Updated on May 12, 2022
Bianchi bikes have been around since 1885. Its headquarters and culture are still based in Italy, where it was founded.
The bikes are designed and assembled in Treviglio, while the majority of the manufacture is now done in Taiwan.
Celeste is a synonym for Bianchi. Known as ‘Bianchi Green,’ practically all frames are available in this colour. Surprisingly, it has evolved over time – but it is always recognisable, and the brand has its own legion of admirers who would never ride a bike in any other colour.
where bianchi bikes are made
Bianchi made motorcycles as well as bicycles, forming Autobianchi alongside Fiat and Pirelli, but this division was later sold to Fiat, freeing the bike makers to concentrate on human-powered vehicles.
Bianchi offers a wide selection of motorcycles, including aero race bikes and endurance bikes. Performance is still a big part of the equation in most circumstances; a Bianchi isn’t usually the first choice for a commuter looking for a good deal.
Dama Bianchi
Bianca rides a bicycle.
Eduardo Bianchi established his first workshop 130 years ago. Bianchi’s response to modern needs is examined by Cyclist in Italy.
A isolated maze of industrial buildings, gates, and fences painted in the trademark mint-green ‘celeste’ of the legendary Italian bike company, Bianchi, hides beneath the soaring bell tower of a single red-brick church near the northern Italian town of Treviglio. The contemporary headquarters of one of the world’s most fashionable and respected bike manufacturers, created 130 years ago by Italian engineer and inventor Edoardo Bianchi, is located in this clandestine facility in Lombardy.
Bianchi’s geometry is unchanged for female riders. Instead, it makes ‘DamaBianca’ bikes, which are named after Fausto Coppi’s lover Giulia Occhini, winner of the Italian Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Female-specific features include narrower handlebars, women’s saddles, shorter stems, and, in certain circumstances, shorter cranks. Only the endurance-focused models are available in a DamaBianca build, although since the geometry is unchanged, any of them may be with a few component swaps.
Sizing for Bianchi bicycles
Bianchi has always been proud of its sizing variety, which includes up to nine sizes ranging from 44 to 61, allowing most people to find a comfortable fit.
All bike manufactures calculate their sizes differently, but Bianchi bikes are rather large when compared to the American behemoths.
Technology to counteract
Bianchi was the first to incorporate Countervail technology onto its Infinito frames. The Materials Sciences Corporation patented the material, which has previously been used to minimise vibration in military helicopters. Bianchi invented it for bicycles and had it tested in NASA space operations. Isn’t that high-tech?
In a nutshell, Countervail technology is a manufacturing technique that involves the use of a viscolelastic resin in conjunction with structural carbon.
Bianchi claims that the dampening effect cuts out 80% of vibration while enhancing stiffness and strength.
Bianchi has been doing things their own way for a long time in Treviglio, Italy, just outside of Milan. When Edoardo Bianchi was just 21 years old, he created F.IV. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A.
He started the company in a modest shop in Milan in 1885, and it is now the world’s oldest bicycle manufacturer still in operation. The company employed 4,500 people in two Italian factories at its peak in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Bianchi was not only a bicycle maker at the time, but also a motorbike and vehicle manufacturer.
With the onset of World War II in 1939, the firm ceased production of automobiles. Bianchi motorcycles were produced until the late 1960s, with the last one leaving the Italian factory in 1967. Bianchi is currently a smaller manufacturer, but its celeste bicycles are still well-known around the world. During a visit of F.IV. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.Treviglio A.’s assembly plant, Claudio Masnata, marketing manager, told Cyclingnews, “We build roughly 16,000 bikes a year.”
Although no longer in production, this motorcycle demonstrates that Bianchi utilised celeste paint on non-bicycles as well.
Bianchi makes an effort to keep a small bit of their history alive by staying true to the company’s bike shop roots. Bianchi’s bike assembly is more like a shop than an assembly line, as each bike is manufactured from the frame to the final machine by a single mechanic. Masnata emphasised that the Bianchi technique is about dedication to each individual bicycle rather than a factory assembly line. “From start to finish, each bike is manufactured by one person,” Masnata explained. “It isn’t a production line. This is how Bianchi does things. The bicycles are being built by five assemblers and 25 other workers.”
The Bianchi “celeste” paint, as well as the crowned eagle that is allegedly based on a former royal crest, will appear on many of those finished bikes, even if in small amounts.
