🇮🇹 Just when the cycling industry thought the launch season was winding down, Italian legend Bianchi has aggressively staked its claim on the high-end market, unveiling two ultra-exclusive and profoundly expensive limited-edition bicycles. To commemorate the brand’s monumental 140th anniversary, founded by Edoardo Bianchi in 1885, the company is releasing the Specialissima RC and Oltre RC in a tribute known as the ‘Founder Edition.’
The price tag alone ensures immediate exclusivity: each of these superbikes commands a staggering €21,885.00. This makes them not just race machines, but high-value collector’s items. The RC designation, which stands for Reparto Corse (Racing Department), signifies that these models represent the pinnacle of Bianchi’s engineering prowess, technology forged directly from the professional peloton.
💎 The Exclusivity of Eighty-Five: Honoring Edoardo Bianchi
In a nod to the company’s founding year, 1885, Bianchi has strictly limited the production run to only 85 units of the ‘Founder Edition’ bikes worldwide. This number ensures that the models will be exceptionally rare and instantly collectible, directly honoring the legacy of founder Edoardo Bianchi and the company’s long-standing “spirit of innovation.”
The limited edition is split between two flagship platforms: the Specialissima RC, the brand’s all-rounder and climbing specialist known for its lightweight performance, and the Oltre RC, the aggressive aero race bike, which utilizes advanced aerodynamic concepts designed to minimize drag and maximize speed. Buyers of these exclusive models receive a product finished with meticulous, handcrafted details and a certificate of authenticity, cementing their place in Bianchi’s history.
The Specialissima RC Founder Edition, for instance, features a lightweight, High Modulus carbon frame and comes equipped with the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 12-speed electronic groupset, paired with premium components like a THM-Carbones Clavicula SE Powermeter crankset and Scope Artech 6.A carbon wheels, weighing just 1319g per set. The Oltre RC version, designed for speed and dominance, shares a similar high-spec build, featuring an integrated Reparto Corse handlebar and the full Dura-Ace Di2 assembly.
🏆 A Legacy Forged by Champions
Bianchi’s 140-year history is inextricably linked with some of cycling’s greatest legends, making the ‘Founder Edition’ a direct spiritual successor to machines ridden by champions. The brand’s iconic Celeste colour is synonymous with the golden era of cycling, having been piloted to glory by giants like Fausto Coppi and Marco Pantani.
The modern Reparto Corse bikes are designed not only to compete but to dominate, embodying the same relentless pursuit of performance that defined the brand across two centuries. The transparent photochromic paint, which reveals the raw carbon structure underneath, is a final, elegant touch—a technological flourish that pays homage to the material science that drives elite racing today.
For the cycling collector, owning one of the 85 ‘Founder Edition’ bikes is not just an investment in carbon fiber and components; it’s an investment in a 140-year narrative of Italian racing passion, mechanical excellence, and Grand Tour success.