Geologic

Hello, I'm new to road bicycles and came from a mountainbike/motorcycle background. Having recently moved out of the dorms from my University, I have to commute to school from my apartment on a bicycle. I live in Seattle so commuting by motorcycle is not viable.

I ended up finding an old Bridgestone Roadman in the basement. It's an old lugged steel frame. Despite it being stickered with Dunlop decals, I ended up figuring out it was a Bridgestone with the gear shifter. I asked by father and he said it belonged to my uncle who served in the military. It seems like its from Japan so Google offers little help. I have uploaded a picture to show how beat up the bicycle is.

I have a couple of questions.

Anyone have an basic information on these bicycles? How do they compare to the Bridgestones that were released in the US?

The bicycle shifts perfectly but has one problem. The bicycle seems to make noises/vibrations like its still wanting to shift when I'm in low gears but doesn't shift.

I also want to disassemble the gears and clean them out. Any newbie guides someone can send me a link too so I can undertake this?

Here's some pictures.

Geologic

Bump

sonatageek

How did the gear shifter uncover that it is a Bridgestone?

Can you post close up pictures of the drive train and are there stickers on the bike indicating what the frame is made of?

Geologic

Here are some pictures:

The top has a picture of a "B" which is the bridgestone logo.

The gearshifter is labeled Bridgestone.

Lastly, the bottom tube is labeled roadman which is a japanese model of the bridgestone touring bicycles. Google doesn't help too much though in explaining much further.

Geologic

Here's two more pictures.

wrk101

Best newbie guide is the Parks Tool site. Go component by component, they will walk you through the process. Its pretty straight forward. On items where you need special tools: bottom bracket, crankset, and freewheel, you will just have to decide how much wrenching you plan to do. Myself, I love tools so it was a no brainer. But on some specialty one off tools, I still just take the bike to my favorite bike shop and pay them a couple of bucks to do the job for me.

paradoxbox

Hey there geologic. Nice bike you've got. The Roadman was a very popular bicycle here in Japan around 20-30 years ago (Older than I am!!) Google won't help you unless you speak Japanese. There are a billion websites in Japanese with plenty of info but I'm afraid it would be too cumbersome for me to translate it for you..sorry.

I have a roadman which I bought on Yahoo Japan Auctions last year and started upgrading it, so mine is quite a lot different than the original, but here are a few things which may help out..

The shifting problems you're having may be related to the adjustment screws on the derailleur. The bottom screw affects the limit for the smallest gears i.e. how close to the inside of the dropouts the derailleur will go, while the upper screw affects how far it will go toward the inside of the wheel.



Secondly, there is a little screw where the derailleur cable goes from the frame into the derailleur. Adjusting this screw adjusts the tension on the shifter cable and also the smoothness of shifting. Try adjusting this until you get smooth shifting. This may take a while.

Personally I would recommend just changing all your brake and shifter cables and housings as they are likely the originals and have tons of gunk inside the housings.

You will have a difficult time finding tires that fit the 27" wheel size. If you decide to upgrade the wheels, you will also have to upgrade the cassette, chain and if you want perfect shifting, the rear derailleur as well. If you do this, I would recommend a shimano wheel system as it will be cheaper, or if you don't mind, you can convert your bike to a single or fixed speed which would be much cheaper.

I converted to a campagnolo system.

The loops you see on the roadman frame are for the original luggage accessories which you can still find if you want them, on yahoo japan auctions. In fact my bike came with the original touring equipment and light, but I removed it all for the sake of weight savings, and I just carry everything in a messenger bag.

I highly recommend that you change the wheels out for some 700c shimano wheels and upgrade the drivetrain to a shimano crankset and shifters. The original roadman wheels weigh about as much as the titanic and a new lightweight wheelset will make the bike feel like a totally different animal.

do not listen to any bike shops that tell you it's impossible to upgrade this bike. the rear dropouts are 130mm apart which means they're EXACTLY the same as modern bike frames. any LBS that tells you otherwise should be avoided. the original front derailleur and crankset will work with a modern shimano cassette but you must change the chain to a 10 speed chain, the original is a 6 speed chain and is too fat, it will rub against the chainstay in the smallest gear and cause major shifting problems.

if you keep the original derailleur and upgrade the cassette only you'll be able to shift but not to the granny gears. hope you've got strong legs, it can be hard pedaling in the beginning!

bike..jpg

manuelgabriel

Can I re-open this thread? I recently bought a Bridgestone Roadman exactly like the OP's. But it doesn't have any seatpost. I'm not sure what seatpost size I should buy. I don't want to waste money on a mistake. Does anybody know the seatpost size of this certain bike?

David Newton

Take your bike to a bike shop and let them measure and sell you one that fits correctly.

paradoxbox

Wow blast from the past

I still have this bike, and still use it for getting around everywhere. I've since moved to the countryside in Oume, out on the western fringes of Tokyo. This thing is mandatory for my survival.

I've had no problems with the mixture of different campagnolo and shimano parts. The only trouble I've had in the 5 or 6 years I've owned this bike has been the original paint, which I am planning to sand off and re-do in a matte black with semi-matte clear coat over the top

yelro

Hi roadman club. I got so late for this thread. I happen to come accros a roadman bike from a japanese dealer. the frame is pristine minus the wheelset and other components. I believe the model belongs to the earlier versions of roadman. and bought it a few hours ago.
that is how i found this thread after hours of looking for informations about its history and all bits.
I am wondering if youre still using your roadman today and how was the experience and how does it look now. if you would care to share some photos I would be so damn happy about it perhaps for visual guidance upon this vintage thing that I am building.
i
planning to convert mine into a single speed or fixedgear to crop off cost and to simplify the process since this is my first bike also. and for post lockdown post covid commuting.

Insidious C. 

Welcome to BikeForums @yelro . You may wish to start a new topic about your bike (this thread is quite old). Have you see this?