Tag Archives: Grant Petersen

Univega Alpina Uno Rivendell-style townie cruiser

Posted on by
2

univega1

Inspired by the Rivendell "Bombadil" bicycle, I revisited the vintage mountain bike-as-a-townie concept with this build, starting with a 1983 Univega Alpina Uno hardtail frame.  Made of stout cro-mo tubing and featuring a gorgeous "biplane" fork crown, it makes a handsome base to build up a fun "around town" bike that can also handle gravel paths, fire trails, and the rough roads of New York City.  It has a 47cm c-c seat tube and 56cm c-c top tube, making it a good choice for riders 5' 5" to 5' 10".  Read on for more detail and pictures…

Continue reading →

Bridgestone RB-T randonneur touring bike

Posted on by
16

1992 Bridgestone RB-T

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.

Continue reading →

1990 Bridgestone RB-1 w/ Shimano Sante

Posted on by
5

I’ve had this bike for a couple of months now, but I only recently got around to taking some pictures.  It’s an original Grant Petersen-designed Bridgestone RB-1 from 1990, and when I found it on eBay, it came with all the stock parts: Suntour GPX drivetrain, Hatta Vesta headset, Dia-Compe BRS 400 brakes and levers, and Sansin hubs with Wolber rims.

A month ago I switched the groupset to a NOS Shimano Santé group I pieced together.  Santé is a rare and misunderstood groupset – in 1987 Shimano created it with the idea of appealing to consumers who wanted pro-quality parts with a slicker design.  Perhaps due to the cheesy name and white powdercoated parts, many people assume Santé is low-end stuff – not so!  Mechanically, it sits between Ultegra and Dura-Ace., and the Disraeli Gears site enthusiastically calls it “most innovative and influential derailleurs in recent history.”

Santé performs beautifully – after switching the groupset this bike went from “very good” to a truly remarkable and amazing ride.  It’s now my favorite bike, the kind you look forward to riding, regardless of the weather.  The shifters are set to friction and it shifts and coasts smoothly and nearly silently.

I held onto the original parts for the RB-1 in case I ever decide to sell it, but it will take a pretty special bike to replace this one.  More pictures after the jump…

Continue reading →