Bianchi Sempre Pro Veloce Review - BikeRadar

The name Sempre is Italian for always, and Bianchi’s designers claim that the Sempre is a bike that combines the best characteristics of their professional racing level Oltre and sportive-focused Infinito. In theory this should make a bike that can be used ‘all-ways’. We were big fans of the original Sempre as it combined supple smoothness with remarkably direct handling.

Ride & handling: Smooth but with sharp, race bike handling

It’s out on the road where the real story of the Sempre is to be found. The frame improvements (see below) have created a bike that’s very taught up front; the handling is direct and instant – turn into a high speed corner and the Sempre is absolutely planted. You can point and shoot and smash through successive apexes on a hairpin descent with ease. The control has a snap to it that’ll make mincemeat of weaving your way through and past the competition in the heat of battle too.

There’s a real sense of rigidity running through the whole frame. The fork resists chatter and flex and makes for a great match to the Sempre’s smooth-running rear. The seatstays are remarkably slim line and designed to flex. It works too, making the Sempre have a great dual nature; it’s stiff and responsive yet smooth over broken surfaces. It’s a very neat trick and one that should be applauded. 

The front end isn’t any taller than what we’d expect from a race rather than endurance bike. The wheelbase isn’t overly long either. Bianchi have, though, created a bike we’d be happy to use on the longest of rides. It’s also a bike we’d be more than happy to compete on, especially if the wheels were upgraded to something a little lighter. 

The Sempre Pro improves on what was already a great bike. It retains the great ride and has a fully featured up-to-date frame that’s also shaved a fair few grams.

Frame & equipment: Frame changes work but spec is low on value

The new Pro Sempre retains the original dimensions and geometry but the frame has been significantly overhauled. The down tube has grown in diameter to improve the frames rigidity between the front and rear. 

The carbon fibre layup has changed to lose a few grams and also to improve stiffness through the bottom bracket and chainstays. The head tube has been switched for a new tapered version with a matching tapered fork and this also helps to improve rigidity. 

The seatstays of the Sempre frame look spindly slim compared to the frame’s oversized head tube and down tube. Bianchi call this their UTSS (Ultra-Thin-Seat-Stay) technology. They claim this allows the dimensions to be minimal yet retain all the strength needed as they maintain the same strength characteristics of standard sized tubes for much less weight. 

The thin but flattened profile is also claimed to aid shock absorption. The frame now has full internal cable routing and dedicated drillings for the new type of electronic drivetrains.

The Sempre Pro combines Campag’s solid performing 10-speed Veloce with an aluminium FSA Gossamer chainset. The drivetrain won’t impress anyone on value for money, but it’s performance that counts and the Veloce’s snappy shifting and smoothness ticks all the right boxes. 

The shift speed is consistently quick and positive. Some may not get on with Campag’s Ergolever paddle and trigger shift setup, which favours shifting from the brake hoods rather than the drops; we don’t have any issues with the layout but know that some riders with smaller hands and women find the reach from the drops a struggle at times.

The colour-coordinated custom graphic Reparto Corsa brakes are actually FSA’s Gossamer units underneath the glossy finish. They perform well, have decent quality cartridge pads and certainly look great on the bike. 

The Reparto Corsa cockpit is also from FSA, the nicely finished stem is capped with a carbon faceplate, and the shallow drop-bar shape from FSA is one of our favourites. 

The deeply padded angular shaped San Marco Ponza saddle is plenty comfortable and its narrow rear section flows into a relatively wide, but heavily padded nose. It sits on top of a nicely finished Reparto Corsa (FSA) post.

The wheelset is also branded Reparto Corsa, but it is actually a set from French wheel manufacturer Maddux and they look great with classy graphics and contrasting twin white spokes per wheel. They roll well on basic hubs and aren’t overly heavy, and they’re perfectly competent but nothing outstanding. They are, however, flattered by the Hutchinson Equinox tyres, which have good dry-weather grip, but feel slightly vague when the roads are damp or slippery.

This article was originally published in Triathlon Plus magazine, available on Zinio.

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