clubman 

...and it's already reasonably priced.

RandolphCarter

I have a 1986 Trek Elance 310. The frame and fork are both Ishiwata tubing.

The fork at least is made by Bridgestone - it has the distinctive stamped 'B' logo on the steerer tube. I suspect the the frame was made by Bridgestone also, there was a 'Made in Japan' sticker on the seat tube just above the bottom bracket.

Looking at pictures of both bikes, the frames appear to be extremely similar. If you pick up an Elance 310, you'll get a very nice riding bike without paying the RB-1 tax.

eyemkeith

I did see that, yah. But I'm vertically challenged. I'd need a 50 to 52 cm frame.

mech986 

heh, I was just messing with you. I’m not familiar with the RB-1 and it’s the tire clearances but I can tell you my 1972 Italvega Super Speciale with sloping crown fork has enough clearance front and back to handle 700C x 38 max. I ride Compass / now Rene Herse 700C x 35 Bon Jon Pass Extralight clinchers on Mavic MA3 rims laced onto low flange Campagnolo hubs. I’m about 210 pounds so I started at 60/65 psi F/R because I couldn’t wrap my head around lower pressures even with larger tires. They were great!, such a change from the 700C x 25 Paselas I first used which were pretty decent. I now ride them at 42-45F/50-52R and they still feel great, roll fast as well. If you can get past them looking like they are running kinda low under load, they are worth the price. Even a good 28 or 32 may may a huge difference, especially at lower pressures.

i would suggest measuring carefully and see how big a tire you could fit onto the RB-1, or if clearances are tight, consider a 650B conversion. The smallest Rene Herse has there is 650B x 38.

Good luck!

rjhammett

Question to the OP: What do you consider a 'cult' price? I have a RB-1 I am selling and it is priced at what I believe to be a fair price.

merziac

Maybe?

I never thought Gators to be harsh but many do, they come in 32 and seem to ride great for me.

DeadGrandpa

You make a good point. At one time, that bike was my favorite. But I've moved away from drop bars as a preferred steering form factor. I'm not as flexible as I used to be. I'm into the wider tires and lower pressure, and a little less aero position than I used to be. Butterfly bars or Jones bars are preferred. But still, there was something about riding that bike, like driving a sports car.

Or maybe it wasn't the gatorskins, and it was just me getting older.

merziac

23's would be harsh at pressure no matter what imo. Again, many here will say that wheels and or tires can make all the difference, I would get the biggest tires on there that you can fit and see, wheels could help too if you get there with tires.

ctak

+1 for Centurion Ironman, particularly the 1986 model with Tange #1 (aka Master from '87 onward). Clears GP5000 700x32.

Frame geometry is the most important consideration in my world. Figure out your needs and then sort through brands that fit the bill. I like Lemond's 853 Reynolds Pro offerings, but the long top tube is a deal breaker.

sheddle

Just picked up my not RB-1, and gonna sell the PDG-90 cuz it turned out I needed a second road bike more than a second MTB.






I'm shocked at the weight, it's certainly feeling lighter than my Columbus SL bike.

eyemkeith

I’ve seen several rb-1s upward of $1k with zero gold or diamond plated anything on them. What size is your bike?

sheddle

Thaaat might be survivor bias, I usually see them go for a premium but not that high. It's just that they tend to go fast unless you price them way too high.


$500ish seems like a decent eyeball estimate of what I usually see them listed as.

polymorphself 

I learned to take this approach for most things in my life awhile ago. Given my small income it often means saving up longer, but in the long run the decision is always worth it. After tooling around with old bikes for awhile and deciding what I really want, I decided to drop a (to me) large sum on one of the few I know I really desire and it’s a good feeling that I know will enhance my enjoyment of it rather than making the other (still capable and pretty, but to me lesser) options work.

ollo_ollo

Some good alternative suggestions so far. Since the Specialized Allez was mentioned earlier, just a reminder that their lower priced "Specialized Sirrus" model is out there, and it had the identical frame set with lesser components. Learned this when researching a $25, 1987 frame set which came my way. Don

robertorolfo

Life is too short to be spending time on two-wheeled machinery that is isn't special to you.

rjhammett

60cm ctc, 62cm ctt

rjhammett

Close to what mine is listed for and it is in excellent condition.

urbannightrider

I have an 89 Synergy RB-1 listed for $500 locally myself. All original minus seat, tires and bar tape.

mstateglfr 

The buy once cry once mentality for an RB1 is odd to me because it doesnt seem like a grail bike when there are so many similar/equal frames from that period.

Panasonic, Miyata, Centurion, Schwinn, etc were all large brands with equal quality steel tubed road bikes. There were more large brands too, and then there are tons more of smaller brands of equal and better quality.

To each their own and all though.

mhespenheide 

Two points:

[1] The RB-1 was notable at the time primarily because it was a little outdated. Bridgestone made a lot of noise about it being the last steel production race bike, even when it wasn't. Specialized brought out steel Allez's later, Trek came out with the 400 later, and other smaller manufacturers like Davidson had production steel race bikes for years to come, even a decade later. The geometry was excellent, but you can find other bikes that have similar geometries, if that's the special sauce for you. Now, today, even a '93 RB-1 is 27 years old. If you're willing to buy a 27-year old bike, why not buy a 30-year old bike? Or 35 years old? There's no value today in being tied to the mythology of the RB-1 as the "last production lugged steel racing frame" when there's innumerable other lugged steel racing frames from many other manufacturers that are only, what, 10% older? There's a world of Italian steel from the 80's, Eddy Merckx, Raleigh, 531, Vitus if you want to get exotic, all of the candidates listed up thread, etc., etc., etc.

[2] ...but none of them will be an RB-1. If that's what your heart is set on and the mythology and nostalgia is important to you, keep searching for a deal on the RB-1 you want. Despite what I say in point #1 , I totally understand where you're coming from. There's an '89 RB-1 on Craigslist a few hours from me in my size that's dropped in price all the way down to $350 and if I had space, I'd probably make the drive to go check it out. I'm that curious about them, having read about them over and over in Bicycle Guide in my formative years. Right now, I don't have space and I don't think it would be any better a bike than the ones I already have, but I still feel the pull.

sheddle

I mean... Maybe everyone had moved to brazing but I don't think the RB-1 being the "last production lugged steel racing bike" was even close to true.

Good note about the "tastefully outdated" thing though. Being slightly outdated allowed them to avoid some of the more dubious trends of the time (Biopace, poor quality early suspension forks, etc). At the same time, though, it ended up with problems later when they were so against suspension forks that they equipped the MB-1 with an awful suspension stem.

Was never a fan of them equipping racing bikes with barcons, either, though I think some pros did use those.

Salamandrine 

Yeah, the RB-1 was a little old fashioned even BITD. That's partly why bike mechanics liked them. No BS.

AFA the RB-1 being the last lugged steel production bike, I think it was a reasonable claim. I'm not sure if I understand your meaning, but I'm certain that the Specialized Allez and Trek 400 did not come out later than the RB-1. The Allez came out in 1981, or more realistically in 1982. 1989 was the last year of the lugged steel Allez, and by then it had been downgraded to a lower priced model. The 400 came out in 1984, when Trek became more of a full production bike line. The RB-1 was introduced in 1987 and continued till the end of Bridgestone USA in 94. IIRC the 400 kept going into the early 90s also, but it was more of an entry level serious road bike (relatively), not a top of the line model.

Personally I really liked the pre Grant Petersen Bridgestone road bikes from the early to mid 80s, but I also remember they were not big sellers. They were a little too weird and futuristic looking for the American market at that time.

Nu2Miele

I 'd consider any good steel bike from the late 1980's to mid 1990's and be a little flexible. I was given a nice Miyata 612. I also have an old Miele and a nice old Norco Monterey. Both could use some $$$ spent on them, but they both ride nice, have decent components and look good. If you stay flexible you can find great bikes. (The Meile was USD $35 while the Norco was USD $75) for rediculously little money.

sheddle

It really seems like a claim that's only true with like, a lot of qualifications. Discounting publicity stunts, I know steel bikes were used by a top line team as late as 2003 (the Cervelo Prodigy) and, I think 2001 as "standard" bike (Mercury Viatel used Lemond Zurichs, and also whatever titanium frame Lemond had at the time), and while I guess it's possible that every steel race bike since the early 90s was welded, it seems unlikey that they *all* were.

Like maybe the claim is "top of the product line steel lugged racing frame, as a mass production model" which I guess might be true?

e) just as a counter example, the De Rosa Neo Primato

Salamandrine 

I'll mostly agree with that, at least some qualifications. To me, the term production bike means the big bike manufacturers with full bike shop lines: Trek, Specialized, Bridgestone, Bianchi, Miyata, Giant, etc. IOW, yeah, mass production. It excludes purely racing bike manufacturers like Lemond and Colnago. If you want to consider various more boutique manufacturers production bikes, then obviously Bridgestones early 90s claim doesn't hold up. It's more semantics than anything. At any rate the big manufacturers did move to TIG steel in a big way and very abruptly around 1990, and also to lugged/bonded carbon for the top road models. FWIW and incidentally, this era was possibly the low point of the popularity of road bikes. Mountain bikes dominated sales.

It's probably ridiculous that we care about this sort of bike trivia anyway...