Bianchi 928 lugged carbon after a few rides. 7800 DA

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skiezo
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:32 am
Location: Mid. PA. USA

by skiezo

I picked up my 2007 928 lugged carbon last week. After a few parts swaps I was ready to go for some rides.
It came with a 10cm stem so I left that alone,replaced the saddle and post with a prologo and a modified ec90 post.
Put on some of the old style Zipp TB 42cm bars and a set of wheels that I had the freehub swapped out to shimano from campy. Some latex tubes and a set of Vredestein Fortezza TriComp tires. Some new prologo one touch tape and took out some HS spacers. One 10mm spacer seems just about right.
The measurements are close to my other bikes so I was ready to go. The ride is simply amazing. It really soaks up the road rattle without feeling to dead. This is my first bike in 20 years with shimano on it so it took a bit to get used the shifter position. It is also my first carbon framed bike. The dura ace 7800 group is a totally different shape than my 10 speed record but I find it a bit more comfortable on the hoods. In the drops I felt I could ride all day in.The HT is 1 degree slacker than my other 2 bikes so I felt a little cramped with the 10cm stem. 12cm on its way. We were riding in the city for a bit and sprinting from lite to lite and I could not feel much flex in the BB area. Power transfer was instant and silky smooth. I must say I was pleasantly surprised of the ride quality of this frame/bike. We did a 60 mile ride one day and I did not feel at all beat up.It really corners like it is on rails with zero chatter when leaning heavily into corners. The 7800 group is just simply one of the best shifting groups that I have used. It is super quite and smooth as butter and the action is really light and crisp.
I still have a little dialing in to do but I think I will come to really love this machine. On long rides I feel it will be better than my other two bikes. Some new wheels and a few other small parts and it will be just what I was looking for.
As it sits with bottle cages it is 15#3 oz.or 6890 grams. This is not the SL frame but the 928 L frame cira 2007.
Once I get it all dialed in I will post some pics.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help with my questions.

Ride Safe
Skiezo

Geoff
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Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
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by Geoff

What is your question?

by Weenie


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michel2
Posts: 1144
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:47 am
Location: somewere floating between here and the other side

by michel2

Good to hear you enjoying your new ride!to manny more milles ! (;

TimW
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Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 1:52 pm
Location: England, UK

by TimW

I had the non-lugged 928 of around the same era and really liked it to (only thing that really let it down were the heavy alloy steerer forks). I like the compact dimensions of the 53cm frame.

They had in a 928L in shop window local to me in Black and Celeste until about 3 years ago. Was the 928L the last Bianchi actually made in Italy? I know the regular 928 is a far eastern job (as are all the frames ever since).

skiezo
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2008 2:32 am
Location: Mid. PA. USA

by skiezo

From what I am told by a friend who is in the CF industry as an engineer for a highly respected Govt. agency. He is also an avid cyclist as a cat 1 master racer in the Houston Texas area.
The tubes were sourced from Torrey in Japan built to the spec's bianchi requested.
The lugs were sourced from a company in Germany. They were than assembled in Italy.
The tubes were specific to frame size as well as some "custom shop" options that were reserved for team issue stuff. They went to mold based frames as a cost cutting measure in 2008 for stock geometry.
2007 was the last year for the lugged CF frame as a stock geometry. They were still available as a custom frame for a year of two after 2007. I guess in the early days they had some issues with the bonding agent in the tube to lug junction.
It would become to brittle and lose adhesion but that was rectified. From what I was told the tubes were quite state of the art and the "formula" was kept a secret for quite a few years as they had a patent on the tubesets. The patent for the tubes was than sold to a few select bicycle manufactures. Not sure who they are tho as it was quite secretive.
The forks were sourced by Mizuno.
That is what I know about the lugged CF frame offered by Bianchi. The contents of this are second hand information so i am sure it could be disputed. I do trust my source tho as he has been in the CF industry for 25+ years with some high security clearances from the US government.

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knef
Posts: 178
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:36 am
Location: Belgium

by knef

Cycling tabloids have a new headliner: US Government spies on Bianchi! ;)

by Weenie


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Ride-Fly
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:01 am

by Ride-Fly

skiezo wrote:From what I am told by a friend who is in the CF industry as an engineer for a highly respected Govt. agency. He is also an avid cyclist as a cat 1 master racer in the Houston Texas area.
The tubes were sourced from Torrey in Japan built to the spec's bianchi requested.
The lugs were sourced from a company in Germany. They were than assembled in Italy.
The tubes were specific to frame size as well as some "custom shop" options that were reserved for team issue stuff. They went to mold based frames as a cost cutting measure in 2008 for stock geometry.
2007 was the last year for the lugged CF frame as a stock geometry. They were still available as a custom frame for a year of two after 2007. I guess in the early days they had some issues with the bonding agent in the tube to lug junction.
It would become to brittle and lose adhesion but that was rectified. From what I was told the tubes were quite state of the art and the "formula" was kept a secret for quite a few years as they had a patent on the tubesets. The patent for the tubes was than sold to a few select bicycle manufactures. Not sure who they are tho as it was quite secretive.
The forks were sourced by Mizuno.
That is what I know about the lugged CF frame offered by Bianchi. The contents of this are second hand information so i am sure it could be disputed. I do trust my source tho as he has been in the CF industry for 25+ years with some high security clearances from the US government.


That's interesting info. I thought Bianchi hadn't truly made anything in Italy in decades. Heard they did the same Pinarello did, which is paint the frames and assemble the component parts onto the frame, thereby meeting the law of "at least 51%" of the work must be done in Italy to be legally able to say "Made in Italy". Regardless, I've always liked their lugged frames. Seen a few sed ones at a great deals and thought about picking one up.

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