As Japan's automobile industry grew, The Bridgestone Group expanded its business to become Japan's largest tire manufacturer. The company also actively expanded overseas, particularly in Asia. In 1988, the company acquired The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, a well respected global corporation with a venerable history of its own.
Coming soon…..there are quite a few !
Oh dear, guess I’ll start with the fondest / oldest mistress, er bicycle first. Date of birth or rather purchase was in early 1991. A Ritchey Logic steel and lugged 48 cm Bridgestone MB 1 mountain bike. Made in Japan and priced to match. The retail was SG $1850 but I paid about $1400. What a huge mark up. FF to today, I’m sure some people will gladly pay $2000 and up for a piece of history. I remember selling the parts for $1000 to a friend who was building up a US made Klein mountain bike (read Cadillac in those days) I had am MB -0 from 1990 but it was too big 52 cm and sold the frame fork and headset to a lanky British school kid.
The parts from the MB 0 or ‘Zip’ to the Americans were top notch. a low Q Speciailized crank (Sugino made) Mavic ‘Paris Gao Dakar’ hubs, Ritchey rims, seatpost, stem bars etc. Some these parts are still in use and lovingly polished when the mood strikes. Almost 2 decades old, but with a new ‘dress’ / paint, a deep blue for the last 8 years after being ‘scuba yellow’ for a few years. That was so ugly, so no photos till I get them scanned. This bike has been to Malaysia, Indonesia and Bali umpteenth times.
(Just remembered that I had my oldest MTB, a 1987 Bridgestone MB 3 which went through a lot of use and abuse in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok and a 1990 Japanese winter, the memories just keep coming back…..can’t avoid plugging in the scanner then….)
Introducing the first mistress that’s still ‘at home’ ha ha. 2004
The MB 1 in it’s original racing colours of grey/white and subtle red stripes. BTW that’s not me but some guy named Gene
The MB 0. Meaning lighter and better than the MB 1 ? Not really. Made in Taiwan. Off white pearl colour. Limited to 1000 bikes a year. Many broke during races. RRP SG $2185
Late 2009, shod with drop bars, 8 Spd Ultegra shifters. racks, road tyres etc. Frame, fork, Specialized cranks are the only stock parts left.
Some time ago, I stuck on a Cenelli head badge and old Campy SR headset. It irritates the roadies to no end ?
For 2011. we’re back to the bike’s original ‘looks’ While some parts of the frame are showing signs of wear and rust 80% of the gleaming deep blue paint says, put a hold on a total paint job. What it really needs are actually a pair of seat stay rack eyelets, and that will be brazed on together with a new colour. Only a question of ‘when’ In the meantime that deep blue is gorgeous, unlike the yellow powder coat it had from 1998 – 2004.
An almost original downtube decal, courtesy of Bridgestone ‘golf’
Back to a very comfy riser bar and XTR 8 speed trigger / quick shifters
The mother of all bikes, once. And for 2011 at least
Cycling in Japan seemed like a lifetime ago. January and February of 1990 to be exact. I had this 1987 MB 3 (looked like only Bridgestones were sold back then) and won an essay contest to travel in Japan all expenses paid, for 30 days. They asked the mode of transport. Why, by my bicycle of course ! Freezing cold at the time. Winter boots, winter gloves, taped up helmet vents etc. Karrimor backpacks converted in to ‘rear panniers’ Never heard of Ortleibs back then. Whenever I arrived late at some city or town, it wasn’t because I was a slow rider but I got sidetracked by some 3 storey bicycle shop. Kagoshima to Tokyo in 3 weeks. And a bit of Hong Kong. Talk about deja vu. This deserves it’s own post. As usual, when the mood strikes !
Riding on the footpaths was illegal, but I have this aversion to traffic esp when it’s 30 kms long
Jan 1989. First MTB, first overseas off road and camping trip. Lots of suffering….
As I mentioned in my preceding post I have bought a frame (+ headset + fork + bottom bracket) on Ebay. The 1982 Bridgestone Sirius as shown in the 1982 Bridgestone bicycle catalog
I am apparently a terrible librarian - I should have done various research before I bought the thing, but instead am doing most of it after. So far, no particularly surprising (unpleasant or otherwise) discoveries.
The bike is double-butted 4130 Chromoly (CrMo) with Tange lugs and Tange headset. The 23 inch (or 56 cm using today's usual metric) size was listed at 23 pounds, which is fairly good. Made in Japan. . . it is the same 'Bridgestone' that makes tires for Toyota etc. It was the top of the line for Bridgestone at that time, but that doesn't really mean too much - they were not yet a very serious builder.
Apparently some time not long after Bridgestone made the Sirius (and other spacey-named bike models) a fellow named Grant Petersen started running the Bridgestone bike division and the Bridgestone road bikes produced under his leadership are considered rather special - 'Bridgestone bicycles are something of a cult item now' per Sheldon Brown. However he means ones made after the one I just bought. Still, this is a classic Japanese-built steel road frame and should be very nice to ride.
Research on such things is interesting. Sheldon Brown has an entire separate page on the subject of Bridgestone bikes (again, focusing on 1985 forward) as well as digitized Bridgestone bicycle catalogs from 1985 through the 1990s. These digitized catalogs are quite interesting (well, it depends on what turns you on) to look at, but of course the selection generally via the Internet is completely random depending on someone having them and then decided to digitize them. (Many such catalogs, particularly from 1989 on, are in violation of copyright, but one can assume the relevant company wouldn't care, up to a point. The catalogs before 1989 for the US market that aren't marked with (c) or the word 'copyright' with a date are probably in the public domain. Maybe.)
![Bridgestone Bridgestone](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125301439/500249132.jpg)
At any rate, a simple Google search on '1982 Bridgestone bicycle catalog' brought up a site where someone has the full 1982 catalog in PDF - I'm not going to link to it since it is slow to load; it is over three megs. Very nice to have that, if only to confirm that what I bought in fact is an '82. There is another article about Bridgestone bikes that gives some further background.
![Bicycle Bicycle](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125301439/911071984.jpg)
The above beautiful randonneering bike was built up on the same frame I purchased (which is available in two color schemes - this is the less gaudy one). It is from a Flickr group devoted to Bridgestone bikes. The randonneering approach with fenders and so on is not the direction I am planning to go in but it is nice to see someone investing that kind of money into this frame.