"Forbes B-Black" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:Matt O'Toole said:Forbes B-Black said:Bridgestones are also great. if you can find an old RBT, [censored] it
up.
I don't see what's so great about them.
I like B'stones because I know that some thought went into the
design. Take my 198? Bridgestone/Kabuki Skyway 12, f'rinstance. Here
we have a cheap, high tensile steel frame with bulge-formed lugs and
other hints that it was manufactured using inexpensive materials.
The frame is 67cm. I have seen a few 67cm Fujis, and one 67cm
"Terranaut." These other bikes were made from pricier tubing, they
had nice, forged dropouts, and other hints that they were "higher
quality."
The top tube on the Terranaut was 56cm. The top tube on the big Fujis
is ~59cm. The top tube on my "cheapo" B'stone is 61.5cm, so it is the
only frame in the bunch that I am comfortable riding at 6'6".
I used to sell B'stones (and Giants, and others). It was always hard
to sell the B'stones, because it was hard to find people who
appreciated the design differences enough to kick down the extra $$,
especially since the B'stones did not tend to be the lightest bikes in
the store. But the people who bought them always seemed happy with
them. I don't think it had to do with cults or hobbits. I just think
that some folks liked the way the B'stones were designed. They were
different from the other bikes. More thought went into designing the
frames and spec'ing the components. They weren't for everyone, but
they worked perfectly for a lot of people.
- FBB
Yes, you're probably correct about Bridgestones at that time.
The cult following comments refer to today's interest in these older bikes
and the Rivendell connection with all of the cutesy marketing names they
have for their products (someone there read too many "xxxx For Dummies"
books). I cringe when I hear grown men using babytalk terms referring to
bike components.
In the 1970s we sold European bikes over the more flashy, better finished
Japanese bikes of the time.
The (pre-Cyclone, pre-Dura-Ace) Japanese bikes with Suntour rear
derailleurs shifted better but the frame geometries generally didn't
handle or ride very well.
There wasn't a big market for 10 speed bikes or sport cycling in Japan.
They had Keirin track racing with paramutual betting (which is more like
horse racing than cycling sport) but most Japanese rode 50 Lb. one or
three speed rod brake clunkers. Also, the Japanese people were of a much
smaller stature overall than the average American or European.
The Japanese bikes coming into the US were made to the specs given them by
half a dozen or so bicycle importers/distributors some of whom where just
trying to cash in on the American Bike Boom.
Brand names like Azuki (a small bean), Takara (a plum), Nishiki (made up
to sound Japanese), Sekine. Shogun, Lotus and a slew of other Japanese
sounding words didn't exist as bicycle companies in Japan. Fuji,
Bridgestone, Panasonic and Miyata were actual manufacturers (after a
sort).
The early Japanese bike were mostly made from very heavy gage gas pipe
tubing. A standard Japanese 10 speed with steel rims and cranks weighed 32
to 38 Lbs. vs. 28 Lbs. for a comparably equipped European bike. The top
tubes were either too long or too short for the frame size. Some had a 75°
or 76° head tube with a 2.5" or 3" fork rake so they rode and handled like
a wheelbarrow.
By the late 1970s the frame designs improved drastically when they started
copying European geometry.
Sheldon has a lot of info on this:
http://sheldonbrown.com/japan.html#kabuki
I lived in Japan in 1964 and 65. I had a Bridgestone light weight 10 speed
with European components that I rode all over central Japan on.
Chas.
