Originally Posted by
corwin1968
Other than the U-brake, is there anything else on a 1988 Bridgestone MB-5 that would problematic as far as running modern components on it? Is the BB shell the same as now? After squinting enough to read the geometry in the 1988 catalog on Sheldon Brown's website, I'm seriously considering buying it. It appears to pretty much be a heavy 26" wheel road bike.
Feh. You can run a modern u-brake on it, if u like. Any current-production u-brake will work, although I'd just put new pads on the stock one, if I were you.
BB shell is BSC, standard thread, probably 68mm. The dropouts are vertical and by '88, more than likely 130mm--outside chance that it's 126, but even my 87 b-stone 300 roadbike had 128mm dropouts, in case I wanted to build it up 8speed. 1" threaded headset, prolly JIS but late 80s were weird for mtbs, with some Japanese makers going with 26.4mm crown races.
Once you get that u-brake how you want it, you'll regard rear cantis on mtbs with something akin to disgust.