Brigestone RB-2 year help?
 

Hey everyone,
i found an RB2 on the curb a fw days ago, I had to peel it off the frozen ground. It has a reallllllly bad silver rattle can paint job, but i managed to determine it is an Rb2 because i can see the slightly raises lettering from stickers inder the paint. I can also make out "Synergy" on the top tube. After some scraping i found the serial number legible H021019. So any help as to whether it is a '90 or an '80? It is a fully lugged frame with verticle dropouts, which confuses me. I was under the impression that by 1990 they were going to tig welded frames, but in 1980 theyd have used horizontal dropouts. It also has braze ons for downtube shifters, but those could also just be for cable guides. Original paint appears to be sparly white or pearl. Ive scraped the paint off near the head tube and bottom bracket and its yhe only color i see so far.
thanks in advance!

Hello fellow Northfieldian! If the choice is between 1980 and '90, then it's a '90 (they weren't being made in 1980). Luckily the catalogs are online.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridges...ne-1990-18.htm

1990
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridges...ne-1990-18.jpg

But of course if the serial points to being made late in 1990, it could be a bike for the next model year. Luckily- if you can see the RB-2 lettering, the graphics are different enough to distinguish between the two.

1991
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridges...ne-1991-31.jpg

It's hard to see if the dropouts on the 90 are vertical because of the black frame, but they definitely are on the '91. They're both lugged. Hope this helps!

Some people get all the luck!

can you scratch some of the spray paint off to see what the original paint color was?

Indian silver maybe!?!
 

Sadly we no longer live in Northfield. I clearly have not updated my profile in a long while. We moved to Racine Wi 7 yrs ago.
i have only found what i would call sparkly white or ivory, but Could very well be their Indian Silver ive gotten dow to bare paint/metal at the bottom bracket and joints near the top and downtube intersections of the head tube. All the same color. So, perhaps the frame was built in 90 but painted for 91. I cannot tell from either catalogue if the frames are lugged or welded.. the photos arent clear enough and it doesnt seem to say outright. The 90 definitely looks welded to me, especially with the oversized down tube; did anybody ever lug those fat tubes?
the house i found it in front of has a moving truck out front today. And two Pinarellos parked out front waiting to be loaded.....couldnt they toss those out too?
the owner was busy packing inside.
he (or someone before him) had filed out the rear dropouts of the rb2 to elongate them, probably for a fixie. Not sure what to do about that....except mayby just repaint it and use it as a fixie or single speed or internal hub winter beater.

Indian silver maybe!?!
 

Sadly we no longer live in Northfield. I clearly have not updated my profile in a long while. We moved to Racine Wi 7 yrs ago.
i have only found what i would call sparkly white or ivory, but Could very well be their Indian Silver ive gotten dow to bare paint/metal at the bottom bracket and joints near the top and downtube intersections of the head tube. All the same color. So, perhaps the frame was built in 90 but painted for 91. I cannot tell from either catalogue if the frames are lugged or welded.. the photos arent clear enough and it doesnt seem to say outright. The 90 definitely looks welded to me, especially with the oversized down tube; did anybody ever lug those fat tubes?
the house i found it in front of has a moving truck out front today. And two Pinarellos parked out front waiting to be loaded.....couldnt they toss those out too?
the owner was busy packing inside.
he (or someone before him) had filed out the rear dropouts of the rb2 to elongate them, probably for a fixie. Not sure what to do about that....except mayby just repaint it and use it as a fixie or single speed or internal hub winter beater. I was a bit concerned about the head tube, there were rusty crack looking lines around the lug. But i filed down to bare metal and it does not appear to be cracks, just surface rust that followed the crease, a tiny bit of pitting. I think it will be a good beater bike for me or my 16 year old when he goes off to college. I think its about a centimeter too big for me, and he is already taller than me so it might be a fun college bike project for me.