Hi Marcus,
Yes, Jim Miele started out distributing Bianchi bikes in Canada before the Miele brand was founded. A shop that I worked at starting around '83 had lower end model Japanese made Bianchi bikes. Those sold well, and were very popular. A season later, we saw Miele branded bikes with the exact same specs as the Bianchi ones. After that, there were no more Bianchi bikes. There were never any Italian made Bianchi bikes coming from Miele as I recall, just the Japan built bikes with Ishiwata tubing, and lots of SunTour parts. There must have been a license deal or something that when it ran out, Jim decided not to renew, and just continue on by putting his name on the bikes. Later came Miele bikes with frames made here in Toronto. Miele got a number of loans and investments from the government, but had numerous financial issues. Over the period of a few short years, I saw Miele frames that appeared to be sourced from a number of different places. There were many lug patterns and tubing brands represented. At the time, it seemed to me they were all over the map trying to sell whatever they could source.
Grant McLean Toronto, Canada
On 28-Jun-07, at 6:18 PM, Marcus Coles wrote:
> Grant,
>
> Any idea if Miele was involved with the Asian made Bianchi's that
> were distributed in Canada in the late '70s and early '80's?
> Unlike Italian Bianchi bikes I've seen, the downtube decals were
> printed one piece on a clear sheet.
>
> What make me ask this question is that in my catacombs I have a
> Miele frame which appears identical in almost every respect
> including tubing decal to a "Bianchi" I'm currently converting to a
> town bike. The differences are confined to branding decals, colour
> and fork treatment.
>
>
> Marcus Coles