Bianchi Pinella

Back around 2004 or 2005, I was just starting to get back into cycling pretty seriously again, and figured I should be riding a bike fitting of my rediscovered cycling passion.  At that time I was riding a Specialized Allez Comp steel frame, actually a really nice ride, but I wanted something more.  My local shop, Newhall Bicycle Company, is a Bianchi dealer, so a started browsing Bianchi’s Reparto Corse bikes online.  I really liked the idea of a steel bike, but was a little obsessive about weight.  Fortunately Bianchi offered a Reparto Corse steel bike at the time called the Pinella (named after Fausto Coppi’s mechanic).  The decision was made, and about 6 weeks later I received my new Pinella frameset, made of Boron steel with a full carbon fork.  From the first time I rode it, I knew this was the bike for me.  While it may not be the stiffest bike out there, it was very responsive, and quick.

 

The spring of ’06 brought with it the inaugural Tour of California.  Stage 6 took the Tour to Santa Clarita via Balcom Canyon, a relatively short, but extremely steep (20+% toward the top).  I rode out to Balcolm with our local group to watch the pros suffer a little, and then headed home.  My wife had met me out there with the kids, so we drove back together, with my bike on the top of her car.  As we approached our home, my wife hit the garage opener and proceeded to drive into the garage.  Before I could protest, I heard the most horrible noise ever, my relatively new Pinella folding against the front of my house.  Enough said. 

 

After some phone calls by Roger at N.B.C. he was able to find a 2006 Pinella frameset in my size and ordered it.  A couple of weeks later I was riding “my Pinella” again.  In the early summer of 2007 I did a local criterium race in Woodland Hills, The Barry Wolfe Grand Prix.  Upon completion I was a bit frustrated with my result (I think I ended up being 24 of 50.  I thought it was much worse apparently because many riders were dropped), and went straight to my car, put my bike on the roof and left.  While driving north on the 405-San Diego freeway I heard another horrible noise.  I looked in my rear view mirror only to see “my Pinella” bouncing into the carpool lane and then being partially run over by a car.  First off, thank God nobody was hurt or killed.  But this is where I did what is probably one of the most stupid things of my life, and I’ve done a lot of stupid things.  I got off at the next exit, got onto the freeway going south, and then got back on to retrieve my bike.  I think it is important to mention that there was no shoulder on the freeway where my Pinella came to rest.  Did I mention that this is the 405 freeway, arguably one of the most traveled interstates in the country?  I quickly got into the carpool lane, I know that’s illegal but I had bigger issues to deal with, and put on my hazard lights.  I figured that I was going to be a huge hazard in a couple of minutes.  When I saw my bike in the distance, I began to slow down and wave off cars and trucks behind me.  This actually worked to my surprise!  When I got next to the bike I stopped the car and hopped out, grabbed my bike, and got back into my car with my arm out the window holding what was left of my precious Pinella.  Did I mention that I forgot to put the car into park?  Well I did, and that made entry back into the car that much more difficult.  Anyway, I made it.  Flooring the accelerator, while holding the bike out the window, while changing lanes, while trying to exit the freeway was a remarkable experience.  However I do not recommend it.  When I made it off of the freeway I assessed the damage. 

 

• Destroyed rear wheel
• Sheared fork (ends still firmly attached to roof rack)
• Shifters and pedals scraped
• Rear seatstay bent
• Scratches to driver’s side door from bike being held out the window

 

 

What is the moral of the story?  I don’t know, I am an idiot?  Anyway, the Pinella appeared to be toast, and fortunately I was able to get a great deal on a Bianchi L’una.  The L’una is a great bike, very smooth and fast.  However it was always missing something, it wasn’t quite as lively as the Pinella, and the 58cm size was really too big for me.  I rode it for about 8 months, and then took another look at my Pinella frame hanging in my garage.  It was definitely bent pretty badly, but it is steel so maybe there was hope.  After an exhaustive search, I found Yellow Jersey in Wisconsin.  I sent them some pictures, and they thought that a repair to the frame was doable.  As it turns out, it was.  They got the driveline straight, although there is still some bend in the seatstay, and I have now reassembled it (see picture above).  I am a little obsessive about equipment, and kept questioning every little bump and noise that the bike would make.  But I am now convinced it is “good to go”. 

 

If you are interested in a great, relatively lightweight steel bike, I would encourage you to look for a Pinella (unless it’s a 57cm, that one is for me) on Ebay or something.  As you can see, while I have not proven to be the most responsible person out there, I would do just about anything to get back onto my Pinella.  I just wish Bianchi wouldn’t have discontinued it.  In my opinion, after the 2006 line, Bianchi USA’s road line has gone seriously downhill.  They still have some very nice bikes, but really, Ducati and BFP are not my favorites.  Everyone has an opinion, and that’s mine.  I’d love to see Bianchi get back to some more traditional styled race bikes in the future.  And please bring back the Pinella, I’ll probably need a replacement in the next year.  The reality is that I’ll probably try to get my hands on something from Ira Ryan, Co Motion or Independent Fabrication next time around.

Update 4/28/08

I found out that Gran Fondo will be selling the Pinella frameset (2006 color scheme) beginning next month.  At 1999.00, the price for the frameset is about twice what I paid for mine, which means as much as I love the Pinella, I won’t be buying one.  When you start getting into the realm of 2,000 steel framesets, in my opinion you might as well go for a Independent Steel Crown Jewel with a starting msrp of $1900.00.  But that’s just me.