Bridgestone Kabuki
 

Anyone here ever played with one of these. I found one super cheap today and it looked ripe for a conversion. Butted steel tubes, bolt-on cable guides and derailure hanger, cool look. When I got home I realized that it uses a quill-like seat tube. I also read about the weird lugs on sheldon's site. I'm thinking I might be able to cut a small slit in the back of the seat tube and use a regular clamp.

Not sure if there was more than one line of Kabukis, but all of the ones that I've seen have been cheap, and had suicide levers.

From the searching i've been doing, there are several lines. The bike I bought is a super-lite. It does have suicide levers, but the frame feels solid. I'm just not sure i want to deal with the quill seatpost.

Maybe it looks something like mine:

http://velospace.org/node/192

It's a nice frame. I love the ride. Let me know how the cut works out if you do that, I'd love to be able to use a different post.

I wouldn't slit the seat lug and use a clamp, it's a cast aluminum lug. I would say find another quill-type seatpost for it if you must replace the original. Revel in the fact that you have a steel bike that is damn near corrosion proof.

i found one in thet trash a while back. it was flexy as snot, so it got one ride before being shuffled into a pile in the corner of the garage. it had forged dropouts and 4130 tubing so they made at least midrange stuff.

Pos

The seatpost issue would prevent me from putting any money into it.
But if you need a beater SS/FG bike and want to throw a cheap wheelset on it I say go for it.
If you decide to trash it keep the headbadge they are hella-cool.

Enjoy

That was my first fixie. I will agree with eddiebrannan in saying that its a p.o.s but it was alot of fun when I first got it.

Is it a Submariner? A friend had one that was flippin' sweet... c'mon, pics.

Mine was an ultralight. I sold it years ago but it looks just like this one
http://www.bike123.com/photo%20gallery/179.jpg

ugliest fakiest lugs in the history of the world

i thought all bridgestones were hand made?

and is the kabuki with the suntour group w/ campy hubs/DT rims crap also?

Mine was frame/fork only when I got it I have no idea what parts spec it was built new with.

Meh, but that's no Submariner. The ones I've seen are brushed stainless steel, and the (original) paint on those ugLugs was a fetching construction-cone orange...

but an AWESOME crankset! WTF!?!

Nice cranks can be found on crap bikes. I just found a nice pair of sakae's (at least nicer than my bulletproofs) on a not-so-nice old lady's schwinn.

There are some pretty nice Kabuki track frames around, at least as nice as any other japanese production stuff from the 70s-80s.

ya, you're right, dont bother with that silly quill seatpost. slot the lug. while youve got the power tools out you should drill some holes in it, save some weight. lots of holes, the more the better.

my friend had that same bike as his first road bike. stupid freaking seat post for sure!

The bike i got is a superlight. Turns out they supposedly have steel lugs and aluminum tubes, though I'm not sure about that. I haven't really dug into the parts on the bike, I remember thinking the cranks looked bad. I know the derailures and shifters are suntour. I don't know about the hubs. They feel really heavy. I might strip in and save the frame. Or maybe try to sell it. I supose I could keep it geared and have a beater road bike...

Oh yeah, and I think mine is a later model because it has a stick on head badge.

I just looked at the bike again (i had tossed it in the garage and haven't had a chance to really play with it. The head badge is indeed awesome. The cranks are pretty sweet aside from the weird 3 bolt pattern. It appears they are made by Sakae, as are the bars. I forgot to check out the hubs, but the rims are 27".