firbituga

I have recently purchased a Bridgestone Aries ten speed bicycle and have had quite a bit of trouble finding any information on it. I have spent hours perusing the Sheldon Brown website, Google, and this forum, as well as visiting my LBS but no one seems to have any information about the Aries specifically. The few things I have found about Bridgestone bicycles are that they made bikes with star names in Japan in the 80's, and some carry a cult status. I am less concerned with the value of the bike than its history and quality as it seems to fit me well and I feel the $125 charge was reasonable for my area. I am assuming it is an 83' or 84' because those are the two years of catalog I cannot find for reference. The frame is Hi-Tensile/Hi-Carbon with SunTour 7GT rear derailleur, matching front derailleur, and SunTour stem shifters. I also have the serial number but I'm not sure if it is appropriate to post (please advise). Any information about this bike would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance!

T-Mar

It's definitely not a 1984, as that's the year they went to model numbers. I'm actually thinking this might be slightly older than 1982. It's quite similar to the Regulus but has has lower grade stamped dropouts and a hi-tensile main triangle. I'm thinking that the Aries my have be upgraded intot he Regulus. The serial number would be a big help, as it will tell us the exact year.

firbituga

Thanks for your quick response. The serial on the bike is:
N382185

T-Mar

I was incorrect. Per the serial number it was manufactured in 1983 and just before they would have turned production over to the 1984 models.

firbituga

Thanks again for responding so quickly. In your opinion would this be considered a Grant Petersen era Bridgestone? I read that he started designing with them in the 80's and began marketing for his bikes in 83'. Also, do you feel that my $125 investment was wasted. With the vast amount of new and used bikes available it took me over a month to make a decision on my purchase. I feel confident given the comparison models available in the Houston area through CL and Ebay I just don't have enough experience to really tell.

T-Mar

That's a Technart frame with aluminum lugs that were die cast around the tubes and required an internally expanding seat post. The basic design goes back about a decade to the early 1970s bicycle boom models. While I'm not positive, I suspect that 1983 was the last year for these frames.

The Technart frames were the type of technology that Peterson typically detested. If he had been at Bridgestone during this period, it's the type of bicycle he would have tried to eliminate.

tatkin05

So did he waste his investment?

cb400bill

Do you have one? Or are you looking at one?

tatkin05

I have one

himespau 

As a rider if it's good to go, it's probably not the worst deal in the world, but I definitely wouldn't spend more than that and not even that for a flipper or if it needed any repairs.

T-Mar

IMO, the only issue with the Technart frames is the aesthetics of the chunky lugs. It could probably be improved by eliminating the faux spear point embossing but then you wouldn't know it was a Technart. For me, the construction technology neither adds nor detracts from the FMV, as there is no history of reliability issues, unlike some other bonding technologies. These bicycles should be valued based on the tubing, components and condition, just like a standard, brazed lug technology bicycle.