I've been cycling for a number of years now...road, mnt., and now a little cyclocross. I've got an itch to train on a fixie (maybe commute to work on one) and maybe do a little racing at the local velodrome. Would there be anything about the Bianchi Pista that would disappoint me? Any reason to look elsewhere? I work at a shop so I could always get a frame and build it up, but we have nothing to do with track bikes or Bianchi for that matter.........suggestions?

The Pista is a nice bike. If you work at a shop you should have access to QBP, which means you can get yourself a Surly Steamroller too.

I had a Pista for several years, and it was fine. Simple, light, a good fit. I ended up selling it to get a Surly Steamroller, because I wanted a less steep geometry and a less chattery fork for road riding. But if you're going to be splitting your time on it between commuting and the track, it's about perfect.

For general road riding I have a Raliegh R700, but with a PD Aero Fork (BDC?). After I canabalize it for the components to go to a CX frame it will be free for conversion to a fixie. It should be pretty interesting too if thats what happens.....
http://members.localnet.com/~docsteve/gifs/r700(17).gif
Not my bike by a web pic of....

The Pista is a nice bike. If you work at a shop you should have access to QBP, which means you can get yourself a Surly Pacer too.


Pacer? Surely you meant Steamroller, or at least Cross Check, right?

Oops - yes, I meant Steamroller (since changed it accordingly). Thanks.

Would there be anything about the Bianchi Pista that would disappoint me?

I bought a Pista sight unseen when Bianchi started selling them in 1999. Over the years, that bike has become one of my favorite rides—mostly because of it's honest simplicity and versatility. Mind you, the '99 Pista had some pretty cheesy components (awful saddle, junk pedals, really cheap headset and a thinly-disguised mountain bike crank), but after a couple of substitutions, it was all good.

It's not a bad entry-level track bike, does well on the road and on the rollers and, surprisingly enough, is a good off-road winter bike for me. Just last week I put on 700-28 tires, platform pedals and my 18 cog so I can hit the local state park trails in hiking shoes on my early morning bike-and-hike routine.

Small tip: Because the Pista has a high bottom bracket, stand-over heights on Pistas are on the tall side for a given frame size. In other words, when you straddle a certain size Pista you might decide that it's too large for you when in fact it's not.

The pista is a nice comprimise of a track bike and street fixxie. Not bad spec either for the price. But good luck if you plan on effectivly training on it and then track racing it.

If you do buy one with the intention of training on the road with it switch the bars to a road bar( with brakes if you wish ) and lower the gear. Most off the shelf track bikes come with an 81" (48 / 16) witch is a great warm up gear for track racers but if your truly going to maximise your fixie and get some fast and smooth legs you need a lower gear like a 70". I beleive the newer Pista's come with a road crank to begin with so you just need to swap the ring out and your set.

J

Awesome, thanks guys.
I may just save my pennies for one of the chrome looking 07 Pistas.
I'm more and more convinced I want to convert the Raleigh to a fixie first.
All I can really think of that I need is a new SS crankset, BB, Surly Fixxer, and a couple of track cogs. Anything else, think its worth it?

I doubt the rear drop outs on that Raleigh are horizontal enough to have room to adjust the chain tension adequately. Read this (http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#vertical) to get an idea of why this is important and what you can do to work around it.

Really you're better off selling the frame and buying a Pista. If you end up not liking it you will probably get most if not all of your money back if you turn around and sell the Pista on eBay or locally.

I doubt the rear drop outs on that Raleigh are horizontal enough to have room to adjust the chain tension adequately. Read this (http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#vertical) to get an idea of why this is important and what you can do to work around it.

Really you're better off selling the frame and buying a Pista. If you end up not liking it you will probably get most if not all of your money back if you turn around and sell the Pista on eBay or locally.


Hmmmm you may have a point....my dropouts are about as vertical as it gets.

late to the game here, but would a MTB chain tensioner like the singulator work for a track application?

late to the game here, but would a MTB chain tensioner like the singulator work for a track application?

no. good for ss, but not for fixed.

Makes sense on the surface, but unfortunately doesn't work with a fixed gear. When you backpedal, a tensioner would get bent or worse.

Brilliant writing here by Surly—read warning # 1.

http://www.surlybikes.com/files/NewSingleatorInfo.pdf

I've been cycling for a number of years now...road, mnt., and now a little cyclocross. I've got an itch to train on a fixie (maybe commute to work on one) and maybe do a little racing at the local velodrome. Would there be anything about the Bianchi Pista that would disappoint me? Any reason to look elsewhere? I work at a shop so I could always get a frame and build it up, but we have nothing to do with track bikes or Bianchi for that matter.........suggestions?

I had a Pista for 3+ years and it finally bit the dust in an unfortunate accident. I used it as a commuter and my main road bike during that time. What I didn't like was that the Pista doesn't have water bottle mounts (after all it's a track bike). I used a seatpost mounted bottle carrier.

Whomever said get the Surly Steamroller is on target....I just got mine from QBP (the price was way right). The geometry is not as steep as the track-oriented Pista. Very nice ride and better than the Pista for what I use it for. In fact, if I didn't get the Pista on such a good deal, I would have picked the Surly fo' sho'. Good luck.

Oh, one other note...if you go with the Steamroller, you will need a long reach front brake caliper (if you decide to put on one). The Pista can take your garden variety short-reach caliper.

I had a Pista for 3+ years and it finally bit the dust in an unfortunate accident. I used it as a commuter and my main road bike during that time. What I didn't like was that the Pista doesn't have water bottle mounts (after all it's a track bike). I used a seatpost mounted bottle carrier.

Whomever said get the Surly Steamroller is on target....I just got mine from QBP (the price was way right). The geometry is not as steep as the track-oriented Pista. Very nice ride and better than the Pista for what I use it for. In fact, if I didn't get the Pista on such a good deal, I would have picked the Surly fo' sho'. Good luck.

Oh, one other note...if you go with the Steamroller, you will need a long reach front brake caliper (if you decide to put on one). The Pista can take your garden variety short-reach caliper.

I'm actually thinking more along the lines of building up a Surly Crosscheck Fixxie now.
There's a thread on it a few days old now.