1992 Bianchi Project 5 gravel build

[Corbeau]

I figured I would post here, as my build turned an old mountain bike into a gravel/road rig for myself.

This has been a fun covid project, and a nice intro into retro bikes (other than keeping my ‘95 Marin running). I’d been looking for a gravel bike for a while to broaden my riding options, and came across this Bianchi on the local used classifieds for a few hundred. After some research, I was surprised by the bit of history and the quality steel used in these bikes, so I pulled the trigger in the Fall!

I was able to piece together that the Project bikes from Bianchi were an early 90’s foray from the company into 700c/29er Mountain bikes before these became a marketing thing later on. I think there may have been other companies that played with this too at that time, but could be wrong. The Project 5 seems to have been relatively top-spec, with only the Project 7 model above it.

Feel free to correct anything I’ve missed or gotten wrong, I found the history - what bits I could find - to be quite interesting!

Here is mine as specced when I got it. It was full Deore DX, 7 speed, with thumbies and cantis, but 700 wheels, 1” threaded fork and Ritchey Logic headset. It had been well maintained, and other that the newer Bontrager tires, everything seemed mostly original:

 

[Corbeau]

Here is the rest (didn’t want to put too many pics in one post).

I built it up using older Shimano 105 5700 shifters, Easton flare bars, found a pair of Mavic Aksiums for wheels. Went to a road gearing with a 50-34 front, took off the small inner ring for now and reused the DX cranks. I used an XTR rapid rise 951 for the rear with a 10 speed XT cassette, which works well with the road STI’s and a top pull CX70 front derailleur. I reused old Marin Lite cantis I had kicking in my parts bin.

 

[Corbeau]

Final pics...wasn’t happy with the braking power of the cantis so upgraded to TRP 8.4 v-brakes, and holy hell do those stop! Very happy with the braking now. I found some nice Rivendell Jack Brown 33mm tires to put on the Aksiums as my road wheels.



I wanted re-use the DX wheels as a spare gravel set since the rims were wider. I had to swap the old 7-speed freehub to an 8-speed so I could run a 10-speed cassette on it, and got my local shop to reddish the wheel. But I can now swap freely between wheel sets, with only a few twists of the inline brake adjusters!

Here it is running Gravel King 42’s

 

[Lickskillet]

That is a sweet ride, thanks for posting! I love how malleable a bike of this era can be. I would love to grab one of these for a flat bar gravel set up.

 

[Markone]

Nice job, a great looking very practical and versatile build!

 

[Corbeau]

Thanks! I’m finding it is, and that’s what I was looking for. I’m enjoying longer road(‘ish) rides, but being in a big city I'm not comfortable/confident of drivers, so wanted something where I could follow the bike paths, side roads, and connect through rough trails more comfortably as well. I’m really seeing the benefit of wider tires with lower pressures, it really makes for a smoother ride. Even the 33’s were a big change in comfort from my previous 28c randonneur tires.

 

[Corbeau]

That is a sweet ride, thanks for posting! I love how malleable a bike of this era can be. I would love to grab one of these for a flat bar gravel set up.

Indeed, and thanks! I think there are many older hybrid or CX frames that would be suitable for a conversion. My mom has an older Rocky Mountain whistler, and I think that model (while from the early 00’s and aluminium) or something like that would work well too!

 

[Jonny69]

Approval. I built something similar at the beginning of lockdown. Needed something I could do a bit more exploring on but needed to still be capable on-road, so I was reluctant to go full mtb and didn’t really need suspension or anything. I put a mix of 10-speed 105 5700 and cantis on my early 90s Rudy Project. Done a few thousand miles now in this setup commuting, exploring with child seat on the back and weekend road rides with zero worries about the state of the road. Thought I’d post since I’ve seen quite a few bikes built like this while out and about, so a lot of people are having the same idea.

 

[Corbeau]

Love the bike Johnny! The colours are amazing, and I like the little touches like the brakes and seatpost qr.

Are you running a quill-stem adapter?

 

[Jonny69]

Are you running a quill-stem adapter?

I am, but it wasn't completely straightforward because it's a slightly obscure 1-1/4" steerer. The adaptor needed to be 28.6mm at the top and bottom. The only one available is the Nitto MT Column which is $$$$ if you can even find one, so I made my own. I used the bolt, wedge and top cap off the bike's original stem and some thick wall 28.6mm aluminium tube cut to the correct angle. Just had to ream the top of the tube slightly to locate the step in the top cap. Pics probably make more sense: