I got an off-list email from Ty Doleman; tried to reply but his email address is "munged" such that I can't reply - I hope he (and you all) won't mind if I reply on the list
Ty wrote:
> Hi there Mr. Bulgier, I have enclosed a photo of one of the
> old Bianchi's out in the barn. Please look real close at
> them there photos. You'll see that the cups are part of the
> frame fittin's. I don't reckon they can be removed without
> pullin' the tubes out of the fittin's.
>
> Maybe you are tryin' to tell me that there are separate cups
> pressed into the fitted cups?
>
> Check out this photo of the ole Bianchi out in the barn.
Hi Ty,
Nice photo, thanks for sending it! Yes, my Specialissima looks just like the Celeste beauty you have in the photo there, and the lugs do definitely have removable races pressed in. Punching them out is not easy, and getting the replacement parts is even harder, but back in the day when these were more commonplace there were bikeshops that had the parts and knew how to do it.
The replacement headset on eBay just sold for well over a hunnerd dollars, which actually surprised me - I expected it would go for even more, given how rare these are now.
I think the headset in the bike in your photo is made by Campagnolo, and each of the parts including the pressed-in races has the C-in-a-diamond Campy logo stamped in it. But you have to punch the races out to see the logo - it's hidden inside the lug when in use.
Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA