Bianchi’s 2016 range bets big on disc brakes, introduces a couple of lower priced road bikes to bring more people into the brand, and even hits two of the biggest trends, gravel and 27.5+ mountain bikes.
The Allroad gravel bike is a new alloy frame with full rack and fender readiness, a full carbon fork and capacity for 700×35 tires on its own, or 32mm treads with fenders. Those aspects are all but required anymore to be a contender…what’s surprising are the bonus features…
Up front is a tapered headtube to hold the carbon fork. All cables and hoses run externally along the bottom of the downtube to keep things simple.
Nice big, flat lower rack mounts…
…work with the upper mounts on the seatstays and bridge. This sit right below the surprising addition of dropper seatpost.
The other nice surprise are the 16° flare drop handlebars. It’ll come with Shimano 105 with hydro brakes on the top model, and a second tier with Tiagra and mechanical disc brakes.
For road racing, the Infinito CV Disc gets updated with a 31g tooled thru axle 12mm front, 12×142 rear thru axle…
…and flat mount brakes.
Otherwise the frame carries over unchanged, available in three different builds.
The new Intenso Disc joins the rim brake model. It shares the same flat mount and thru axles as the Infinito. It’ll be have just one build with Shimano 105, available now.
New entry level carbon road bike called Intrepida. Endurance racing range with slightly slacker HA and longer chainstays. It’s a carbon monocoque frame with a full carbon fork.
Retail will range from €1,400 to €2,000 spanning builds with Shimano Tiagra, 105, and Ultegra. But it’s a Campy Veloce 10sp build that’s the least expensive.
The L’Eroica classic road bike came about because Bianchi is a global sponsor of all the L’Eroica events.
Columbus Zona Steel tubing is put together with lugged construction. The components are all new, but the aesthetics hark back to the ’60s and ’70s.
Usually, you would ride the L’Eroica events in period-correct bike and clothing, but this one’s been certified as acceptable to participate.
The other new non-carbon road bike is the all-new Frecchia Celeste alloy race bike. It has similar geo to the gorgeous Speciallissimo in a 1,100g frame. It has a full carbon fork and uses a standard BSA bottom bracket.
The Oltre XR1 gets a special orange paint scheme that definitely caught our eye!
2016 BIANCHI MOUNTAIN BIKES
The XC range is mostly unchanged, with their top level Methanol SL race hardtail (shown) only seeing a switch to thru axle rear end and internal cable routing. That includes Sideswing and Di2 compatibility, a feature that the newer 27.5 versions don’t have yet.
The top model uses an ISP, or you can cut the seatmast and add a clamp and standard 31.6 seatpost. It adds a titanium grid patch on the downtube to protect it.
The Ethanol carbon and top level Jab alloy mountain bikes gets a thru axle rear end, too. Other Jab models keep the QR rear.
Shown in the background on left is the Jab FS, which also gets the thru axle and internal cable routing. But the big news is the brand new Jab 27.5+ edition in the foreground. Thanks to Boost spacing front and rear there’s clearance for up to a 3.0 tire, but it’ll ship with the WTB Scraper rims and 2.8 Trailblazer tires.
It’s dropper post ready with routing for external remote…the unused cable port shown here is for a front derailleur.
Three models will be offered, two with 2×10/11 (SLX/XT) and this one with GX1 1×11.
