Chester

Like many, I've wanted one of these for many years. Finally things aligned for me to get one in the condition and price range I wanted to hit. Picked it up from the owner a few days ago, and so glad that I made it a point to meet him, because he showed me a bunch more well-kept steel bikes from the same time era, mostly Japan-manufactured framesets. Very kindly welcomed me to ride a bunch of the bikes he happened to have conveniently on hand, including successive test-rides of bikes made out of Tange Prestige then Tange Champion #1 then Tange Champion #2. Wanted a story to go with the bike, and ended up getting much more than I could have hoped for, in that regard.

The bike is completely stock, excluding the saddle. Even the tires and pedals are stock. I'm only going to change out only the saddle and tires, and add toe cages.

The shop where he bought it isn't far from me so I figured it would be a fitting thing to make my first ride on the bike be a ride to where it was assembled and purchased. Rolled in excited to make someone's day, bringing in a bike that had last rolled out their doors 30 years ago. And not just any bike, either. One younger staff member was pretty unimpressed at the sudden appearance of a bike that his employers sold years before he was born. But that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was that the old-timer on duty who looked at it after finishing up with a customer he'd been helping when I first walked in was almost totally unphased. On a scale of 0 to 100 in excitement, think he registered around a 20. Like we had found out that I know a cousin of his (who he hasn't talked to for a decade). He definitely was around when the bike was sold, because he looked at the brake cable ferrule to see if it was the original and if he recognized the way it was crimped.

So that was anticlimactic, but geeking out over bikes with the owner when I picked up the bike was anything but. Really looking forward to putting down some miles on it.


1991 Bridgestone RB-1

oldbobcat

I'm hardly a Grant Peterson fanboy, but if you made a Venn diagram of his preferences against my preferences, this bike would fill the intersection. Would I change anything? Toeclips and straps, or if I rode it Time or Look pedals and a Cinelli bar and stem. You chose well.

Chester

I'm kind of a fanboy. "Kind of" because I've never pulled the trigger. But I've still always enjoyed "window-shopping" his catalogs, readers, and blog posts. No matter what, I really appreciate that he and his mindset still exists. I forgot to write that I came a few beats away from placing an order on a Sam Hillborne frame, which just came back in stock. But have some stuff going on where I should be putting discretionary budget, so I stopped myself. Then I happened upon a listing for this RB-1 and it was an indulgence I could indulge in, without any regret.

I think it would benefit from a different stem for sure, even (especially) if only for aesthetics. I would if not for that weird sense of satisfaction that comes with it being stock. I'll probably end up putting clipless pedals on sooner or later. That's not really modifying it, anyway.

I'm gonna ride this a bunch and then also probably later pick up something like an All-City Cosmic Stallion to compare the feel of another steel bike, but with a carbon fork. And also compare the feel of much wider tires even if only riding road. Get a better sense of whether or not the ride feel of a curved steel fork warrants the weight for me. And I hope so, because what I really want to do is build up a really nice and pretty steel frame with modern components, or maybe even order something custom.

BillRS22

I donated a 1969 Schwinn Racer to a former old
Schwinn dealer this year. He was pretty excited
as the bike was in really good shape. My neighbor gave the bike to me about 20 years and
I rebuilt it and cleaned it up . Most shops I
know like to see old bikes, especially if they have
been taken care of. Bill

Classtime 

Your RB-1 looks like new. For sure put your normal road pedals on it and see what it can do—after you check the minimum insertion on that stem. I remember drooling over the RB-1 on the cover of Bicycling magazine in the library when I should have been studying.

Chuckk

I have a '91 that I got as a frame and fork and built up with mostly Shimano components.
It's the only Japanese bike I've had that felt like an Italian bike.
Had a couple RB-2's and they didn't have the feel, so I figure it's model specific.
Oh yeah, and the quality of finish is excellent.

USAZorro

Did it really come with that stem?

Beautiful, clean bicycle.

TugaDude

Don't let the lack of enthusiasm get you down. They just didn't "get it" and perhaps because they aren't passionate about bikes in general. Even the "old timer" could fall into the category of worker and not enthusiast. To him it's just a job, show up, work, go home, repeat.

I have really enjoyed the visits I've made to bike shops when I used to travel for business regularly. I had the opportunity to chat with people all over the midwest, many of whom were "old timers" but shared my passion for bicycles. I was able to source some nice vintage components through some of them.

Being from St. Louis I had the great fortune to have met the Florman brothers, former owners of A-1 Bicycles. Their father, the legendary Ray Florman, is well known for his performances and also for the "Raysport" bicycles which were quality machines. I was fortunate to have seen a couple examples at A-1.

Stopping into A-1 was always a treat. I never failed to leave feeling good about my hobby and never left without having learned something. Talk about priceless experiences. I miss seeing them.

smd4

How is changing pedals "not really modifying" the bike, but changing a stem somehow is?

hellawatters

I have one from the same year that I have been in the process of building. Mine came sort of hodgepodged together and I’m not trying to restore it to stock spec. I do wish though that it came with that original stem! I think they are very cool. Let me know if you end up wanting to let ways with it!

mstateglfr 

Because the OP views it that way.
Its about the least important thing to fight about, so lets not.

Chester

Of course both are a modification but when I think of "not really modifying," I'm thinking in a very subjective way that considers the difference between how the bike will look, ride, and also "What Would Grant Do?"

​​​​On the topic of pedals, we are not left without guidance from Saint Grant (of course). From the 1992 Bridgestone catalog:


"Why No Clipless Pedals?" from 1992 Bridgestone Catalog
https://sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/1992/1992.pdf

So Grant gave me permission to change the pedals, if I feel like. Even thought it best to let me do the picking and made sure I had a high quality pedal while I deliberate!

He wouldn't have a problem with me changing the stem, especially if I needed to change the fit but I think he'd maybe harrumph if I did it just for looks and then left a perfectly good stem to languish in a drawer. Also, the stem is a Ritchey so there is some charm to that, and extra because Grant had a personal relationship with Tom.

All this thinking is just a silly game I've chosen to play. I could throw down a few more paragraphs of musing on the relative degrees of "modification" entailed in swapping different components, but I think that'd only be interesting to someone playing the same game.

I looked and found the Avocet Racing Saddles easy to find on eBay but I'm not gonna be that faithful. Not even to it having come with a black color. I'm deciding that Grant did all black saddles because it was more sensible to do that for operational simplicity, maybe cost, and expected majority to put on a favorite saddle anyway. So I'm gonna put on a Seller Turbo in White.

​​​​​Going back to the pedals, just going to add MKS toe cages and Christophe White straps for now. At some point will want to ride it clipless and will throw on the mid-2000's Time pedals I had been using on my first road rig, and will just try to make sure nobody cool sees me. But if I do stick with clipless, I think I will end up with SPD MTB so it's nicer to walk around. For that reason I think I'll probably just stick with toe cages on the stock Sylvans.

Also had been wanting to see if 30mm tires would clear but saw a good $30/each deal on Vittoria Corsa G2.0 tires in 28mm so will put those on.

smd4

I didn't ask you. And asking a simple question isn't "fighting."

bikingshearer 

The answer is "Yes." Here is a shot from the RB-1 page of the 1991 Bridgestone catalog. When I bought a 1992 RB-1 new, it had the same stem. Compared to some of the abominations that have hit the market, this stem is downright mundane-looking.

georges1

nice bridgestone,thanks for sharing

Chester

Yeah, it's not bad but let's just say it's not nice-looking. It's interesting that it's not a Nitto and I wonder if Grant simply made it a point to try to spec some Ritchey stuff when it more or less made sense.

In a recent blog post Grant wrote some about his Bridgestone era and in discussing some design/config points on Bridgestone MTB's, he wrote: "the first MTB to use Ritchey tires. I was friends with Tom (still am)." And also: "Ritchey tires weren't, like, world's better than any other similar priced tires, but they were still good."

This lady, wearing Da Brim, is astride a Gypsy horse. – Rivendell Bicycle Works (rivbike.com)

I will if I ever do! I wish I could make myself but probably won't because of the fetish for stock and also because I'm very lazy and I don't want to deal with redoing bar tape and futzing with levers and all that. But if I ever do, I'll remember to come back here and DM you.

LOL, I remember reading Bicycling at the city library when I was supposed to be studying, in high school. Probably drooled over the same issue. Something like an RB-1 was of course far beyond me, and any road bike seemed like a crazy luxury to be able to coerce your parents into buying you on top of the MTB you were already lucky to have.

I felt lucky to have an MB-5. Remember clearly that one of the reasons I chose it was because I wanted top-mounted shifters. Can't recall if I felt this way independently or Grant's marketing strongly hit a nerve but I do remember explaining to a friend how it just made more sense to me that I could grab the shifter and ship down or up multiple gears in one motion, instead of click-click-clicking with those early trigger shifters.

I guess I was a budding retrogrouch even back then. (But not really, because I also remember thinking it would be a good idea to mount aero bars on my MB-5. We rode pavement way more than we rode dirt.)

When you said "after you check the minimum insertion on that stem" are you telling me that you think the stem may be raised a little too high? I didn't think about that, but the prior owner had rotated the bars way up and says he doesn't ride in the drops ever any more, so maybe he did raise the stem a smidge further than it should go. Didn't seem to me to be notably high but I'll check.

If anything, I was hoping I could raise it higher.

NOTE: I also added some more pictures. Added below and also to the anchor post.

smd4

That bike is in amazing condition. You might get better index shifting if you replace that rear cable housing with compressionless.

Classtime 

I see now why everybody love$ the RB-1. Nicely made frame with lovely minimalist head tube lugs, seat tube lug, stay caps, etc. And Yup. The picture of your stem shows you are above the max. Some here will be happy when you put on a Technomic Deluxe

edit: Oh, and I see the RB-1 is designed as a Road Racing Bike--no eyelets!

79pmooney

Thanks, OP for the photos. I've been reading about RB-1s for years but never got to see good pictures.

If mine, I wouldn't change much. Pedals (perhaps to period correct Shimano semi-platforms which I love because they can be modified for really easy pickup) or LOOK Delta compatible Wellgos and stem (yours is way too short for me). (Of course, I'd also need a much bigger frame - 59 cm.) Those bars are the bend I love (and much more so than the much closer to semi-circular Cinelli bend). And sewups. Simply because sewups rule. 1991, almost everyone used them. On all my bikes when your bike was new. They've been a sublime ride forever.

kunsunoke 

Considering the era - the stem might say "Ritchey" but it's likely a re-branded Nitto stem. Nitto makes good stems.

Chester

Thanks, and I get someone just working for a paycheck or even just not being in the mood to be enthused about something like this, that day. Or at that particular time.

Like you guys, my experience in bike shops is usually with people who are bike people and who enjoy talking about bikes beyond the function of the job.

Doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for the bike, but thought the story being anticlimactic made it kind of interesting. This shop had already been around for a good while before they sold Bridgestones. But at least in its current incarnation, it's very much only interested in the new/modern/current. It's pretty much exclusively a Specialized shop and they carry no bikes that aren't carbon or aluminum. And even all the accessories lean hard toward Specialized brand and not much in the way of interesting stuff that can't be found everywhere else. And maybe that's how it was when it sold the RB-1. Or maybe that's how it became.

They're getting very few and far between, but we still have a few shops around that have, to me, more "soul." Hopefully that comes across more as a compliment to those that have it, rather than a criticism of those that are only emporiums for the latest and greatest, and the mainstream of that too. I love cutting edge carbon and everything else, too, and I'm happy to see LBS's of all types stay in business.

Mr. Spadoni 

Coulda bought an RB1 from Rivendell when they first got started, but I didn’t. As I recall, GP bought the leftover stock from Bridgestone and sold it through the Rivendell Reader. Don’t remember the price but do recall that it cheap enough that I I was willing to look past what were really wide tires for the time.

Classtime 

I like the variety of components and want to believe (because I am a fan) that those choices represent the best there was to make the best bike for the buck. Almost like a veteran C&V hobbyist with deep bins found a nice NOS frame and put his favorite sub-D.A./Record/Superbe components on it. I can’t make out the hubs and rims.

The Golden Boy 

Congratulations!

I think there are varying degrees of "bicycle enthusiast." It goes everywhere from people that don't care about bikes to raving bicycle lunatic" and all points between and beyond.

When I started getting into bikes, I knew people that were "into bikes" but kind of confused how they didn't know how cool a 1986 Trek 400 Elance was or the difference between a 1984 Voyageur and a 1984 Voyageur SP. I completely ignored any forum on BF except C&V- and I had no idea that people that are rabid cyclists think anything made with steel is a 45 pound Schwinn paperboy bike. To me a "vintage" bike isn't obsolete- and the more I got into bikes the more I looked at a frame as a platform and any "bike" as a placeholder at a price point.

There's shops that build magnificent machines- and they and the staff deeply care about the customers- and there's people that get the job done competently. I think if I were in the business of dreams- every dream is still a job. I know a guy who is a "vintage buyer" for one of the large guitar stores that specialize in that sort of thing. For me- that's kid in a candy store- not just seeing and playing incredible and incredibly rare instruments- but getting down and assessing them on the finest levels... but he does it so clinically, pretty much without excitement or joy- it's a job. Bike shops are the same way- you can appreciate an old bike- it may be one you sold 35 years ago- but the money's been made on it- time to go to the next project in the queue. I've figured out that I can put more attention to a build than a shop will- and I've been disappointed in the aesthetic of the work done by some shops. Mechanically- it's swell- it's neatly done... just not as grand or elegant as I would have done.

Regarding dream bikes/builds- Around 10 years ago I got obsessed with finding a 1985 Trek 620- and I found one, paid way too much for it and enjoyed it. As much as has been written about 620s- they're legendary- but within a short while I found limitations of "1985" and what was available and what was "in" at the time. When I got my 1985 Trek 720 I decided I was going to take that "dream" platform and build it with what I considered to be the finest components available- irrespective of 1985. BTW- I have no idea how so few people recognize how obscenely awesome Suntour Command Shifters are.

Regarding Bridgestone/Grant/Rivendell... I guess you'd consider me pretty much "pro-Grant" in that I agree with a vast amount of what I interpret his philosophy to be. Around 5 years ago I was trying to get a Homer built with cantis. I was figuratively waving money around trying to ******g buy the bike and it was impossible. When you realize even a bike such as the RB-1 was a badass bike- how much weight could you save by using DA and swapping out that boat anchor seatpost- and it would sure be more grand- but that would knock that into a whole other price point.

It's fantastic to read about how excited you are about getting this bike- and I hope your plans for it work out super!!!

oldbobcat

On every bike I ever owned after my miserable Raleigh Super Course, I swapped the saddle, stem, and handlebars. And after I gave up on toeclips, they got aftermarket pedals. It's just part of making the bike work for me.

On this bike Look or Time pedals are period correct, so there is no excuse, unless you just like toeclips.