Bridgestone RB-1, minus the cult price
 

Hi all.

I'd love to get me a 1991 or so Bridgestone RB-1, but man, those prices for a 30-year-old bike are nutty. I hear they ride really nice, and, full disclosure, I'm a full-on Bridgestone cultist (I ride an XO-2 I love considerably and I've had several others over the years). But I'm also a Not Spending Huge Money cultist as well. Does anyone have recommendations on steel, lugged, light, far less expensive frames and/or full bikes equivalent to the RB-1?

Thanks in advance,

Keith.

This might not appeal to your cultist tendencies, but I often see RB-2s for sale on CL at reasonable prices—or reasonable compared to RB-1s.

Centurion IronMan, numerous Trek 600 or 700 series

High end Japanese bikes which weren't Bridgestone - Miyata 912/Team/Pro (though those have been getting pricy), Centurion Ironman/Prestige, High end Panasonics, high end Univegas (someone in Seattle is selling a Competizione with Superbe Pro that looks gorgeous).

Also late 80s Japanese-built Schwinn (excluding Paramount) - the Japanese built frames with Columbus Tenax tubes, like the Peloton, Premis, Prelude are good and can frequently be gotten cheap. I especially like the Premis which came with a funky paint job and trendy white Suntour Cyclone parts. Same with Japanese-made Bianchis.

e) forgot one- they've been getting expensive lately, but you can sometimes find lugged steel Specialized Allez bikes for a good price as well.

Performance made some nice stuff too.

Numerous late-80s Schwinns, like Tempos, Pelotons, Circuits.

Buy once, cry once. Everything else is just an imitation.

Agreed. The 87 Tempo in particular is a spectacular bike at a bargain basement price. Find an original one in your size and you won’t regret it.
I’ve owned several Bridgestones and never felt that the ride/performance was up to the hype/price. Nice, but...not memorably nice.

Ditto on any decent Ishiwata offerings from the '80's.

You stole my line! :lol:

Dead on though. My motto, after losing out on some spectacular deals, is to pounce when you first spot something you want. Second-guessing is for suckers. So what if baby needs new shooz? :innocent:

Just my observations:
My best riders are late 80s early 90s steel from Concorde, Centurion, MBK and Lemond. Any bike made from Columbus sl, slx, tange prestige, Reynolds 531, 653, 753, and 853 will ride well if properly sized. Lots too choose from, but the marquis names always command marquis prices.
I don't care about what groupset a bike comes with... Shimano will be signicantly cheaper than campy equipped.
Toronto prices are usually higher than elsewhere, and this year they are astronomical.

I came here to find out what to do with my RB-1. You guys are not helping.

What gave you the idea we were here to help? :)

Is that like "buy Kohler or Moen, or pay for Kohler or Moen?"

Well....you could sign up for the cheapo membership and post a 'WTB RB-1 or reasonable facsimile' in the Sales Thread ;)
There's great deals in the thread, pretty much daily.

Look for a late ‘80s Bianchi Brava. Nice Tange frames and 105 for ‘87/88 but the 89 had GPX. The Limited from ‘88/89 was pretty good too a bit nicer frame and 600.

a nice Nishiki or Panasonic or the Takara Elite are likely to be flying under the radar. Frankly there were lots of great bikes from that time period and I never understood why that RB1 commanded such a high premium

I bought an RB-1 frame and fork in 1990, (new) I already had components ..

Schwinn Prologue for that Tange Prestige goodness. A lot of other suggestions people have had. If you want an apex predator that's actually still comfortable, get a Davidson Impulse. I realize it's more west coast than east coast with regard to awareness and availability (you'll have Spectrum Cycles with Tom Kellogg), but the Impulse is a dragon slayer, especially with the right wheel/tire combo. Part of the time, they sell for a lot cheaper than they should--I got a bizarrely good deal on my (very used) frameset. Maybe it's a poor suggestion. I'll echo late '80s lugged Specializeds in race geometry (Allez, Sirrus) as being very, very well sorted bikes/geometries. It may not be the super ultra lightest frameset out there (few frames are), but the numbers are bang-on and they never put a foot/tire wrong. There are enough out there that a few will fall through the cracks for a good price and you can scoop them up.

You could always sell it to the OP for half the price and include shipping cross border. He gets his RB-1 at a bargain price and you've done something with your RB-1. See how helpful we are?

You can always give it to me, Mike. :thumb:

What I meant was, if the RB-1 is really a cult classic, maybe I should keep it myself. I quit riding it after one ride, six years ago, upon my return to riding after a ten year hiatus. It was a very rough ride and shook my bones. Soon after I bought a "touring" bike on sale at REI, a more upright riding position and 700x40c tires.

In the meantime, I've been researching tires and am thinking that the harsh ride I experienced on that last ride was maybe due to the 700x23c Gatorskins I had just installed on the wheels. So maybe I should just get better tires and ride the Bridgestone again. You know, as a spare bike.

Well sure, and I can throw in the old Santana Arriva tandem for good measure. Just so you get your money's worth. I don't know what to do with it, either.
It's a mid 80's model. Does that mean it's a classic, or just old and heavy?

Don't know the market for these, nor what your price range or size is, but I just saw this for sale:
https://newjersey.craigslist.org/bik...154023067.html

Aluminum with 26" wheels??

Obviously not.

Negotiation points. :lol: