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Gorgeous and rare Bianchi Pista given to team mate of Marco Pantani up for sale on eBay – but at a price (+ photo gallery)
A rare Bianchi Pista track bike given to a former professional cyclist who rode alongside Marco Pantani when the Italian became the last man to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same season is up for sale on eBay – but it has a hefty price tag.
The bike is one of a very limited run given to members of Pantani’s Mercatone Uno team, including four-time Giro d’Italia stage winner Fabiano Fontanelli, and is painted in its iconic celeste and yellow colours.
Rare bikes attract a premium when sold online, and all the more so when there is a link to one of the biggest names in cycling over the past quarter century, as there is here with Pantani – Fontanelli, nicknamed Mortadella, rode alongside il Pirata in both the Giro and Tour in 1998.
Even if you don’t have the Buy It Now price of $6,799 burning a hole in your pocket – to which, according to the seller, you’ll face an additional 22 per cent fees for taxes and import duties to the European Union, though we’d recommend you check with HMRC first – the pictures are worth ogling.
Here are the details of the bike from eBay.
The Bianchi Mercatone Uno Pista has been made only for the team and it wasn't available for private consumers. So there are only a few of them in the world.
Size 53 seat tube x 54,5 top tube (centre to centre), 12,4 cm headtube and 79,8 cm standover, used but in very good conditions. The tubes are Dedacciai steel tubing.
Some scuffs and missed points of paint, but No rust and No dents.
The groupset is a Campagnolo Record Pista in very good conditions and fully operational with New Old Stock (NOS) crankset.
Frame:
- Bianchi Mercatone Uno 1998 Pista/Track, Dedacciai steel tubing
Groupset and components:
- Campagnolo Record Pista New Old Stock crankset (165mm arms)
- Campagnolo Record Headset 1"
- Campagnolo C-Record Sheriff Pista hubs
- Campagnolo Record seat tube
- Campagnolo Barcelona 92 Pista tubular rims
- Gipiemme Bianchi saddle
- 3TTT Pista steel handlebar
- 3TTT steel stem
- Vittoria Atlanta 3D compound yellow track tubular
This is a unique piece for real collectors!
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Add new comment
11 comments
Late 90s was when the "Information Superhighway" became a craze - the next big thing, don't miss out! Media were reporting on it all the time, and many companies were going out paying to get a web site. Often some gaudy thing that didn't do much, and for which they were often charged an arm and a leg (domains, especially ccTLDs, used to cost a /lot/ more back then).
Seems believable to me. Bianchi even had a "Shockwave Flash" website, so they probably paid some ridiculous amount for it. (Has Flash really been around knocking on two decades? Thankfully it's nearly dead now, yay).
Sadly it would be too small for me so I'll have to pass.
Rushes off to check the going rate for kidneys on the internet...
Would this bike have had the bianchi web address on the top tube decal in 1998?
Good point!
The domain was first registered in 1996, two years earlier
Why not.
https://web.archive.org/web/19980419143501/http://www.bianchi.it/
Just asking - back in '98, the web was quite niche and more popular with computer-related firms. I'm surprised that a bike decal would feature their web address, as it's not commonplace now. Very forward-thinking of Bianchi.
if you look closely at pic 10, you can see the edge of the sticker
The matching Spandex worn by Mercatone Uno at this time is notable as marking the absolute low-point of kit design. The bike + kit is likely to earn the wearer/rider an ASBO in the modern era.
Each to their own! I really like it but probably more for the memories of it. I'll concede the modern thing though.
My confession is that I own a full mercatone uno kit (£15. AliExpress. 95% accurate) but I would never wear it outside! Strictly for turbo trainer work.
as for the bike it really is beautiful though (unlike me in mercatone kit)