Weird Bikes 1
April 26, 2008The 1994 Bianchi Paris-Roubaix
Full Suspension Road Bike
Not just different, but designed by Bianchi Canada
A recent post about the 1994 Bianchi for the Paris-Roubaix on PezCycling News caught my attention not just because of the innovative attempt to apply mountain bike design principles to a road bike, perfect for the famous pavé of the bouncy race, but for the fact that it was a project of the then North American branch of the Italian company. The post quotes Robert MacNeil, the Product Manager for Bianchi Canada at the time:
Bianchi Italy started to let Bianchi USA and Bianchi Canada start designing product for other countries. When the Director of Bianchi Italy would come by our offices he would see our bikes for our markets and he realized that we were more in the know then they were.
The Canadian content at Bianchi is much different now. If you go to the Bianchi.com forum, one of the most quiet places on the web as it happens, a Canadian bike shop owner complains that the current company is no longer present on the Canadian market.
Like many Italian bike manufacturers, Bianchi is undergoing a period of “reorganization”. That said, as I will discuss in a future post, the Canadian presence at this year’s Giro d’Italia will be greater than ever before.
That is one weird bike!
I think I saw this bike on sale at the supermarket the other day…