Bianchi Specialissima: A Bike So Beautiful, They'll Write Songs About It

Cycling is like music: The bike is your instrument, the ride is the song, your pedaling the rhythm. The name of Bianchi's newest bike is Specialissima, a word with quintessential Italian flourish that reminds me of the notations on the sheet music of my childhood, the evocative words that stick with me to this day and urged me to play allegro (fast) or scherzando (playfully) or appassionato (with passion). Specialissima, of course, is not a musical term. The name means "most special," and has been resurrected from the bikes that Fausto Coppi and Felice Gimondi rode in the 1950s and '60s.

Related: This Bianchi Offers Suprising Value—And Serious Italian Style

The early steel Specialissima was the Italian company's superlightweight offering of the time. Today's model is a thoroughly modern, ultralight carbon machine designed to scamper up mountains. It shares features with other models in Bianchi's current lineup, most notably the race geometry of the aero road Oltre XR.2 (but with rounder, more traditional tube shaping) and the Countervail vibration-cancelling technology from the Infinito Classics bike. On the Specialissima, Bianchi tunes this viscoelastic carbon layer in the frame and fork to reduce the chatter typically found on lightweight frames, and to help the bike feel better connected to the road. Our tester came with Campagnolo Super Record, but the frame accommodates electronic and mechanical shifting.

At a time when manufacturers are pouring resources into aerodynamic-frame technology, the Specialissima feels more capriccioso¹ than precipitando². On flats it is animato³, it tackles hills con bravura e brio⁴ and is most definitely molto leggiero⁵. When I took it on some rough gravel, I expected it to feel skittish; instead it was placido, soave, e molto risoluto⁶. And for a bike designed to go up, it shines most unexpectedly on descents, where it is molto vivace, e non troppo impetuoso ma spiritoso e molto veloce⁷.

Price: $9,999, as tested, with Campagnolo Super Record
Weight: 13.7 lb. (55 cm)

1 Whimsical; 2 Rushing/headlong; 3 Animated; 4 With brilliance and vigor; 5 Very light/nimble; 6 Calm, smooth, and very bold; 7 Very lively, not too impetuous but spirited and very fast

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