I had some free time while the real mechanics were dealing with my crank and fork, so I decided to put the new used tires I had lying around on to the Bianchi's wheels. I went to take off the cracked, flat rear tire, and found that I couldn't get a tire lever under the bead. Because there is no bead. It's a tubular wheel, and it's glued to the rim. Oh ferchristssake. Tubulars, you're really going to make me deal with this? Add to the list of things to learn how to do: glue on a tire. For now, I decided to just pump it up and see if it holds air, and ordered a couple cheap training tubulars from probikekit.com, aka cheapest tires on earth.
I took a look at the front one. Good news - when whoever crashed the original bike into a bus crashed into a bus, they not only destroyed the frame and fork, but also the front wheel. They replaced it with a reasonable clincher. Comforting for multiple reasons.
When I started assembling the bike, I found that a) my fork steerer was indeed long enough (just barely!) and b) the stem from the wrecked bike was kinda rusty and ugly as sin. I'm currently on the lookout for a new one - if you've seen any sexy black quill stems in 25.4 clamp size and around 110 in length, hit me up. Once I find one, I can cut the cables and tape up the bars, and we'll be in business! Obviously no pictures til it's done right. I can say though that those Italians know style - even bottom of the barrel Mirage components from the 90's look so much nicer than the low-end stuff that Shimano craps out. We'll see if they actually work.