Bianchi

Founded by Edowardo Bianchi in 1885, Bianchi is the longest continuously operating bicycle manufacturer in the world.  Credited with re-imagining the bicycle with innovations like equal sized front and rear wheels and pneumatic tires, Bianchi road bicycles have been ridden to victory by post war greats such as Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimonde, and Marco Pantani.  Moving forward Bianchi continues to design and build innovative world class Italian bicycles, bicycles featured at Lakeside Bicycles in beautiful down town Lake Oswego, Oregon since 1997.

The Bianchi Brand History

21 year old medical instrument maker Edoardo Bianchi opened his bicycle manufacturing business on No. 7 Via Nirone, Milan in 1885.  He was soon disrupting bicycle design with one innovation after another  including the front wheel caliper brake, the use of a chain to transfer power from pedals to wheel, equal size front and rear wheels and the use of pneumatic tires.  In effect Edowardo Bianchi invented the modern bicycle.

In 1888 and 1890 Bianchi moved to successively larger locations first on Via Bertani and then on Via Borghetto.  In 1895 his big opportunity arrived when he was asked to make the first woman’s bicycle for Queen Margaret of Italy whose favorite color is reputed to have been what became Bianchi’s iconic Celeste.  The royal imprimatur demand for his bicycles soared, and Bianchi’s steadily expanding production lead to yet another move to Via Nino Bixio in 1902.  Bianchi’s headquarters are currently located in Treviglio (Bergamo) Italy.

The Bianchi Color and Crest

Bianchi’s trademarked turquoise finish, known as Celeste or Bianchi Green has been associated with the brand since its earliest days.  Celeste is subject to several, conflicting origin myths among including:

• It is the color of the Milan sky (poor Milan)
• It is the color of Queen Margaret’s eyes
• It was Queen Margaret’s favorite color
• It was the accidental result of mixing surplus military paints during Bianchi’s impoverished early days.

In any case, the color somehow manages to change every year: sometimes more blue, then more green.

The crowned eagle of the company logo is an adaptation of the former royal crest and in recognition of being “by appointment to her majesty Queen Margaret“.

Racing and Sponsorship:

In 1899, sponsored rider Giovanni Tommaselli won Bianchi’s first international cycling victory at the Grand Prix of Paris.  By 1914 production rose to 45,000/year.  In 1935, Bianchi sponsored Costante Girardengo, one of cycling’s first stars off the track; in that year, production reached 70,000.

In 1945 Italian cycling legend Fausto Coppi joined the Bianchi team where he would stay until 1958.  Those years marked the peak of Coppi’s career as he rode Bianchi’s to victory in two Tours de France wins, four firsts in the Giro d’Italias,  9 wins in various monuments, a world championship and to many minor victories to count.  Coppi was the greatest cyclist of his era and remains one of the top five greatest cyclists of all time.

Other notable riders from different eras who have been associated with Bianchi include Felice Gimondi, Danilo Di Luca, Maro Cipolini, Gianni Bugno, Laurent Fignon, Marco Pantani, Moreno Argentin, Jan Ulrich, and Jonas Vindegarrd.

The most unique rider may have been the great climber Marco Pantani.

“Pantani had very specific ideas about what he wanted. He had 30 different frames a year from us—with different angles and weights on each one. He changed his bike after every ride…..  Pantani was quite obsessive.” -Sara Mercante, head of Bianchi research and development

In response to the financial difficulties of the Coast team, Bianchi took over the team and the role of title sponsorship.  Coast had recently signed the great Jan Ullrich who rode Bianchis to second place in that year’s Tour de France just 61 seconds behind eventual race winner Lance Armstrong.

Since 2003 Bianchi has sponsored a number of teams including Alessio-Bianchi, Liquigas-Bianchi, Maxbo Bianchi, LottoNL-Jumbo, Team BikeExchange, and most recently Team Bahrain Victorious.

Bianchi became involved in sponsorship in mountain biking in the early nineties. Bruno Zanchi won the first World Championship for Bianchi in 1991 in the downhill speciality. Two years later, Dario Acquaroli became World Champion in cross country for Bianchi. From 2000 to 2006, the Bianchi  Bianchi-Motorex and Bianchi-Agos team with rider José Antonio Hermida dominated the sport with multiple World Champion Julien Absalon. In 2007 the team was renamed Gewiss–Bianchi.

Interested in seeing a Bianchi bicycle in person or purchasing one of these historical, outstanding quality luxury bicycles? We carry them at Lakeside Bicycles. Visit us and let’s talk more about this historical brand.