Bianchi Timeline ~

1885 - 21 year old Edoardo Bianchi opens a bicycle manufacturing business in Milan

1886 - Bianchi introduces the first bike 2 wheels of the same size

1888 - Bianchi is the first Italian bike maker to use the new air filled rubber tubes and tires from John Dunlop of Scotland

1895 - Bianchi builds a women's bicycles for Queen Margherita and teaches her to ride

1896 - Bianchi becomes the first bicycle company to use racing as a testing ground for innovation

1899 - Giovanni Tommaselli gives Binachi its first international cycling victory as he wins the Gran Prix of Paris, the World Championship of track racing. This race later evolves into the Tour de France

1911 - Riding for Bianchi, Carlo Galetti wins the Giro d'Italia

1914 - World War I requires that the Bianchi factory switch to the design and production of military vehicles

1915 - Bianchi invents the first full suspension mountain bike, the Bersaglieria

1935 - Bianchi is the first to use Campagnolo's new invention, a rod-operated gear changing system. And, Giuseppe Olmo sets the hour record on a Bianchi.

1940 - Fausto Coppi joins Team Bianchi

1943 - The entire Bianchi factory is destroyed by an Allied bomb

1946 - The factory is rebuild, but founding father, Edoardo Bianchi, dies of injuries sustained in an automobile accident

1949 - Fausto Coppi becomes the first rider in history to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year. The feat had previously been considered impossible

1953 - Coppi wins the World Championships and his 5th Giro d'Italia

1965 - Felice Gimondi wins the Tour de France on a Bianchi

1967 - Gimondi wins the Giro d'Italia

1981 - Bianchi is introduced to the U.S. market

1985 - Bianchi celebrates its centennial with a limited edition Centenario bike with a black nickel-plate finish

1986 - Moreno Argentin wins the World Championship on a Bianchi

1998 - Marco Pantani wins the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France on a Bianchi. Stefano Grazelli wins the Tour of Switzerland on a Bianchi

2001 - Bianchi wins its first mountain bike world cup with Jose Hermida and Julien Absalon bringing home the gold

2003 - Jan Ullrich finishes 2nd at the Tour de France, on a Bianchi of course

2005 - Bianchi turns 125!