Buying First Road Bike - Bianchi VIA Nirone 7 Xenon?

paulbox

Hi, I'm looking for my first road bike, it will be mainly used for commuting (22 miles each way), but I'm hoping to also use it at the weekends and maybe join a cycle club.

Can you please offer some advice on this Bianchi bike, I don't know anything about it apart from the fact that I like the look of it...

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bianchi/via-nirone-7-xenon-compact-2011-road-bike-ec025814#answers

I have been advised to get a cyclo cross bike previously, but I really want a road bike. Doing my commute last summer on a converted mountain bike has convinced me that I want to be able to do it in as short a time as possible. I figure that a road bike is going to be quicker than a CX bike.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Paul.

verloren

I can't comment on the bike specifically, as I've never ridden a Bianchi, but something that might be useful to know is that 2010 bikes are worth considering. Until recently bikes got better every year (broadly speaking), but in recent years for economic and other reasons that doesn't hold true. Instead what tends to happen is that to keep a particular price point the quality of the kit on the bike goes down slightly, with perhaps a slight improvement in the frame to compensate (but not always by any means).

So in the case of the bike you're looking at, Hargroves have the 2010 model, with essentially the same kit, for around £150 less. I'm sure the same will be true for other stores, and for other bikes.

Food for thought...

Buckled_Rims

At that price area there's huge competition between various manufacturers. Bianchi is one of the oldest makers around and know their stuff. It's a good bike. Other bikes might have a better this or that, but the Via should IMO be roughly in the middle ground, neither great or bad. It should keep up with most road bikes.

I agree it's a beauty and I've even thought about a Bianchi Via myself a few years ago. But, (and here's the rub) for a few pounds and a bit of patience more, there'll be some better bargain around soon.

You are approaching carbon frame prices at just under £1000, so have a good look around.

paulbox

verloren wrote:

I can't comment on the bike specifically, as I've never ridden a Bianchi, but something that might be useful to know is that 2010 bikes are worth considering.

So in the case of the bike you're looking at, Hargroves have the 2010 model, with essentially the same kit, for around £150 less. I'm sure the same will be true for other stores, and for other bikes.

Thanks, I have been looking at 2010 sale bikes quite a bit. I'll be making use of a cycle scheme voucher, Hargroves don't let you use these on sale bikes and even if they did the saving would only be about £80 to me so would probably go for the newer model (the wheels look nicer... :oops: ).

Also, as this is my first road bike I don't know exactly what size I need, looking for a 2010 sale bike becomes more difficult...

paulbox

Buckled_Rims wrote:

At that price area there's huge competition between various manufacturers. Bianchi is one of the oldest makers around and know their stuff. It's a good bike. Other bikes might have a better this or that, but the Via should IMO be roughly in the middle ground, neither great or bad. It should keep up with most road bikes.

I agree it's a beauty and I've even thought about a Bianchi Via myself a few years ago. But, (and here's the rub) for a few pounds and a bit of patience more, there'll be some better bargain around soon.

You are approaching carbon frame prices at just under £1000, so have a good look around.

Yes there is certainly a lot of competition at this price level, I do tend to get carried away and start looking at £1.5k - £2.5k carbon framed bikes, but having already spent a couple of grand on a new mountain bike this year I want to keep it sensible.

I know it sounds a bit "girly", but due to my lack of experience on the subject, I've decided that as long as the bike is from a reputable manufacturer and the components are half way decent, the most important thing for me is that I like how it looks... I think we tend to use things we like the look of more and also get more enjoyment out of doing so, whether it's a car, motorbike or even a mobile phone.

Obviously I don't want a crap bike that just looks good though, hence why I was asking for input...

Cheers.

noiseboyfeetman

I've got the 2010 Bianchi Via Nirone Xenon and use it for commuting 15 miles and also for pleasure. I've had it 8 months and had no issues with it, its a dream to ride, at this price its a head turneri. It's comfortable for good long rides and i've personally found the Xenon gears nice and smooth.

Best thing is to find a few bikes you like in the price range and take them for a test ride. I much prefered the Bianchi with the Campagnolo set up then the others I tried, but then Shimano's cabling I believe has been tidied up this year. I f you do get the Bianchi though keep it Italian and get the Campagnolo which your looking at.

The other plus point is that says Bianchi on the frame so you'll be commuting in style.

paulbox

Thanks nbfm.

I was measured up etc. at a Bianchi dealer on Saturday, need a 61cm frame, took one out for a spin and absolutely loved it. I couldn't believe how easy it was to peddle up a hill, you boys don't know you're born...

Anyway, that's one decision made, now I'm down to two specific bikes:

2010 Via Nirone 7 Veloce - £1089 2011 Via Nirone 7 Xenon - £849

Love the look of both bikes, like the idea of the cabon seat stays on the Veloce, but is the Veloce worth the extra cash?

noiseboyfeetman

If its just for commuting and the occassional longer ride the Xenon would do fine, if you think you may possibly do sportives etc in the future then i'd go for the Veloce version. Personally i've no problems with the Xenon, i find it smooth and does what i want it too, all depends if you think you may want to upgrade parts down the line, if so why not do it now if you can instead. Look around for the 2010 Veloce and you can get it cheaper than £1089, Hargroves have the 59cm at £949.

paulbox

Yeah, saw the offer at Hargroves, unfortunately they don't have a 61cm. Also if purchasing with a cycle scheme voucher they want £1k.

I'm sure the Xenon would be fine, but think the little extra comfort that the carbon stays will offer over 22 mile commute would be good. Or am I buying in to marketing bullsh!t?

rolf_f

PaulBox wrote:

Thanks nbfm.

I was measured up etc. at a Bianchi dealer on Saturday, need a 61cm frame, took one out for a spin and absolutely loved it. I couldn't believe how easy it was to peddle up a hill, you boys don't know you're born...

Anyway, that's one decision made, now I'm down to two specific bikes:

2010 Via Nirone 7 Veloce - £1089 2011 Via Nirone 7 Xenon - £849

Love the look of both bikes, like the idea of the cabon seat stays on the Veloce, but is the Veloce worth the extra cash?

Interesting..... +1 to what Buckled Rims said. I just bought a carbon framed Ribble Gran Fondo with Campagnolo Centaur for £10 more than that Veloce Bianchi (below). Not such a cool badge but a much better spec. I'd probably still go with the Veloce of the two. Aside from the carbon stays, I think you get a full Veloce groupset with that one - the Mirage might be just levers and mechs from Campagnolo.

jlgt

Are you able to use your voucher at Evans? Because they're doing the 2010 Xenon online for £675, and 61cm is the one size they have left... This is the exact bike I have, and I think this is a fair price for it (it's about what I paid after getting a discount in my LBS) - no way is the 2011 version (which is essentially the same thing with some gaudier wheels) worth an extra £175 on top of this.

I haven't ridden the frame with the carbon stays, but I have to say that mine is a lovely ride and I couldn't imagine that you'd feel a massive difference over 22 miles. And if you did get one at that price, you could always upgrade bits and pieces to Veloce over time if you wanted to (as I've done with the shifters) and still spend much less than the full Veloce model... I think other posters are right: once you are spending upwards of £1000 there are probably better - if slightly less lovely-looking - options for the money...

dphb

At the risk of getting bombarded with a million choices, (I'm also looking at the bianchi veloce as a possibility) you say there are better but less lovely looking bikes out there for the price - I'm looking up to £1500.
Any suggestions? I've ben told to look at ribble, focus and planet x, but I'm worried about the bike being a good fit and they are online only.
Thanks

pianoman

You could get a Giant TCR 1 and then buy a few cheap Campag parts to replace anything labelled Shimano, it looks stunning and Giant are well-represented countrywide so there's every chance you'll be able to take it for a test ride.

paulbox

jlgt wrote:

Are you able to use your voucher at Evans? Because they're doing the 2010 Xenon online for £675, and 61cm is the one size they have left... This is the exact bike I have, and I think this is a fair price for it (it's about what I paid after getting a discount in my LBS) - no way is the 2011 version (which is essentially the same thing with some gaudier wheels) worth an extra £175 on top of this.

Saw the 2010 Xenons on Evans this evening, that's quite a big price difference... Bugger, I need things to make the decision easier...

I could get that, a new lid & a new jacket with my voucher.

I must say that I like the wheels in the 2011 models, not sure if they are actually any better though.

paulbox

Rolf F wrote:

Interesting..... +1 to what Buckled Rims said. I just bought a carbon framed Ribble Gran Fondo with Campagnolo Centaur for £10 more than that Veloce Bianchi (below). Not such a cool badge but a much better spec. I'd probably still go with the Veloce of the two. Aside from the carbon stays, I think you get a full Veloce groupset with that one - the Mirage might be just levers and mechs from Campagnolo.

Lovely looking bike mate, but as this is my first venture in to road bikes I'd prefer to buy something from a relatively local shop rather than mail order. Cheers.

rolf_f

PaulBox wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Interesting..... +1 to what Buckled Rims said. I just bought a carbon framed Ribble Gran Fondo with Campagnolo Centaur for £10 more than that Veloce Bianchi (below). Not such a cool badge but a much better spec. I'd probably still go with the Veloce of the two. Aside from the carbon stays, I think you get a full Veloce groupset with that one - the Mirage might be just levers and mechs from Campagnolo.

Lovely looking bike mate, but as this is my first venture in to road bikes I'd prefer to buy something from a relatively local shop rather than mail order. Cheers.

Personally, I agree with you 100 percent. It is what I did (except for the 'local' bit). Travelled a 7 and a half hour round trip to Epic Cycles on three occasions before I ended up with my first road bike.

Philby

The Bianchi Via Nirone is a great ride and looks stunning for the price - I have one with the carbon rear seat stays that I got in a sale at the beginning of last year.

But you don't say whether you have tried one - there are loads of other makes out there that might fit you perfectly. When I was buying I was focussing on Treks, Cannondales and Orbeas, and never even thought of a Bianchi until a friend noticed one in the sale. So went to try it out and it fit me much better than all the others I had previously been interested in. The moral of this story is go and try as many brands as you can, as they all have slightly different geometries and some will fit you better than others.

Also don't get sidelined by the carbon v aluminium debate - some of the best frames are made of aluminium (e.g the much praised Cannondale CAAD 9 - which you might be able to get with Tiagra for about £900)

paulbox

Rolf F wrote:

Personally, I agree with you 100 percent. It is what I did (except for the 'local' bit). Travelled a 7 and a half hour round trip to Epic Cycles on three occasions before I ended up with my first road bike.

That's some journey, I've exchanged a couple of emails with Epic, unfortunately their web site doesn't detail all 2010 models they have left but on the up-side, they already have a stock of 2011 bikes.

paulbox

Philby wrote:

But you don't say whether you have tried one - there are loads of other makes out there that might fit you perfectly. When I was buying I was focussing on Treks, Cannondales and Orbeas, and never even thought of a Bianchi until a friend noticed one in the sale. So went to try it out and it fit me much better than all the others I had previously been interested in. The moral of this story is go and try as many brands as you can, as they all have slightly different geometries and some will fit you better than others.

Also don't get sidelined by the carbon v aluminium debate - some of the best frames are made of aluminium (e.g the much praised Cannondale CAAD 9 - which you might be able to get with Tiagra for about £900)

I tried a 2010 Veloche on Saturday, fitted me perfectly so I'm not worried about trying other brands, there's something about the Bianchi that has just got under my skin. I have tried a couple of other bikes and they were fine, just didn't grab me the same way. Much like you, I hadn't considered them until I spotted on in the sale last week.

It's funny how brands either do it for you or don't, I was buying a new mtb earlier this year and was dead set on getting a Specialized. I tried a couple out and loved them, just the decision to be made between the models (much like here really). Anyway, I went along to a mtb demo' day, specifically to have another ride of these bikes and make my final decision, I also tried a couple of Treks and a Giant, fell in love with the Giant and that was that. Now I can't get interested in Specialized's road bikes at all, I'm sure that they're very good, but they're just not doing anything for me...

paulbox

Gutted, just discovered that I can't get a cycle to work scheme voucher this year as last years scheme ran from March 1st 2010 and this years runs from Jan 1st 2011. Apparently you can't have two vouchers within a year (which I know makes sense really).

So no road bike for me until Jan 2012...

The poor environment will have to put up with me commuting 45 miles in my 3.4l car for 4 days a week instead of the planned 1 or 2 if I'd got the new bike. And I'll still be a fat b@stard this time next year... :oops:

But thanks to everybody who contributed to this thread, it was much appreciated.

upperoilcan

What a shame about the bike.....

But having read this thread with some interest it has got me thinking just exactly what model Bianchi Nirone 7 i have just bought as mine has a ali frame with a full Veloce group set ? No carbon seat stays tho.......

Its a 2010 model with red/white/black paintwork. ?????

paulbox

Not sure what model that would be, but I'm sure you will be able to narrow it down by searching through the adverts on the interweb. More importantly, how are you enjoying riding it?

Think I'll probably leave it until March and buy one myself rather than waiting until next year for a voucher. Even if I only commute twice a week on it I will save about £95 per month in petrol so it's pretty easy to justify the outlay.

zippypablo

if you see what you're after vastly reduced then you probably wouldn't be able to use your voucher. The best bet might be to get a credit card with 0% interest for 12 months and use that. I got a cough mtb cough this way with 40% off.

paulbox

That's a good idea... 8)

upperoilcan

PaulBox wrote:

Not sure what model that would be, but I'm sure you will be able to narrow it down by searching through the adverts on the interweb. More importantly, how are you enjoying riding it?

I cannot for the life of me find my bike anywhere on the web (not even the Bianchi site),i seen one thats close but has a lesser groupset.....

And the ride.well i love it,very stable at speed.its a real pleasure to be on....

For my 1st road bike i could not of possibly asked for more. 8)

rolf_f

PaulBox wrote:

Gutted, just discovered that I can't get a cycle to work scheme voucher this year as last years scheme ran from March 1st 2010 and this years runs from Jan 1st 2011. Apparently you can't have two vouchers within a year (which I know makes sense really).

So no road bike for me until Jan 2012...

The poor environment will have to put up with me commuting 45 miles in my 3.4l car for 4 days a week instead of the planned 1 or 2 if I'd got the new bike. And I'll still be a fat b@stard this time next year... :oops:

But thanks to everybody who contributed to this thread, it was much appreciated.

So presumably you can't get one in Jan as you already got one in March 2010? So why can't you use that instead of commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car? And why can't you just get another voucher in March 2011 when your current one (assuming you have one) is done? Finally, why can't you use some of your own money to buy a bike if there is no other option and take it out of the vast amount of money you'll be spending on fuel commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car?

paulbox

Rolf F wrote:

So presumably you can't get one in Jan as you already got one in March 2010? So why can't you use that instead of commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car? And why can't you just get another voucher in March 2011 when your current one (assuming you have one) is done? Finally, why can't you use some of your own money to buy a bike if there is no other option and take it out of the vast amount of money you'll be spending on fuel commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car?

Oh, you must be the boring bloke who thinks he's funny, every forum should have one... :roll:

But thanks for trying to brighten up the thread.

rolf_f

PaulBox wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

So presumably you can't get one in Jan as you already got one in March 2010? So why can't you use that instead of commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car? And why can't you just get another voucher in March 2011 when your current one (assuming you have one) is done? Finally, why can't you use some of your own money to buy a bike if there is no other option and take it out of the vast amount of money you'll be spending on fuel commuting 45 miles in your 3.4 litre car?

Oh, you must be the boring bloke who thinks he's funny, every forum should have one... :roll:

But thanks for trying to brighten up the thread.

I was serious about the questions despite asking them in a boring way but never mind......

paulbox

Rolf F wrote:

I was serious about the questions despite asking them in a boring way but never mind......

Well then I appologise, it sounded like you were being sarcastic as I had already answered the main questions:

PaulBox wrote:

Think I'll probably leave it until March and buy one myself rather than waiting until next year for a voucher. Even if I only commute twice a week on it I will save about £95 per month in petrol so it's pretty easy to justify the outlay.

To answer your other one, my company operates a window in which you can get the vouchers, this years closes in Dec with vouchers delivered in Jan, there is no option to get one in March 2011.

My post that you quoted was done while feeling very frustrated as I had big plans in my head. I was lashing out at the system which I felt was going to stop me doing exactly what it was introduced to do (that's why I mentioned 3.4l car). Now that I've calmed down I know that this is my fault not theirs, I shouldn't have got the mtb this year...

As discussed elsewhere on this forum this week, for some people this scheme's main benefit is to hide the cost of bikes from partners. This may sound sad to some of you lucky guys and girls with understanding other halves, but my Mrs simply couldn't get her head around spending £2k on a mtb or £1.2k on a road bike. For her a bike costs about £120 in Halfords. For me, it is just easier to not have the conversation...

Now that they are advising 25% residual values on a £1k voucher, it hardly seems worth using them for financial benefit.

ct4oc

I've got a bianchi via nirone, it's a pleasure to get on each day for my ride to work and back, it's comfortable and rides really well, i'm planning to upgrade to fulcrum 5 wheels and dura or ultegra mech but the standard have worked well for me for the last 12 months. 8)

paulbox

Thanks to everybody for their help and advice, bought a 2010 Via Nirone Veloce today, looks lovely, hopefully take it for its maiden ride tomorrow morning... 8)