There are very few brands in cycling with a legacy like Bianchi. There’s no way that Edoardo Bianchi – the 20-year-old founder of one of cycling’s most iconic brands – would believe his name would still adorn bicycles nearly a century and a half later.
But while history like this is an astonishing achievement, it’s incredibly hard to move forward and embrace the future if you’re constantly looking back.
With the weight of 140 years of heritage on its shoulders, Bianchi is a brand that understands that better than most.
On an astonishingly humid Lombardian evening in late spring, Bianchi’s CEO Alberto Cavaggioni makes his debut in front of the press and dealers, and he promises we will all leave knowing how the company intends to move forward into 2026 and beyond: “History and time cannot be bought, but we must create a new Bianchi that is contemporary,” he says, standing on a stage purpose built for tonight, right on the assembly floor of Bianchi’s new home.
Cavaggioni, whose CV includes time at other iconic Italian brands, including Alfa Romeo and Maserati, was hired in March 2025 partly because of his ability to balance respect for tradition with a forward-thinking, progressive strategy for the future. “We want Bianchi to be a home for all cyclists," he says.
“But that means we have to create a range in tune with the times. We can’t live in a niche of a niche, we have to attract new generations.”
Cavaggioni goes on to talk about his vision for Bianchi as an “industrial boutique” – a brand dedicated to quality, where every bike is designed around the rider, even as it looks to broaden its product range and increase production capacity.
New beginnings, new products
Next up, we’re introduced to Bianchi's new bikes.
On a big screen, the words ‘bikes are for anyone and bikes are for everyone’ are emblazoned before an eMTB emerges from behind a curtain to our right.
It’s certainly a bold start. This is the new E-Vertic FX. A trail-focused eMTB with the new Bosch Performance Line motor, 150/140mm front/rear suspension and SRAM AXS transmission.
This is no token offering, it’s a bike designed to compete with the best that other brands have to offer.
A complement to that, for off-road riders who aren’t into quite such gnarly terrain, is the T-Tronik X.
It’s a sport-focused hardtail that still uses the latest Bosch tech, but combines it with a ride that’s aimed at enjoyment more than seasoned enthusiasts.
On that note, there’s even a sneak peek of a new city ebike. While Bianchi has previously sold electric bikes, this represents a different direction for the brand.
Following this, it’s time for what the Italians call ‘cronometro’ – time trial bikes.
Or, rather, one TT bike and one triathlon bike because the existing Aquila has spawned a cousin: the Aquila Tri.
This model takes the already successful TT platform and combines it with integrated storage and a front-end hydration system as standard, putting a competitive player into the multisport market – an area in which Bianchi has only dabbled in the past.
If those bikes piqued our curiosity, the next two on stage have our full attention: a pair of alloy gravel bikes.
Bike number one is the Arcadex, an alloy version of the already-existing carbon adventure bike. With 50mm tyre clearance matched to mudguard and pannier mounts and the same internal routing as the carbon version, it’s a very smart-looking package.
Second is the Nirone, which takes a classic Bianchi model name and repackages it. The Nirone (as the Via Nirone) was the brand’s entry-level road bike for a number of years, and it now lives in the gravel range as a complement to the race-ready, carbon Impulso.
Later in the year, Bianchi would further expand its gravel range, with a new series of bikes presented at the Gravel Beyond launch event in October.
But just as we were starting to wonder whether this might be an entire Bianchi presentation without a single road model, out rolled the stunning new Infinito, which will be presented this year. As the endurance model to complement the Oltre and Specialissima, the Infinito has a new front end, fashionably dropped seatstays and an intriguing-looking cutout seatpost.
It also keeps the vibration-damping Countervail technology that has been used to such impressive effect through Bianchi’s road range over the last decade.
Since the event, Bianchi has also released a pair of new ‘Founder Edition’ bikes. Presented in two stunning designs to celebrate the brand’s 140th anniversary, the Oltre RC and Specialissima RC pay tribute to the brand’s founder, Edoardo Bianchi.
First shown at the 2025 Italian Bike Festival, Bianchi says the Blue Italia finish reinterprets the royal blue of the House of Savoy, enriched with logos and details in Heritage Yellow.
The Celeste Spectrum is a stunning iridescent interpretation of the brand’s heritage colour.
Benvenuto, Casa Bianchi
The new bikes are only part of this new chapter for Bianchi, though.
An equally important part of the new brand roadmap is the very building we’re sitting in: Casa Bianchi.
“Our comeback will start with our products, that’s the heartbeat of our company,” Cavaggioni explains. “But it’s not just products, it’s where they’re assembled too, and that starts right here.”
Casa Bianchi is, in many ways, a physical embodiment of this brand evolution.
As well as a huge production facility, there will be a flagship store and, eventually, a museum.
It’s designed to be the ultimate brand hub, everything Bianchi you could ever possibly want, all under one roof.
“My first move as CEO was to come to Treviglio, to Casa Bianchi – a place we now open to all of you, and which we want to become a home for all cycling enthusiasts,” says Cavaggioni, back on stage.
“Seeing this factory made it clear to me that Bianchi is more than a company – it’s a place where inspiration takes shape.”
And it has to be said that Casa Bianchi is gorgeous.
Walk in the front door and you’re met immediately by a classic Alfa Romeo team car.
Next to that is an array of classic motorcycles – another speciality of Bianchi back in the day – then you move into the entrance hall, which has impressive displays of the current bikes and a few special editions, such as a Giro105 Specialissima and an Oltre RC Tour de France Limited Edition – among our personal favourites.
But even with all those bikes to lust after, it’s the assembly lines of the factory that really steal the show.
Designed to make Bianchi one of the first factories in Italy to conform with Industry 5.0 standards, where machines and people work in harmony, there are currently 80 people working there, capable of assembling 240 bikes per day.
If you want yet another sign of Bianchi’s ambitions, it’s that this facility is capable of way more than that – up to 500 bikes per shift. Meeting this target would signal that Bianchi’s rinascimento is well and truly underway.
And as Mauro Panigatti, group manufacturing & logistics director and the man running the show, is at pains to point out, Bianchi has done all this with an eye on sustainability, too.
The roof of Casa Bianchi is covered in solar panels, enabling the building to use 34 per cent sustainable power, saving a claimed 125 tons of CO2 production every year as a result.
Made by Bianchi, designed by you
Had the evening ended right there, it would have been an impressive insight into what we can expect over the next 12 months. But the next innovation, called ‘Officina Edoardo Bianchi’ is sure to turn heads.
It’s a customisation and restoration programme that means eventually you’ll be able to buy a Bianchi in almost any colour and size that your heart desires, rather than merely choosing stock colourways.
“Celeste is available and always will be,” explains Claudio Masnata, Bianchi’s head of brand marketing and communications.
But he acknowledges that choice is available all over the bike market now, so Bianchi has to offer that to its customers as well, while Cavaggioni adds: “We have a strong brand DNA, but if a person has a Celeste bike and wants another Bianchi they don’t always want the same colour. This gives them options.”
The first paint options are six signature colour combinations available on three models: the Oltre RC, Specialissima RC and Impulso RC.
One of these colours is a striking, metallic version of the classic Celeste, so purists can take heart.
But perhaps the most intriguing part of Officina Edoardo Bianchi is the restoration side.
This isn’t for modern carbon bikes – it’s for every Bianchi owner under the sun to send in their pride and joy and have it painstakingly restored to its best condition using original techniques, paints and period-correct components.
Surrounded by expensive carbon bikes, it’s easy to forget that for the majority of Bianchi’s history, it has produced metal bikes, many of which have managed to survive generations of riders – some have even become collectors’ items.
This will give those bikes a new lease of life, which can only be a good thing from both a nostalgia and sustainability point of view.
And speaking of collector’s items, Bianchi’s new limited-edition collection – the first under the new Officina Edoardo Bianchi banner – will be a nod to one of its favourite sons.
It’s a Specialissima RC in the colours of Marco Pantani’s Mercatoni Uno team at the 1998 Giro d’Italia. Each bike will be numbered, and it’s a limited run of 215 editions – a reference to the distance in kilometres of stage 17 of the 1998 Giro, the day Pantani took his first Maglia Rosa.
As proof of this new custom concept, the event closes with a pink and burgundy Specialissima delivered to the stage, which has been built on the production line while we’ve been sitting there listening.
We’re told that this bicycle belongs to all of us as members of the Bianchi team, including brand owner Salvatore Grimaldi, fill the stage.
“We built it together today, and together we’ll build the future. Between now and early 2026, we have new models on the way, new launch strategies ahead, and a network we’re committed to making stronger than ever. The future has just begun – the best is yet to come.”
