The RB-T was designed by Grant Petersen to be a “sport-touring” bicycle, a fore-runner of today’s hybrid bikes. It’s intended to fill a number of roles, from putting in long rides on the road to tearing up off road trails, to weekend touring loaded with gear. It does all of these things quite well, and has a classic style that harks back to the French randonneur / audax bicycles of the 1950’s and 60’s.
This particular example was found on eBay in dusty but barely used condition. It’s a 1992 model, shown in the Bridgestone catalog here. I cleaned it up and added a lot of new parts. Like most of the Grant Petersen-era Bridgestones, the stock parts group on the RB-T is a well-thought out mix of reliable but affordable components. It’s hard to “upgrade” a Bridgestone, but I replaced the brakes, handlebars, and saddle with my own selections, chosen for comfort and style. Also, it needed racks and a new fork with the appropriate eyelets to mount them on in order to be truly tour-worthy. The result was a classy, easy-riding machine that gets a lot of compliments. Read on for details on the restoration and build.