I'm jumping in the way-back machine to take a look at one of my favorite bikes that I never had. The year was 2007, the Best Motion Picture went to The Departed starring Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg, while the Dixie Chicks stormed the Grammys with Best Album and Record. A year worth forgetting you say? No way!
The 2007 Bianchi Roger was produced for one year, and one year only, which is a result of it being about 5 years ahead of the curve. Cyclocross hadn't quite gotten a full head of steam, the UCI wasn't crazy about disc brakes, and single speed cross wasn't as highly embraced as it is now. For 2012, you will be seeing a few single speed cross bikes with disc brakes pop up here and there, but I haven't seen any as performance oriented as this.
With an Easton Ultralite aluminum frame and carbon fork, this was a super light setup, especially with one gear. The rear stays had a nice bend to help keep the back end from getting too harsh, and the horizontal dropouts took care of dialing in the chain tension. The frame was disc specific, so it had some nice clean lines as well, and provided plenty of clearance for wide cross tires.
The build was pretty straightforward as you might expect out a bike like this, with Bianchi rebranded components, a Sugino Alpina 48T crank, and a sweet WTB disc specific wheelset. This would make an ideal SS cross racing bike, or an awesome training bike for nasty weather, either setup as it is, or with an Alfine internal gear hub. Two factors that could have led to the quick demise of this bike were the $1100 price tag, which was a bit stiff for a demographic that hadn't quite taken off, and the 48x17 gearing, which was a bit on the high side for single speed cross racing.
Bianchi just revamped their cross lineup last year with the Cavaria and Zurigo, which is why that lineup is holding steady for 2012, but it would be really cool to see them bring the Roger back from the grave. In the meantime, if anyone has one of these in a 55cm laying around, let me know.
The 2007 Bianchi Roger was produced for one year, and one year only, which is a result of it being about 5 years ahead of the curve. Cyclocross hadn't quite gotten a full head of steam, the UCI wasn't crazy about disc brakes, and single speed cross wasn't as highly embraced as it is now. For 2012, you will be seeing a few single speed cross bikes with disc brakes pop up here and there, but I haven't seen any as performance oriented as this.
With an Easton Ultralite aluminum frame and carbon fork, this was a super light setup, especially with one gear. The rear stays had a nice bend to help keep the back end from getting too harsh, and the horizontal dropouts took care of dialing in the chain tension. The frame was disc specific, so it had some nice clean lines as well, and provided plenty of clearance for wide cross tires.
The build was pretty straightforward as you might expect out a bike like this, with Bianchi rebranded components, a Sugino Alpina 48T crank, and a sweet WTB disc specific wheelset. This would make an ideal SS cross racing bike, or an awesome training bike for nasty weather, either setup as it is, or with an Alfine internal gear hub. Two factors that could have led to the quick demise of this bike were the $1100 price tag, which was a bit stiff for a demographic that hadn't quite taken off, and the 48x17 gearing, which was a bit on the high side for single speed cross racing.
Bianchi just revamped their cross lineup last year with the Cavaria and Zurigo, which is why that lineup is holding steady for 2012, but it would be really cool to see them bring the Roger back from the grave. In the meantime, if anyone has one of these in a 55cm laying around, let me know.
6 comments:
agreed, the roger would be a cool bike to own.
Yeah, I was the manager at a bike shop when that bike came out. One of my mech's EP'd one, pretty sweet bike and definitely ahead of the curve like many of the bikes Bianchi were...a bit a head, hard to sell niche' sometimes, dropped from the line up and then people jump on it years later.
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