Groupset for a Bianchi Mini Velo Special Gold Ed

framness

Hey all,

A family member picked up a Bianchi Mini-velo speical gold edition bike. He wants to refit it and is looking into fitting it up with the SRAM RED 22 groupset. I have advised him that the groupset for the type of riding he does (lsd coffee house circuits) and the bike is not a good value. Also, since the wheels on this bike are small, would it not call for a special groupset calling for non-standard cassette and chainrings?

I take it saddles, handlebars, stems, etc are pretty standard?

Thanks

ugo.santalucia

framness wrote:

Hey all,

A family member picked up a Bianchi Mini-velo speical gold edition bike. He wants to refit it and is looking into fitting it up with the SRAM RED 22 groupset. I have advised him that the groupset for the type of riding he does (lsd coffee house circuits) and the bike is not a good value. Also, since the wheels on this bike are small, would it not call for a special groupset calling for non-standard cassette and chainrings?

I take it saddles, handlebars, stems, etc are pretty standard?

Thanks

It should be possible to fit STI type levers and route the cables, might look ugly, but it does anyway... Probably needs some bosses converters or whatever they are called, I have a pair or two in a drawer somewhere... they're not hard to find anyway... that provided the bosses on the head tube are standard.

He will need a small cassette, as small wheels imply smaller sprockets, maybe an 11-21 could do. The rear hub/dropouts are the big issue... they are probably not designed to take a modern 10 or 11 speed cassette and that can be deal killer... he really need to check the rear hub, as I suspect it takes screw on freewheels of some description. IF the dropouts are wide, in theory the wheel can be rebuilt with a road hub, but I suspect it is not the case

Moral... I think he better give up the idea

ugo.santalucia

Had another look and it seems to me these are fitted with an 8 speed cassette/freewheel in the 2300 series. I suspect what your friend wants is STI shifters instead of the downtube (headtube in this case), in which case any Shimano 8 speed STI should be compatible... need to source an old Sora OR, he can go for a set of flat bars and fit some 8 speed touring/MTB shifters... that to me seems the most sensible way of doing it...

Red 22 won't work, as the hub is most certainly not able to take an 11 speed cassette (although it might take a 9 or 10... Tiagra 4700 is pretty good)