Thoughts?
I like the look of these… Geometry isn’t too much different then the current bike I ride.
Kicking around the idea of building one up.
https://www.bianchiusa.com/04-bicycles/04-reparto-corse/04-crono.html
Very road bike geometry. I would not buy one online until I had taken a caliper to the main tubes to see how wide they are. They don’t look too fat, so while it may not be as fast as the top end bikes, it is probably somewhere in the middle.
Unless you want to ride really far back it will not be optimum.
Chad
I ride pretty slack already… TCR Aero medium frame.
I doubt you will pick up any speed swapping our your current bike. I think that green color makes you slower. 
It is hard to tell from the pic if it is really a narrow-tubed bike as well. If it at least has sub 30mm tubes then it ought to be a reasonable machine. It is certainly better than some of the faux-aero frames others like Cannondale, Scott and Kuota put out with very wide tube cross sections.
Chad
Oooh, is the c’Dale Slice also in that bunch?
The older Scott & Kuotas I had doubts about. Meaning, I was pretty sure the tube shapes were iffy.
You’re right about picking up any speed, I was just hoping not to lose any if I built one up !
Since when is 2004 “old school”?
True, not really old school… More like old.
Guess a Nishiki NFS or like would be more old school.
**Oooh, is the c’Dale Slice also in that bunch? **
Until the current model slice, their bikes had huge diameter tubes. Yeah, they were not very aero.
Meaning, I was pretty sure the tube shapes were iffy.
It was not just the shapes that were iffy; they were like 45-50mm at the cross section and the head tubes were massive. That’s like double my Yaqui’s 26mm downtube.
Chad
Hmm, so head tube width needs measuring.
Down tube cross section needs measuring, any sense of best place to take measurement?
Just put a caliper on the width of the tube and then the length to get a chord width. Obviously, narrower is better. Tube shapes will affect the airflow as well, but a really wide tube can have whatever shape it wants and it is still going to catch a lot of wind. The aforementioned Scott and Kuota frames had 50mm head tubes. That’s a nice, bike blunt object to put on the front of your bike.
The head tube for an old 1 inch steerer tube fork will measure 34mm and I think Cervelo and some others managed to reduce their heat-tube size down to 34 as well, despite using a 1 1/8 steerer.
Chad
To me, Old School" means steel. Preferably lugged.
Don’t listen to people that only read about it then regurg the info. Listen to people that ride one. I have one. Fast bike. Sub 56 min. 40k often. The position is not steep like a tri bike. It is a true Time Trial machine. Closer to a road position. One that can also climb well. You won’t be disappointed.
Exactly right! All of us know that it’s all about tube measurements.
Please. I’m on a Scott. Best bike? Nope. $1000 for the frameset? yep. good deal. Occasionally, I even beat folks on Cervelos.
I’m sure that with a red Cervelo, everyone would know my name!
I ride pretty slack already… TCR Aero medium frame.
I definitely wouldn’t consider that bike an upgrade over a Giant TCR, especially from an aero perspective. Giant makes excellent bikes. The geometry of the TCR Aero was not my favorite, but the bike - overall - is well made and engineered. Why the desire for change?
Totally fair question.
I may be getting talked out picking up the Bianchi frame.
The TCR Aero has drops/clip ons.
It’s fine, I like it, but it’s been my only bike. Hence the drops. Living in Seattle (I moved out recently) and riding in the city, etc. riding a bike w/cow horns was a poor idea.
I now have more room and more normal riding back in Pdx. Thought I’d build up another bike as a dedicated TT bike.
Probably easier to throw cow horns & bar ends on the TCR aero and find a cheap road bike to train on.
none of what you say changes the fact that the scott has unecessarily wide tubes that are slowing you down.
Exactly right! All of us know that it’s all about tube measurements.
Please. I’m on a Scott. Best bike? Nope. $1000 for the frameset? yep. good deal. Occasionally, I even beat folks on Cervelos.
I’m sure that with a red Cervelo, everyone would know my name!
Since when is 2004 “old school”?
in 2005.
juha-pdx
I rode this frameset for a couple of years. It is very slack as others have mentioned; I had a zero offset seatpost with the saddle slammed all the way forward. I used an aero Easton EC-90 TT fork as the stock fork is as brick-like as you can get. IMO, the frameset iteslf would be considered average at the very best on todays aero scale but in my case that was not the point of the bike in the first place. The bike descended and climbed very well which would be expected. It was OK on the flats. I prefer a much steeper set-up but the bike was set up to be a tweener for training that I could ride from my front door through the city to get to good TT training roads and I ended up really liking riding it. I will scan an image of it and send it to you next week, it was a beautiful bike. Not sure if this was a fluke or not, but I ended up cracking the frame at the head tube / down tube junction; this is surprising because I am not a big guy and the bike was only 2 years old. I have other Bianchi road frames from that era and they all had tiny gussets at this juncture which the Chrono did not. I ultimately decided that Bianchi was very weight consciuos and cut everything they could, it was light by any time periods standards. I have seen a couple on E-bay and tried to purchase another one but they have all been very cost prohibitive…I think I got mine from Supergo on a firesale for $400.00 or so new. I would do a very close inspection for cracks at aforementioned tube junctures if you find a used one based on my experience.
Tube measurements are just a start. You can eliminate some bikes simply by looking at/measuring them. No matter what you do with a 45-50 mm tube, it’s going to be slow. I’ve read two different tests by different folks that backed up the fact that the aforementioned bikes were not even as fast as a Trek OCLV road bike which isn’t even designed to be aero.
Most people can’t take their bike to the wind tunnel, but they can make educated decisions about frames.
Chad
I have been on this bike for a number of years and it has been a great deal. It may not be more aero than your giant, but I feel that is more dependent upon your position and equipment choice anyway. If you can get a comfortable aero position on it then who cares what the geometry is. get the cables trimmed extreemly short and its fine. I passed too many people on cervelos and other great bikes to justify an upgrade while i’m in PT school. Many of these people have way too much cable and a poor position and it makes them slower. I have ridden side by side with many people in training at the same speed and my watts are lower. I have ridden a 53:54 40k on it with a x-lab disc and a rolf tdf38. I also did a ~2:26 split at oceanside 70.3 in '08 and have a number of bike course records on it here in the southwest. My race build has it around 19.5pounds with out a spare tire. I changed the fork for an easton a while ago, but keep it around for an emergency. I do have the seat slammed all the way forward though. Hope that helps
Seth