I own an RB2 I found a couple of years ago for forty bucks at a Goodwill sale, and use it regularly (it's one of my daily beaters/riders/commuters). I like it a lot, but I believe the bike is a lot different than the current Grant Peterson/Rivendells. For starters, the geometry is more agressive and tight; it's my understanding that Grant largely hacked the design of them from Italian Race frames of the period. It is made to take 28 tires; that was standard equipment on the bike at this time, but clearance is pretty limited (especially compared to Rivendell's current design philosophy) and I am not sure I could comfortably get fenders on it. At the least, it would be tight with the 28s. From the Rivendells I have seen, the design philosophy is pretty different. In general, the RB2 is a really, really nice mid level road bike, very quick and responsive. It is nothing like the tourers, sport tourers or French bikes I've seen or ridden, and bears a limited resemblance to the Rivendells I have seen ( I have never ridden one).

I suspect Grant has come into his design philosophy (or marketing philosophy) over the years, in a gradual process.

Part of the reason B-stone retreated from the USA was the then unfavourable exchange rate between the dollar and the yen; they came to the USA market late and by then the exchange rate was far less favourable than it had been in the early eighties and late seventies.

The paint on mine is largely pristine; the bike was pretty much unridden when I found it. It's held up very well under my abuse. Mine's from about 1991, and some of the earlier ones I've seen have looked pretty ragged.

All that said, part of the reason the Peterson Bridgetones maintain a higher price is the mystique built around them, partly because of the Bridgestone owner's bunch and partly because of Grant's later success (?) with Rivendell. I'd certainly pay forty bucks for another one, but I doubt I would pay going ebuy/craigslist prices on them; I've seen RB2s go for ten times what I paid. Looking for them, you pay a bit of a prenium for the name, just as you would for a Bianchi or a Paramount.