The Bianchi Story...

Bianchi is the world's oldest bicycle manufacturing company still in existence. Their origin can be traced back to Milan in 1885, where the 21 year old Edoardo Bianchi started his little bike manufacturing shop. His love for cycling gave him the impetus to work at reinventing both the sport and the bicycle as well. It was Edoardo Bianchi who came up with the invention of reducing the diameter of the front wheel and balancing the gap in the motion by using a chain. He also lowered the height of the pedals, which created one of the very first modern "safety" bicycles. These were safer and easier to balance, thus making the bicycle a means of transportation.  



In 1888, he produced the first bicycle with tyres, a recent invention by the Scottish veterinary Dunlop. When his fame reached Queen Margaret in 1895, she invited him to her court and expressed her desire to ride his bicycle. To commemorate the occasion Bianchi created a bicycle for the her, which went on to  become one of the first prototypes of a ladies bicycle. He was rewarded by being permitted to use the royal crown insignia on the company logo, where it can still be seen today.

The Bianchi Company took off with their first international sport success in 1899, when Tomaselli won the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris riding their bicycle. From 1900 to the 1920s, Bianchi presented the first bicycle ever featuring a cardan joint transmission; invented the front braking system and made bicycles specific to the army, which were equipped with wide-section tyres, folding frame and suspensions on both wheels. The Royal Light Infantry Corp used the “Bersaglieri” as an off-road vehicle from the Alps to Africa and in fact, it was  the first mountain bike, the ancestor of all the modern versions. 



From the 1920s to 1935, Bianchi's 'celeste' bicycle was winning races all around the world. The first great champion to be associated with the brand was Costante Girardengo – widely considered as one of the greatest road racers in the history of the sport and at the time said to be more popular than Mussolini. From 1935 to 1995,  the Bianchi Company was being associated with the Tour de France and many of the top racers of the time, including Fausto Coppi, Felice Gimondi, Moreno Argentin and Gianni Bugno. Today, F.I.V. Bianchi is part of a group called Cycleurope, a Swedish company of the Grimaldi group known worldwide, which they became a part of in May 1997.

By the way, an interesting fact about the Bianchi bicycles is their colour. The very first Bianchi bicycles created by Edoardo Bianchi, all came in the same color - celeste green, also known as sky blue, light azure or Tiffany blue. It resembles a very light shade of turquoise and is universally acknowledged as the Bianchi color.