bark_eater 

Well I wasn't planning on buying a bike but this one popped up pretty close and while I cant brag about skinning a rube, I think i did ok for a bike I'll be riding. It looks to have pretty low miles, but was ridden hard while in service. The rear wheel has a bunch of blown eyelets on the rim and a wear patch on the inside of the chainstay. It looks like the wheel went out of true and the owner completed his ride. I was planning on swapping in another wheelset any way so I didn't haggle. Besides that its got a small shallow dent on the top tube and some paint chips.

It looks to be a 1987 frame and it was only sold in 86 and 87. There's not a lot of info on the bikes but some brave soul reported running 35mm compass tires, which is interesting. I'll be putting 28mm Gravel kings on it for now but if it looks good I'll go for 32mm tires.

Its kind of quirky with mountain bike derailleurs and a crank drilled for a granny ring. I think the Bottom bracket will work as a triple. I'm not sure if I'll set it up as a triple right away, as I have 50t and 34t on hand.

Anyone know about this bike? Thanks, Woody







450

bark_eater 

73StellaSX76

I rode an ‘86 for about 5 years as a commuter, lunch bike and general do-everything bike. I liked the frame a lot and felt it was worthy of better and lighter components, especially the wheels. The ride was stable, workmanship on the frame very good. I think Sheldon said the frames were common across much of the range, differences in models involved component changes. I think the largest tires I could reliably fit were 28mm though. I’ve regretted selling that bike along as it was versatile.

bark_eater 

I'm going to put one of those cr-18 sealed bearing wheelset, that I've been riding on an 1989 Centurion Sports DLX, much more of a sports touring bike. I'm a big boy, so I ride 28mm as a minimum. If I like the Bridgestone, I might pick up a Sun M-13 wheel set, or build a set with better hubs. I checked my bike pile for a Weinman 913 rim to swap in for the original, and took note that the majority of my project bikes with 13mm rims have mismatched sets or a trashed wheel.

bark_eater 

Pulled the CR-18, wheels set, spent too much time chasing my tail/ truing the rear wheel, mounted the wheels, adjusted the brakes, replaced a rear derailleur stop screw, got it shifting fine with a Shimano free wheel, swapped out the pedals, and oh ya dont for get to put some air in the tires..... nope not happening with true 28mm tires. I'm hard up on the bottom of the rear brake. Plenty of room at the chainstays. I need a bulk pack of cheap 650b wheelsets....

bark_eater 

Well I looked inside Pandora's Box, and now a $100 650b wheelset is on its way, and hopefully followed by a $50 set of Tektro R599's.

My plan is still to build the air plane in the air, to make sure its a keeper, but I will have to decide on whether I go with black brake housing, Or keep with the stock yellow and red motif.

I've got a technical question about the crankset. The bike has a long cage rear derailleur, and what looks like a triple front derailleur. Just eyeballing the the chainring frame clearances, It looks like I can fit a 74bcd 30t chainring with enough clearance off the chainstays.

Bridgestone sold and advertised bikes as doubles but easily up graded to a triple.

What are the chances that the Bottom bracket is sized for a triple chain line? I will pull the bike down and measure the chain line next week to confirm.

Even if its set up with a double chainline, I'm inclined to put a 30T ring as a bailout, even if I can only use the 3 lower gears on the free wheel. Any thoughts? Thanks

DocJames

On my way to pick one up right now. Until two days ago I'd actually never heard of one myself. Still know next to nothing about them.

52telecaster

I have a 400. Straight guage chromolly. Pretty darn fine frameset for almost bottom of the line.

bark_eater 

I didnt get a chance to ride it yet. The 28mm tires I had where a no go, and my shop time got really limited, so I havent dug into the 650b conversion. I did end up with a set of 700c 25mm Passelas that I want to try out if I can sneak some time in.

noobinsf 

To answer your question about the bottom bracket -- if the spindle is asymmetric, you could probably flip it, as it would be using the short end on the drive side at the moment. I remember seeing this suggested as a simple way of going from a triple to a double, so I suspect the reverse could be true if ease of swapping was supposed to be a selling point. It's worth a couple of measurements to guesstimate, and worth an actual try if you're going to pull the BB to service it anyway.

DocJames

Here's mine. Spent a couple hours this evening giving it a thorough cleaning and polishing. Was surprised by how obviously low miles it was. Still had original Bridgestone tires. Even the inner tubes were stamped Bridgestone.

I too will be building the plane as it flies. It's currently running a 700x28 Armadillo rear and a 700x25 Gatorskin front. Those are some of what I just happened to have laying around.

Lubed all cables and chain. Shifts incredibly smooth on the stand.

Taking it out for its first real test ride tomorrow.

Bridgestone 450

bark_eater 

From where your brake pads are in the rear brake slot it looks like you've got a lot more clearence on the brake bridge. I think my bike is from the following year and apparently a bitt different.

bark_eater 

I've got a few in the pile waiting for ther time in the sun, but I gotta say the low end CB-1 I built up as a "Country Bike" has given a lot of miles and smiles. It was kind of wore out when I got it, and I told the guy that I was ok with paying an extra $25 for the Bridgestone sticker.... The only new bike I ever bought my self was a MB-4 or 5 back in the day, and yes I have had the ocassional twing of regret....

bark_eater 

Finally got a minute for this bike. I swapped the 28mm Gravelking for a 25mm Panaracer Tour Guard Pasela. The 25mm tires and rim combination had just enough hop to rub the bottom of the rear brake, but I took it for a quick test ride as is. The bike tubes feel a little flexy under 250lbs of me. I dont know if its going to "plane" but it seems to spring forward when I mash on the pedals. Now I just need enough consecutive minutes to respace those cheap 650b wheels and proceed.

bark_eater 

Got a chance to re-space and re-dish the cheap 650b wheelset. Reached proof of concept and took a no brake tootle around the neighborhood.


Tires are 650bx35 and grade school math recon's that I'm 9 mm lower starting with a 64.5 mm bottom bracket drop. Maybe. On paper.

52telecaster

650b can be a ton of fun.