Mention Reparto Corse to a cyclist and all of a sudden they’re bi-lingual; “Sí! Sí! Reparto Corse! Bellissimo! Grazie! Mille Grazie!” They are unquestionably two of the most famous Italian words in cycling. The literal translation is “Race Department” but, Italian being a Romance language, it’s easier to understand why this ubiquitous title has the ability to raise the heartbeat of dedicated cyclists the world over.

This (many would say sacred) area in our Treviglio facility is home to many of Italy’s top bicycle designers, engineers, and artisans. This elite team constantly collaborates with the preeminent material and component manufacturers as well as our sponsored athletes to produce the finest performance bicycle framesets available. From fabrication-defying EV4 tubing and frames to the fluid imagination showcased in Bianchi’s carbon fiber components, Reparto Corse remains in a realm to itself.

The spirit of innovation on which Edoardo Bianchi built his company remains our lifeblood; the heart of our reputation and passion for the bicycle pounds the strongest within this legendary workshop.

For 2003, the Bianchi Reparto Corse explores a broad range of materials, techniques and processes to bring you more choice in frames, components and complete bicycles than ever before.

Materials

Steel? Aluminum? Titanium? Carbon Fiber? We use them all, because each has distinct performance properties which are best suited to specific rider needs.

Bianchi’s designers continue to immerse themselves in exhaustive research of the most technologically advanced materials currently available: aluminum alloys with ultra-high tensile strengths, aerospace grade titanium, innovative thin-wall steels, carbon composites specifically developed to provide optimum performance in bicycle frame and component applications. Reparto Corse then adds its usual painstaking attention to tube profiles, dimensions and geometries to enhance, yet again, an already enviable reputation for technological evolution.

Steel:

Still the best for most applications. Lively, responsive, durable, reliable, easy to fabricate well and relatively economical, today’s high-quality steel frame can be no more than a cat’s whisker heavier than comparable aluminum yet, with a minimum of care, it will last almost as long as titanium. Over a hundred years of development have gone into today’s steel bicycle tubing, and a properly designed Boron or CrMo steel frame will give you a comfortable and compliant ride for many years.

Aluminum:

Light, stiff and easily shaped and worked, aluminum frame tubing can combine amazing stiffness with low weight and good shock absorption. With the EV3 and EV4 series framesets, Bianchi adds its patented structural foam injection to take aluminum to performance levels never before achieved.

When Scandium, relatively new to bicycle applications, is alloyed with aluminum, it significantly increases tensile and yield strength and improves weldability and weld strength.

Titanium:

Strongest, lightest, most durable and most expensive of the metals, titanium is almost magical in its properties, combining the lively responsiveness of high quality steel, the shock absorption of aluminum and the stiffness and low weight of carbon composites; but it’s also the most difficult to work.

Carbon Fiber:

Carbon fiber composites have the unique advantage of allowing the knowledgeable designer to precisely control the stiffness, elasticity and torsional characteristics of the frame by manipulating the density, thickness and direction of the carbon strands. Bianchi’s Reparto Corse has developed and patented a computer program (CESMR, short for Computer Evaluated Selective Material Reinforcement) to aid in this complex process. For the elite athlete who replaces equipment with the latest state of the art each season or so, carbon fiber is a state-of-the-art option.

Frame Design

Sloping top tube:

We use a sloping top tube on many of our road bikes because it lets us make a lighter, torsionally stiffer frame; but we still provide a full range of frame sizes in one, two or at most 3 cm increments, because 118 years of winning major races has taught us the importance of bike fit. We won’t play the game of using “compact frame design” as an excuse for making and stocking fewer frame sizes. We fit you with the frame, not with the seat post and stem, because we know that you can’t compensate for imprecise frame fit wirh big changes in seat post or stem length. See “How to size your Bianchi” .

MegaPro Design:

To take advantage of new materials technology, Reparto Corse continuously quantifies the stresses and forces to which a competition frame is subjected, and translates that data into precise structural engineering. In a MegaPro frame, the downtube has very specific, varying cross-sections, diameters, shapes and wall thickness over its length. Each section is designed to give the optimum balance between frame rigidity, light weight, shock absorption and aerodynamics. MegaPro Evolution is the evolution of this design for 2003.

ZeroFlex stays:

An outgrowth of the research which developed MegaPro design, the seatstay and/or chainstay profiles and cross-sections are shaped to eliminate flex due to braking or power application.

MegaFlex stays:

The bowed profile of a MegaFlex seatstay absorbs road shock without reducing side-to-side stiffness.

Integral Headset:

The headset is recessed into the headtube for a better bearing stance and improved steering response, particularly while braking on fast descents. It also looks cool. We call a recessed headset which rides on a bearing surface machined into the head tube “integrated,” and one which is pressed into the head tube “semi-integrated.”

Fabrication Technology

Carbon Fiber Fabrication: Bianchi uses a proprietary computer program, CESMR (Computer Evaluated Selective Material Reinforcement), to analyze potentially critical zones of a component or frame so that material can be specifically optimized in areas of the highest stresses. We use a high modulus, high strength carbon fiber compound that is 47% stronger than standard and 6% stronger than High Strength (HS) carbon fiber, and is 27% stiffer than either. A 3K carbon weave final surface treatment increases reliability and durability without significant weight penalty. Of course, everything is subject to rigorous internal and external testing.

Structural Foam Injection: Bianchi’s patented technological advantage. This bi-composite, non-toxic foam, developed in conjunction with Henkel and patented by Bianchi for bicycle tubing reinforcement applications, uniformly spreads the load of the forces that it has just absorbed. Accumulated fatigue in the welded area around the bottom bracket is therefore significantly reduced. A precise volume of the foam is injected into a frame at the bottom bracket, weighs only 20g, and produces a 15% increase in rigidity at the bottom bracket and a 100% increase in the frame’s resistance to fatigue.

Structural foam injection is used in the EV4, EV3, EV3 Al/Carbon, Boron Road, Tycoon XL Aluminum and Tycoon XL Boron frames.

Bianchi Reparto Corse Carbon Components

The Bianchi carbon forks, seatpost and crankset showcase the Reparto Corse’s diversification into component design.

RC Full Carbon Fork

Constructed entirely of high modulus, high strength carbon composite. Bianchi patented CESMR design technology applied to aerodynamic profile fork blades, carbon fork crown and 11/8” threadless carbon steerer tube, which is formed by a non-reaming process to avoid stress-risers. Unequaled fatigue durability, minimum energy dissipation. Forged aluminum dropouts.

RC Carbon/Aluminum Fork

Reparto Corse exclusive CESMR design technology applied to carbon fork blades and carbon fork crown. 11/8” threadless 7075 aluminum steerer tube. Forged aluminum dropouts.

RC Carbon Seat Post

The carbon seatpost has been re-designed for 2003 and features a completely new adjustable alloy head and a 25 mm carbon shaft with a unique asymmetric internal profile. A 27.2 mm aluminum shim is included.

RC Carbon Crankset

The road racing crankset has full carbon crank arms and spider with no internal metal skeleton, and weighs just 496g (including chainrings and bolts). 9 and 10 speed compatible. Innovations include hollow crank arms with specially designed Ergal axle inserts, exceptional ankle clearance and aerodynamic side profile of just 12 mm.