit to Bianchi in 2008, I was able to sneak in and see some radical race bikes - to see for yourself head back to RBA's Bianchi Factory visit. And just two months ago RBA attended a little shin-dig in Italy to celebrate Bianchi's 125th anniversary.
As for this visit.....
ON TO THE FACTORY
The current factory site as been in use for over 40 years, but we were told that within three years they plan to open a newer factory in a different location.
Inside the factory there is no shortage of bike building going on. There are five bike assemblers on the line and they build about 10-18 bikes a day depending on the required build program (mountain bikes and Di2 equipped road bikes take longer).
One of Bianchi's more popular line of bikes is the Coast2Coast series with the aluminum Nirone (l) being named after the street that was the first home to Edoardo's earliest workshop.
Besides the higher end road and mountain bikes that are assembles, Bianchi also builds this city bike which is a modern replica of a bike from the '50's.
Matteo Illari is the supply chain manager and he still gets pretty excited about seeing bikes being assembled. Exemplifying the importance of racing to Bianchi, when asked about the changes within Bianchi in the last few decades, Matteo said that at some point Bianchi had "forgotten the Fausto (Coppi) way, but this is what we need...to come back to racing in a big way." Hallelujah!
Lots and lots of carbon under the Bianchi factory roof.
Here's the production Oltre with no shortage of Celeste paint. The Oltre is available with either a Campagnolo drivetrain (above) for $10,999 or the $8999 model with Shimano DuraAce.
Despite the appearance of having an integrated seatpost, the Bianchi actually uses a disguised internal clamp with the pinch bolt located just under the rear brake cable.
The forks on the Oltre have an interesting aero accent in the "wings" that add flow to the downtube.
Perhaps the most important machine in the whole factory is the coffee dispenser..."we could not get any work done without it!"
THE MUSEUM
The lobby to the museum starts with an over-sized mural that includes a montage of past racing highlights including Marco Pantani, (mountain biker) Julien Absolon and Fausto Coppi.
Less known to cycling fans is that Bianchi was well represented in the world of motorcycles too. This is a early '50's 125cc Bianchini Scuda del Sud Turismo with a celeste colored frame, cafe handlebars and Springer fork.
In 1925 Italian ace Tazio Nuovalari (c) broke the British stranglehold on the 350cc European Championships by piloting his twin cylinder Bianchi to victory.
From small, single cylinder 125cc motors to the 350cc twins and 500cc four cylinders, Bianchi aggressively pursued their motorcycle business over almost 70 years.
As the world's oldest bicycle company you can bet that the museum is filled with a variety of historical marketing products.
TESTING AND R&D
There's an in-house QC lab at Bianchi where new frame designs get tested as well as production frames are pulled from the assembly line to get checked.
In the engineering office you'll find plenty of computers and carbon scraps plus some silicone frame pieces that are made in a rapid prototype machine which are used to validate frame shapes.
And what all that engineering and design work leads to is a bike like the new carbon 'crosser, the $3500 Bianchi Cavaria Carbon Force.
Bianchi mounted Jan Ullrich leads some guy from Texas in another nail biting stage at the 2001 Tour de France.
Here's to another 125 years - cheers!
For more info: Biciclete Bianchi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|