cyclo-cross frame failure

CAMPYBOB said:

Was this a steel or aluminum model?

cyclingnews.comcross.phpOpen ↗

Click on "next photo" button to see a couple more pictures of the broken Bianchi.

my guess would be aluminum because of the "aero" look of the down tube and
the head tube looks wider as well...

I think it's steel. Just based on the size of the rear end of the bike. The tubing is pretty small and aluminum is bigger with fatter welds. That whole frame looks to have small welds.

e0richt said:

my guess would be aluminum because of the "aero" look of the down tube and
the head tube looks wider as well...

I concur -- aluminum.

And, I don't think Bianchi made a competition level cross bike in steel for quite a while.

They also don't do downtube cable routing on their alum cross bikes either. But they do on the steel.

Looking hat the racer's clothing, he's outfitted head-to-toe in Bianchi kit.

I see a downtube shifter/cable routing boss (old style tapped post) in the third picture. I wonder if he was riding an older model?

Steel bikes don't usually have a seatpost clamp like the one in that photo either - they usually have a split in the seat tube with a binder bolt.

That so called seatpost clamp is really big, I am not sure it's a seat clamp.

And I agree that the tubes are all pretty thin for an Alu frame.