Bianchi Celeste paint recipes
MikeYankee
Since Bianchi dealers don't seem to have touch-up paint, here are two
solutions.
When Andres Cuevas replaced a dropout in my '96 Bianchi Veloce last week, he
matched the Celeste paint by taking the frame to a car paint shop, where it was
scanned and matched by computer. The resulting paint code number is
DBU46981*** (I'm not sure whether or not the asterisks are part of the number).
Apparently any good car paint place can match it using this number. This
color is a flat pastel green, very close to Celeste. Andres added a bit of
"pearl" to enhance the flat color and give it the right irridescence. It's a
great match.
For fixing minor dings, there is a nail polish mixture that works well, a 1:1
mix of two nail polishes: Bari Pure Ice "Frosted Ice Sea Breeze: #623 (which
is a pretty close match by itself, but too green) and Nutra Nail "Blue Mist
#129598" (maybe the 8 is a B). I found both of these at CVS. The match on my
bike (a '96 Veloce) is good for both color and gloss.
Bob Gardali
More good info, thanks. What I've done for paint touch ups has been to
match the color on the given frame. My current Bianchi is noticably more
blue than my last one. The Blue Mist color listed in a previous post is
an excellent base color to mix from. Previously I was using a
non-metallic mint green nail polish and mixing it with clear coat metallic
sky blue and metallic iced blue. With the blue mist color, much less
mixing is required. That color, left to dry, and a coating of the clear
coat metallic sky blue match almost perfectly.
Jobst Brandt wrote:
> Mike Yankee writes:
>
> > Since Bianchi dealers don't seem to have touch-up paint, here are
> > two solutions...
>
> Beware. If you are talking about REAL Celeste, then you should be
> sure to match the paint on your bike and not rely on getting a can of
> Bianchi "Celeste". When Bianchi was bought by Innocenti, they came to
> the bike show and bannered "We will never change Celeste", while in
> fact the color they called Celeste had already been changed to
> turquoise from the noted yellowish off green that made Bianchi famous,
> the color that irked some stylists, especially those at Innocenti.
>
> Today's Celeste is nothing other than turquoise. It definitely isn't
> Celeste.
>
> Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
Jobst Brandt
Selim Ataz
Celeste is still Celeste;
The most identifiable mark of Bianchi, the unique color called " Celeste",
immediately signifies a Bianchi bicycle to the cycling tifosi. Many stories
told about the origin of this color, but the most widely held is that
Edoardo Bianchi wanted a color for his bicycles that was easily spotted in
the cycling peleton. Earlier versions of the color were more blue and were
said to resemble the color of the Milan sky. PMS #333
Selim Ataz
at...@superonline.com
Bianchi Bisiklet / Turkey
Jobst Brandt wrote in message <6bdqfe$b...@hplntx.hpl.hp.com>...
Jobst Brandt
Selim Ataz writes:
> Celeste is still Celeste;
You must not have seen an older Bianchi before the change of
ownership. Today's Celeste is plain old turquoise.
> The most identifiable mark of Bianchi, the unique color called "
> Celeste", immediately signifies a Bianchi bicycle to the cycling
> tifosi. Many stories told about the origin of this color, but the
> most widely held is that Edoardo Bianchi wanted a color for his
> bicycles that was easily spotted in the cycling peloton.
The Milan sky is typically a dense humid haze all summer with a mix of
smog that in Bianchi's time was probably darker than the auto
emissions of today because there were steel mills and smokestack
industries aplenty.
> Earlier versions of the color were more blue and were said to
> resemble the color of the Milan sky. PMS #333
You have that backwards. The color was more yellow as you can see in
any museum.
Jobst Brandt <jbr...@hpl.hp.com>
jeb
Selim Ataz wrote:
> Celeste is still Celeste;
>
> The most identifiable mark of Bianchi, the unique color called " Celeste",
> immediately signifies a Bianchi bicycle to the cycling tifosi. Many stories
> told about the origin of this color, but the most widely held is that
> Edoardo Bianchi wanted a color for his bicycles that was easily spotted in
> the cycling peleton. Earlier versions of the color were more blue and were
> said to resemble the color of the Milan sky. PMS #333
I think the point that Jobst was trying to make was that the version of Celeste
has changed in recent years. No one is going to think it's not a Bianchi either
way, but it is different. I seem to remember the recent color being called
"Nuovo Celeste" in company literature. I believe the difference to be in that
the newer stuff has a bit of blueish type hue mixed in, whereas the older stuff
( to me ) is more "flat" mint green. Perhaps it has been constantly evolving
over the years.
I recently had a 95 Bianchi frame which I crashed and had to have fixed. I had
Mark Nobilette in CO fix it and he had a match for the older paint, back from
his Cycle Cellar days as a Bianchi dealer. The difference is pretty easy to see,
especially when compared next to the current color. Didn't bother me, I liked
the old color better anyway.
Chuck Schmidt
Selim Ataz wrote:
>
> Celeste is still Celeste;
>
> The most identifiable mark of Bianchi, the unique color called " Celeste",
> immediately signifies a Bianchi bicycle to the cycling tifosi. Many stories
> told about the origin of this color, but the most widely held is that
> Edoardo Bianchi wanted a color for his bicycles that was easily spotted in
> the cycling peleton. Earlier versions of the color were more blue and were
> said to resemble the color of the Milan sky. PMS #333
>
Here's the story I heard...
In 1893 Edoardo Bianchi taught Queen Margherita the art of cycling.
Lessons were given in the park of the Royal Villa at Monza using a
special Bianchi model featuring a crystal chainguard.
In 1895 King Umberto I appointed Bianchi "Official Suppliers by
Appointment to the Royal Court", entitling Bianchi to use the Coat of
Arms of the Royal House of Sayoy on the Bianchi headbadge.
The color Celeste was not the color of the sky above Milano as commonly
thought, but in reality, the color of Queen Margherita's undergarments!
I have this on good authority from a very close personal friend who
happens to know the house keeper of an administrative official very high
up at the Bianchi Reparto Corsa headquarters in Treviglio. I know, I
know..."celeste" translates to "sky blue" but...who knows...
Chuck of Velo-Retro
Richard Kaufman
> jeb <j...@nospam.ibm.net> writes:
>
>
> I think the point that Jobst was trying to make was that the version of Celeste
> has changed in recent years. No one is going to think it's not a Bianchi either
> way, but it is different. I seem to remember the recent color being called
> "Nuovo Celeste" in company literature. I believe the difference to be in that
> the newer stuff has a bit of blueish type hue mixed in, whereas the older stuff
> ( to me ) is more "flat" mint green. Perhaps it has been constantly evolving
> over the years.
>
Certainly the color has changed over the years, and even from batch to batch.
In the late sixties, when my father, as a visiting American paint chemist, visited
the factory, he discovered the reason why, and I am passing the the reason on
to the newsgroup.
Like so many things in an Italian bicycle factory, much of the work is done by
hand, mechanized techniques are perceived as lacking warmth. Mixing the paint
is no exception. For many years the job of mixing the celeste paint from raw pigments
fell to one one elderly gentleman who had been responsible for the task since well
before the Second World War. They complained to my father that despite following
the recipe, as written in the notebook of the founding master himself, the paint was
not coming out the same color. My father watched them mix a batch.
The pigments were miced in precisely the quantities called for. The sources
and requisite purity were all correct. The added the pigments to the paint,
and the old man began to stir the batch with a short stick, perhaps four inches
long. It was obvious to my father that the heavier pigments were sinking to
the bottom of the drum, and not contributing to the colro of the paint.
"Perhaps you shoulld use a longer stirring stick?", my father suggested. The managers
conferred with the old worker, the shop stewart, and several other workers on the floor.
My father, who spoke no Italian, could only wonder what they were saying. After
several minutes, it was explained to him: "The old man says, that when he started
as an apprentice in the factory, many years ago, the stick was much longer."
After much discussion, the stick was replaced with a longer model, and the color
changed to what we know as "Nuovo Celeste",( more likely really "Old Celeste")
as they called the paint make with the new stick. Perhaps what has happened is they
replaced the stick again. As far as my father knows, they never replaced the mixing drum,
and who knows what combination of pigments is being stirred up by the new broom handle
they are using.
Richard (a Bianci owner)