Getting a New Bianchi :-)

[Chris.IOW]

So I took up cycling a year ago on a £300 bike, and I love it, I've done lots of riding and completed my first 100+ miler in June last year. After a winter of training on last years bike I decided I deserved a treat and after lots of deliberating and test riding have gone for a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 with Veloce kit. (and yes the looks and colour were as big a factor as how nice it was to ride! :-)

One question though, my current bike had a triple chain set on, how much difference am I likely to experience between this and the compact 50/34 set up on the new bike. It should hopefully arrive on Friday so I'll find out half way up the climb past blackgang Chin on Saturday but thought I would ask the question so I can be prepared!!

So excited about the new bike though. :-)

 

[wakou]

Congrats! You do know that being a Bianchista is an incurable illness? And that people have lost friends, even partners? Oh well, Welcome to the celeste club.






It IS celeste isn't it?

 

[HLaB]

Depends on your riding style and what rings your tripple had as to what difference you'll experience IMO, if you mainly stay in one ring of the tripple you'll hardly notice but if you are constantly changing rings on the tripple you may find the gaps between the big and small chainrings on the compact too much. There shouldn't be too much difference in the bottom and top gears, unless your tripple had particularly large/small chainrings (say 53t and 28t). From personal experience, I didn't find the gap thing too much of a problem, I think going from an 8sp tripple to a 10sp compact helped. My riding behaviour probably did change however, I did predominately stay in the 52t ring of the tripple but would drop occasionally too the 42t ring to spin away but with the 52/38 compact I find the 38t too low unless on a real hill and stay more in the large ring. The real answer is to suck it and see and in the main enjoy you new bike

 

[Chris.IOW]

Congrats! You do know that being a Bianchista is an incurable illness? And that people have lost friends, even partners? Oh well, Welcome to the celeste club.

It IS celeste isn't it?

It most certainly is. :-)

Thanks for the advice above, has put my mind at rest. Just need a nice day Saturday so I can find out for myself. (I'm not a fair weather cyclist but I think the Bianchi might be kept for fair weather, she's too pretty to get dirty) :-)

 

[MisterStan]

Is that the model with the rear carbon drops? (probably not what they're called) i tested one last week, i'm not convinced about the campag gears though - the shifters feel quite fragile - please correct me if i'm being wrong here! I'm hopefully test riding a cube peloton this weekend and will choose between the two. The Nirones do look gorgeous though.

 

[VamP]

... i'm not convinced about the campag gears though - the shifters feel quite fragile - please correct me if i'm being wrong ...

Consider yourself corrected.

 

[VamP]

So I took up cycling a year ago on a £300 bike, and I love it, I've done lots of riding and completed my first 100+ miler in June last year. After a winter of training on last years bike I decided I deserved a treat and after lots of deliberating and test riding have gone for a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 with Veloce kit. (and yes the looks and colour were as big a factor as how nice it was to ride! :-)

One question though, my current bike had a triple chain set on, how much difference am I likely to experience between this and the compact 50/34 set up on the new bike. It should hopefully arrive on Friday so I'll find out half way up the climb past blackgang Chin on Saturday but thought I would ask the question so I can be prepared!!

So excited about the new bike though. :-)

Congrats.


We need pics though.

 

[wakou]

Oh yes we need pics....

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

Considering that a) you're going from a £300 bike to one costing, roughly, three times that and b) you've spent the Winter training I am fairly confident that you will fly!

You'll find that there is less overlap between the rings on a compact so you might have to adjust your style a little. Punch the numbers into this page to see where your gears overlap, to get an idea of when you should be shifting.

 

[MisterStan]

Consider yourself corrected.

Could you quantify that please? To make myself a little clearer, i just felt that the actual shifters (the plastic bits) felt a little fragile, the gear changes were smooth though and the bike was very nice to ride (nearly enogh for me to not bother testing the Cube) i was looking at the Tiagra shifters and they seemed (to me at least) to be a little more robust.

 

[VamP]

Could you quantify that please? To make myself a little clearer, i just felt that the actual shifters (the plastic bits) felt a little fragile, the gear changes were smooth though and the bike was very nice to ride (nearly enogh for me to not bother testing the Cube) i was looking at the Tiagra shifters and they seemed (to me at least) to be a little more robust.

They're not fragile.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

You should also know that Campag shifters are repairable, whereas Shimano aren't.

 

[Chris.IOW]

Well after two long rides I just have the one word to describe the new bike.....wow!!

It's amazing, it's so much lighter and more comfortable to ride, the most noticeable thing is how quiet it is compared to my old bike. The gear changes are so much smoother and I found the compact set up fine, in fact I found I was climbing in a higher gear and getting up hills much quicker, and as for downhills, it feels so much more secure that I'm going much faster downhill, plus the brakes actually stop you rather than just making lots of noise so feel much more confident descending. All in all a very happy Bianchi owner! :-)

 

[derrick]

You will not regret buying it, i love mine and as for the campag veloce it's bullit proof,

 

[chewy]

if there's no pictures, it never happened