From Spain to Italy, no visa required.

The cycling community is terrific. Of course, it is because I believe my own hype on what we have here in Lancaster County in the way of the routes we pedal and the number of people who ride bicycles for fitness and recreation. 

Aside from that, I met a guy at a race back in 2012 who is a mutual friend of a guy I know who's the nephew of an ex-business owner with whom I worked for back in the day. Lost yet? Maybe. 

Long story short, we exchanged smiles and high fives on the curb last year, as we watched the race go by. He found me on Twitter, then Facebook booked a ride as soon as family time permitted then BOOM, our list of cycling friends went '+1'.

As we clicked off the miles, talked about work, family, politics, and other absurdities of life, he slowly grew in love with my celeste Bianchi I've been riding on the road this winter. Eventually, Monty made the decision to get himself one in the fall of 2013. 

After much discussion of which Bianchi would be the proper tool for his job, the Infinito was decided upon. This guy is a diesel, can roll on the power, stomp over a climb, and pace-line really well. That's what the Infinito likes to do; stiff enough for the 'over the top of the hill-jump out of the saddle', stable in crosswinds when taking a pull at the front of the group and mellow out the bad pavement on those farm roads we wander onto time and time again.

A few weeks ago, as I powered down the Garmin from a ride, I received a text from a cyclist who is getting divorced and needs to get rid of some gear. One of the items is a 53cm Infinito frameset. Knowing this guy and how he takes care of these bikes, the frame has to be in great shape. I pass the news onto Monty and he makes the connection and retrieves the frame later that week. 

The frame shows up at my house, a box of Ultegra 6700 bits, and his high mileage Spanish branded road bike so I could transfer the measurements over to the Infinito during the build.

I have to confess, I've been around many Infinito bikes. They're very nice but I have never built one from the frame up. Having built up my Oltre last year puts the benchmark up there for bike builds in terms of frame quality, fit, and finish. Naturally, you compare all bike assemblies from there onward; like you'd compare the giddiness of your first kiss to all the rest in life. I want an Infinito now. 

To buy a bike from a shop, go through the sales process, have it fitted properly to you, and then rack in the miles seems like 95% of the deal is done. When you have the opportunity to build up a bike you enjoy, from the frame on up, the love goes deeper; that extra 5% in my opinion. For those not able to build up their bike from the parts box on up, that ok, I'm being a bit over passionate. 

The bike is done almost done, Monty has been by to see in my garage, the love affair has started already and I can't wait to join him on his first ride.

Correct tool for the job- Bianchi Infinito & Impulso on the 2012 Rapha Festive 500.

Winter time, base miles- Rapha throws out their Festive 500 to cyclists willing to take challenge of clocking in and doing 500 miles from 12/23 to 12/31.

Long miles in the saddle and a short time to do such. Keeping comfortable while on the bike can be acheived with a little help of the Bianchi Infinito and Impulso . This goal is reached by a taller head tube length and longer than B4P wheelbase, K-VID Tech in the fork and seat stays, and finally a relaxed head tube angle for reduced shoulder/ neck strain during those long miles.





 Check out these two guys as they work on chipping away at the 500 mile mark during their mapped out Rapha Festive 500, from Canada to California.

I joke with my wife that I'm proficient with self portraits due to my monkey arms. Looks like Gary Cruz has me beat with his monopod and had a good time putting in the miles.

Nice edit Gary!

Tackling cobbles or the group ride.

Biketopia in Knoxville, TN has done well with the Infinito since its launch in 2010 and with the excellent race coverage of Vacansoleil during the spring classics, they're ready again for another great selling season. And a Sempre tucked in on the end for good measure.

Frame strength comes from Nano-tech construction and K-VID utilization adds to the durability and wheel adhesion of the Infinito when the road surface becomes ugly.

Let's not forget the Impulso (below photo) which was a personal choice of Stijn Devolder during Roubaix. Some guys have a soft heart for a firm, fast frame.

This frame shares the geometry of the Infinito only a slightly shorter head tube yet it's taller than the Sempre head tube. There is also ample tire clearance for those looking for a supple ride over chip seal roads or when the pavement ends.

The Impulso's oversized 35mm seat tube and Triple Hydroformed frame serves up the right balance of 'hip steering', up front-communicative steering and front end strength at the head tube. Thats something you need when pounding the cobbled roads during the Spring Classics.

A : See Details(Google Map)

Bianchi Bicycles Infinito Ultergra Di2

One of the top selling bikes in the territory just got a whole 'lot tastier!

Arriving at a respectable dealer near you near the end of February, the Infinito Ultegra Di2.

Estimated retail is set to be $5100.00 USD/ Fulcrum Racing 5, FSA cockpit bits and Ultegra Di2.

Photo courtesy of Bianchi USA.

A small batch of about a 100 are coming ashore for this much desired bike build and you can have any color as long as its celeste.

As Shimano states, 'Don't ride Di2, unless you're prepared to BUY Di2.' so I'd expect the dealer's typical Infinito customer to make their mind up a bit faster with this build kit. Estimated weight, based off the Sempre Ultegra Di2 should be a tick under 17lbs for the 55cm complete bike, sans accessories.

Details; a mass-less arm and Ti bolts.

A trip to GA is never complete without popping in and seeing Nate and Edgemont at Outback Bikes at Little 5 Points. My ETA for the L5P location always seems to put me up against lunchtime so I'll top things off by grabbing a smoothie at Arden's Garden across the parking lot.

This shop oozes comfortable retail from the get-go. The Saturday of my visit, it was apparent that the guys had recently received a large shipment of accessories which needed tagged and displayed so I did my best to not waste any of their time.

I briefly got caught up with Nate and his race season, then with Edgemont on the latest happenings at OBB and what record player I need to buy for my next house-- Rega turntable, that's all I needed to know. Edgy is one of the few cats left I know who still appreciates vinyl. I'll admit I still have all of mine and have been waiting for the day to get the collection back in rotation at home. Thanks for the advice man.


Front and center, displayed in all it wonderfulness was a 2012 Infinito Ultegra. I really love the paint job this year; a nice update without going overboard. As well as the dark gray Shimano Ultegra 6700 build kit.


And yes, the details are something to sweat over. Nicely branded Ti cage bottle hardware patiently waits to hold your beverage in place during your next ride.

The 5 HIlls from Hell, 7 Hills would take longer to ride.

One thing that's for certain, once you're in the bike industry, fellow cyclist lean on you as their Bicycling Help Desk. Being the bike geek that I am, I really don't mind this.

An email pops into my Inbox last December from an old cycling friend, Dan. Dan and I have a long history of bicycling together, errr, allow me to clarify, mountain biking. He and I started riding together in the early 90's at the local Monday night mountain bike ride. While we shared many miles on the dirt, Dan was still an avid roadie where as myself, not so much. I had traded my road bike in '91 for a mountain bike which I would go on to regret once I got into mountain bike racing. The road bike is a damn good training tool for mountain bike racing.

(l-r)Dan Stambaugh, me, Davey Jr, John Grab, Andy N, Brad T.

Dan was putting a plan together back in the mid-90's to do a bike shop in Lancaster, PA. Leading up to the launch of this shop, he was gathering up all his riding buddies who aspired to mountain bike race in support of his shop and slapped a shop jersey on their backs. Me being one of them.

The photo above is from the 1995 Pinch Pond Classic in Brickerville, PA. Dan has a clip board under his left arm; data acquisition from the racers. In the picture, I'm on my first official bike that I purchased for racing with my own money I was earning as a controls technician; KHS Montana Pro w/Full XT kit- $1300. 21lbs steel hardtail, loved that bike. Next to me was Davey Jr as we called him. He was racing Expert class for Jamis at this point and would go on to race against some of the top pros of that era; Landis, Bishop, and Chris Eatough. The kid was all legs and lungs.

Back to the story, Dan emails me a laundry list of questions about what he's looking for in a new road bike, what his options are in his price range. After a couple of more phone calls and me playing psychologist with him, I came to the conclusion that this man needs either an 1885 or an FG Lite. Neither of which are available in the US market this year. In fact the FG has been out of our product range since 2009....[click for FG goodness] and the 1885 has been, well, it hasn't been...

After much combing of the interwebs, my inbox churns up a bike via Google Alerts. (It pays to use this feature if you really want to keep tabs on the brand you work for or support.) The results showed a guy who was selling a lightly used 2009 Bianchi HoC FG Lite in a 53cm, Ultegra 6700 build with Easton EC70 wheels. About two grand later, the auction was won by our man Dan.

A couple of months roll by and Dan is in town from Albany, NY for the Fourth of July weekend, itching to get in a ride with me. I meet Dan at his in-law's house in York and we roll out for the ride with his wife Betsy. On tape is what Dan refers to as the 5 Hills from Hell. Typically this ride is 7 Hills but Dan is short for time so we keep things to 5.


Over the course of 36 miles, we knock off 2100' of climbing which is pretty good for keeping things around the York area. There are some good hills in this county and I'm glad this day that I have a compact crank on the 1885 as we climb Copenhaffer Road. This section of climb has a grade like the top wall of Paris Mtn in Greenville, SC only not just a top wall but rather the majority of the climb. Yeah, that steep...6mph, humping the handlebars type of climb.

Dan's previous bike is one from a major brand and carbon fiber. A mid-2000 model year carbon bike and as we all know, carbon bikes have changed a lot over the course of even 5 years. All things considered, Dan wanted something stiff, responsive, light and with a bit of swagger. He agrees the Oltre would have hit all those talking points but $5k for the frame alone, wasn't in his budget.

As confessed by Dan, he loves the bike and the FG isn't a bike you can be lazy upon. "It likes to be constantly turning", Dan confesses. Not that the FG won't track straight at high speed but rather keeping the bike straight requires a level of attentiveness and core strength. Think crit race versus gran fondo ride. (Tech note--this is a good comparison also between the Sempre and Infinito. The Infinito will accelerate close to the rate of the Sempre without the need to be on your game while gripping the bars; due in part to its slightly slacker head tube angle over the Sempre/B4P or HoC frames.)

It was terrific catching up with an old friend through riding and sure as people head out to the fairways with their clubs for business meetings, it's really nice to stretch the legs and put in some miles on the bike. Dan is still itching to do a shop again someday and I can almost bet a paycheck what brand he'll line up with when the doors open.

2012 Bianchi Bicycles are on the horizon.

The media got a sneak peak of Bianchi Bicycles 2012 product range last month in Bergamo, Italy.

Bikeradar.com was there to cover the goods and here's the photo gallery of the new Impulso...[more]. These images are not representative of the US spec bikes but the frame construction obviously is.

I'm really excited about the Impulso for a couple of reasons. As those around me know, I've been loving my 1885 since I got it last year. Part of my bike criteria has always been stiff and quick. Notice I didn't say...FAST here; as that is a component of the engine of said bike. And well, I'm not all that FAST but do love a quick handling bike.

The quickness of the 1885 is partially due to it's Triple Hydroformed tube set which has found way over to the new Impulso. Heavily manipulated to the point where the top tube and head tube appear to be monocoque like it's carbon brother.

Photo courtesy of Road.cc

I really like the clean lines of the front end. The tubing is hydro-formed, welded then hydro-formed again which smooths out the welds nicely. Another atheistic is the head tube height is now paired up with the top tube. The head tube lengths should be relatively close to the Infinito and the increased surface area of the top tube/head tube weld should stiffen up the handling a bit.

The fork of the Impulso remains familiar to the C2C line employing Bianchi's K-Vid technology which is now moving into it's fifth model year of use.

Photo courtesy of Bianchi USA, Inc.

The chart above shows the factory test results of our Bianchi K-Vid fork.

We also utilize this technology on the Gran Fondo bikes; the Vigorelli, Imola and the Brava since 2009. As you can see by the carbon+kevlar (K-Vid) constructed fork's sign wave, it's frequency rate is noticeably reduced. Test rides by my dealers and Velonews who tested an Infinito on the cobbles during the spring classics, concur. Similar to the reason why some ski manufacturers uses Kevlar in the construction of skis; to reduce tip and tail chattering on crusty, icy snow, K-Vid keeps the wheel firmly planted when cornering the bike on not_so_great road surfaces. The Infinito implements this technology additionally at the seat stay.

I'm excited for the carbon road bike sector as well as the Turismo and Gran Fondo line of bikes...none of which I can reveal at this moment but will post as soon as I get the green light.

Now go out and ride!

Quick afternoon bite #bianchibicycles #capocycling

3pm snack and reading material. Mmmm.


--posted via iPhone.

More Infinito love, this time from Simplicity Cycles.

Simplicity Cycles head wrench and assistant manager, Mike Allison took out a 2011 Infinito Ultegra for the first time today. He rides anything and everything, FAST! I believe the above says it all. (and I didn't have to pay him in beer for the testimony.)

Thanks Mike!

Bianchi Infinto and 928SL Interbike 2009 review.

Just a bit of ramblings on my part from the 2009 Interbike, highlighting the 2010 Infinito Ultegra and 928 SL.

Courtesy of FLIKBIN.com. 928SL too.Thanks for the coverage man!

2010 Bianchi C2C Infinito test- Bikeradar.com

Here is the latest from over the pond regarding our 2010 Infinito.

Thanks to Cycling Plus/bikeradar.com

This frameset was lighting up forums all over the globe during the 2009 Giro when sprinter Robbie Hunter made it his weapon of choice.

Coming in at an est. 40gr heavier than the B4P T-Cube, you'll get the drag race capabilities of the T-Cube with a controlled ride of the C2C geometry. The immediate geometry difference between the C2C to B4P; aside from the 10mm taller headtube on the C2C is it's 1-3mm longer chainstay.

Utilizing the M40 carbon/Nano-tech of the 928 SL, this frame should be freaking out a lot of test riders. I know I'm excited to test ride one real soon-why?--> The M40 grade of carbon is utilized in the T-Cube, this lends to the bikes ability to jump on climbs and sprints.

More information to follow when I return from the National Sales Meeting in August.
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Will Mahler