# First Road Bike, Bianchi Sempre



## Skyhawk-YTZ (Feb 26, 2014)

After reading on here for a while, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased my first road bike, a Bianchi Sempre. I've been riding on a track bike for the past two years doing an average of 80km per ride. Towards the end of last season I was feeling that the bike was limiting me in my progress and decided that the next season would be the time to step into the world of road biking. Being a 24 year old student about to finish school and new to road bikes I decided to set my bike budget in the $2000 range so it would leave me some room for 'necessary' upgrades. I realized quickly that with that in mind I wouldn't be able to get a brand new full on carbon Ultegra road bike so I had to set my priorities. Long story short I was deciding between a Scott Foil 40 and the Bianchi Sempre. My idea was to get a decent frame with a 105 setup rather than an Ultegra setup and upgrade to better wheels since I would probably notice more of a performance difference there. In my mind the Scott Foil 40 would have probably been the smart choice. I kind of see it as the Volkswagen Golf of the Road Bikes. Reliable good product that you can't really go wrong with. After all it comes with all 105 (including the crankset) and internal cable housing. However, being young you don't always make the most reasonable choices and seeing the Bianchi more of an italian sports car (maybe not quite a Ferrari but a solid Alfa Romeo Spider) I decided to listen to my heart and bought the Bianchi Sempre 105. The frame is the 2012 frame I believe and it comes in matt black with a touch of the Bianchi celeste. I'm absolutely in love with that frame. It's still in the shop waiting for me to return for a proper fitting with my gear but I can't wait to take it out onto the road. It certainly wasn't the easiest decision but after reading all the thoughts on the Sempre on this forum I'm more and more convinced that I made the right decision.
I also figured that the Bianchi frame would be a great base for future updates. It's always easier to swap the FSA crank for something better than being stuck with a Scott frame (no offence, Scott-riders). Speaking of upgrades; I'm already looking into a wheel upgrade and I would like to hear your thoughts on it. Since I ended up buying a cheaper bike (the entire bike ended up costing $1990) I now have a $1000 budget for a new wheel set. It doesn't leave me enough room for a carbon wheel set so I don't care to hear about Zipp wheels (yet ) but so far I'm looking at either the Mavic Kysrium Elite S or Fulcrum Racing 3. What do you guys think about that or what would be another good option? My LBS would swap the bike's current wheels for the Kysrium Elite S for an extra of $600 which seems to be a pretty good deal to me. What 'looks good' on a Bianchi Sempre?

Thank you!
Max


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