Why Are Bianchi Mountain Bikes So Hard To Find In The US?

The introduction of bicycles occurred in Europe in the 19th century. Today, there are over a billion bikes on the planet, which means there are twice as many bikes as there are automobiles! Bikes are used as basic transportation in many areas, but they are also used for recreational purposes. In addition to use as children's toys, specialized cycles are used for police and military applications, mail and courier services, racing, mountain biking, and many more. F.I.V. Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A is the oldest bicycle company on Earth still in business. It was founded in 1885 in Italy and is well known for European road racing. The company has a complete line of mountain, racing, track, urban, city and women’s-specific bikes.

Bianchi has been a leader in performance brand bikes literally since the beginning, so Why Are Bianchi Mountain Bikes So Hard To Find In The US?? Specifically, Bianchi mountain bikes may be the best available for mountain biking, yet there are only 3 models currently offered here in the States: the Methanol, the Kuma and the Jab.

The Bianchi Methanol is the top of the line when it comes to Bianchi mountain bikes and this is the most readily available model in the US. The newer Methanol 27.5 SL fills the need for a biking solution between the 26 inch and the 29 inch tires. This performance inspired model has excellent durability along with reactive geometries for an optimal ratio of weight to rigidity. This high-end carbon hard tail makes for a great cross country bike due to its light weight and durability. These new bikes allow you to get momentum-building 29ers for smooth rolling along with the full carbon frames and fine components from Sram, Shimano, and other manufacturers. The Methanol bikes are perfect for people who want to participate in off-road racing because they demonstrate top rated competitive performance, which is key to winning over your competition.

The Methanol frame comes in at about 2K putting it right at the top tier for high end bike consumers. Bianchi does actually offer a broader range of mountain bikes, however most of them are only offered in Europe. It is possible to find limited offerings of the Jab and Kuma Model here in the States, but we stress the limited. For such a brand leader people are asking us all the time why they aren’t making all their quality mountain bikes available to the US.

Their top of the line bikes are made with carbon frame construction that gives them rigidity while being ultra-light; plus, they are easy to handle. The mountain bikes compose three distinct ranges. The more affordable bikes belong to the Bianchi Kuma family line, and they are great for new riders. The Bianchi Jab family of mountain bikes is regarded as the middle offering for Bianchi offroad or mountain bikes. The 2014 line consists of a 27.4 Hardtail Race MTB, a 27.3 Hardtail Race MTB, and a 27.2 Hardtail Race MTB. There are a few dealers that may be selling the Bianchi Jab in USA, a proven hot seller in Europe.

So, why can’t we find more of the Bianchi MTB’s here? Among dealers there is speculation that Bianchi simply doesn’t want to gamble on the unknown. Bianchi is a staple in performance road bikes and city bikes which they sell widely in the US, however mainstream America usually favors US brands when it comes to mountain bikes. Main Reason: They usually have bigger advertising budgets!

For Bianchi to go head-to-head with the Big Four Specialized, Trek, Cannondale and Giant means a significant increase in overseas marketing expense paired with a much loftier export cost for MTB’s. Therefore Bianchi seems to be using a common sense approach to capitalize on what is working for them: focusing mainly on European sales for their entire bike line and promoting and focusing of selling their road and city bike line in the US. This makes sense, unfortunately US customers suffer by not having access to the complete variety of truly quality brand mountain bikes (exceptions as stated above).