BIANCHI L’EROICA £2500
› Steel heroics with Bianchi’s new-is-old Eroica...
OUR VERY IMPORTANT bike feature is the home of the newest, lightest, swankiest, carbon-est bikes around. Bianchi’s 2016 L’Eroica bucks that trend big time, with its retro steel machine featuring – wait for it! – down-tube shifters.
This technology will be unknown territory to vast swathes of today’s cyclists, but back in the day – ie before Shimano invented integrated STI shifters in the 1990s – these adorned the sides of skinny steel road bike down-tubes everywhere.
The Eroica, as its name suggests, is made for the annual ride of the same name that takes place in Siena, Italy and which only permits you to ride bikes from 1987 or earlier – or full-on faux-retro machines like this.
Which is why this bike comes with an Italian-made all-steel frame and fork, quill stem, old-school pedals with clips and leather straps, a Brooks leather saddle, tubular rims and a classic racing handlebar. The shifting isn’t quite as far behind the times as the clips, straps and quill might suggest, and actually features a 10-speed cassette with a pretty decent range of gears, which wouldn’t even have been a pipe dream in ’87 but will come in handy on the hilly and challenging Eroica event.
We reckon Bianchi must have found the Campagnolo-like Dia-Compe down-tube shifters (1) down the back of a settee at its Bergamo headquarters. But it’s technology that has worked for half a century, so it shouldn’t let you down. Bianchi supplies the classic 48/36 chainset, with the Campagnolo Silver vintage derailleurs (2) also looking the part. The bottom bracket is, naturally, Italian threaded, which is rarely seen these days. The same is true of the Dia-Compe aluminium centre-pull brakes (3), though from our memory of such things, these aren’t going to compete with today’s dual-pivot calliper brakes, let alone the latest generation of disc brakes.
But this isn’t about performance, personal bests or Strava KOMs, this is about style, Italian flair, brio and elan. It’s about rocking up to your ride in your plus fours and casquette, ideally in Bianchi’s Celeste green. It’s about learning (or re-learning) how to use down-tube shifters and toeclips. It’s probably best to practise using the latter away from traffic for the first few times, as failure to get your feet in could prove painful, embarrassing – or both. We’re old enough to know from experience…
A steel frame, though, if looked after, should last you a lifetime. It should provide a comfortable ride, too, and we’ll let you know if it does. In the next issue we’re testing it against its modern equivalent, Bianchi’s Specialissima, in a new against old challenge.
10.45kg (57cm) inc pedals
Columbus Zona lugged steel Lugged steel
Ambrosio Montreal tubular
Campagnolo Veloce 10-speed, 48/36, 13-29
Dia-Compe
Weight
Frame Fork Wheels
Gears Brakes
Finishing kit
Brooks Team Pro
Classic saddle, VP189 cage pedals
with VP toeclips and leather straps,
Vittoria Rally 25mm tubular tyres