Originally Posted by
bikemig
I've got no problem if you think the bikes are overpriced for what they are (that may be a fair assessment by the way) and I completely agree that the catalogs (I have the 92, 93, and 94) were excellent. But I'll disagree that the tubing on the RB-1 was so-so. The tubing changed over the years but it was always a seamless, double butted, chrome-moly frame with lugs. In fact the catalogs tell you exactly what kind of tubing was used, how it was made, and why it was good stuff.
GP's bridgestone always spec'ed expensive stuff, breaking up component groups at their cost, and almost always upspecing. In GP's era, a $900 MB-2 had 3 main triangle prestige tubes, while a similarly priced bike from specialized had the standard non-heat treated steel. The MB2 had expensive ritchey tires, lighter suntour canti's, lighter inner tubes, and just a whole host of extra touches that most people could not appreciate or at least not look for.
I miss those mtn bikes a lot, and it's really too bad that someone like him isn't in the industry now, at least not in the mainstream.