# Here is my latest garage sale find.........hope it is vintage enough.



## fixed1313 (Jun 7, 2012)

Not very often do I find something beyond the standard Schwinn lowend something or other. Yesterday was my day. Found this wonderful 1988 Bridgstone RB-1 and the price was just as amazing as the bike, $15. All original except for the seat and pedals. Even the tires were original and rideable.


----------



## Ranger Dan (Jun 7, 2012)

Vintage enough for this guy.  What a score!  It couldn't have been better if it was _free_.  They must've had a serious case of spring cleaning going on, because it looks like they even cleaned the bike up before cleaning it out.

Lately I'm of the opinion that small frames are cooler looking than tall frames.


----------



## fixed1313 (Jun 8, 2012)

Actually I cleaned it before taking the pics. I like smaller framed bikes as well, I'm relatively short and I only buy riders unless it is a resale bike which I don't do much of. Most of my bikes are just a tad to big so it is nice to have one the opposite for a change. It measures out at about a 48cm and I ride a 50 or 52 depending on the maker.


----------



## HARPO (Jun 8, 2012)

WHAT A SCORE!!! That bike is worth quite a few hundred, easy. People just have no idea what these old bikes are worth. And, lucky you, happened by at the right time. Start riding bikes like this, and you'll soon be selling off your lower end Schwinn's to find more.


----------



## fixed1313 (Jun 8, 2012)

Yeah, I don't have to many old Schwinns anymore already. Dumped those back on the market to make space for the future. I have one LeTour as a commuter and another set up as a FG. I made the choice a couple of years ago that I wanted a few nice vintage race bikes and needed to thin things out so the wife would not holler to loud when I brought home more bikes. Just took me this long to find anything new to bring home.

I suppose I should mention that my son picked up a Univega Gran Sprint at city clean up day, only needed tubes, tires and a seat for parts and lots of elbow grease to get rolling again. Not as nice as the Bridgestone but a little nicer than the Schwinns. He is very proud of it.


----------



## Ranger Dan (Jun 9, 2012)

*A Little Nostalgia for the Old Folks*



fixed1313 said:


> I have one LeTour as a commuter and another set up as a FG.




If you have pix of the LeTours, I'd enjoy seeing those.  I used to have a mid-70s one in yellow that I liked a lot.  It was a pretty big step up from the Varsity I had previously.

If I recall, the Varsity was $97 plus tax.  That was a hell of a lot of lawn-mowing at three bucks (and two acres) a shot!  Later, I could afford the pricier LeTour on account of a full-time summer job as a construction laborer, as the minimum wage had recently been increased to a buck eighty-five or something like that.


----------



## fixed1313 (Jun 9, 2012)

Sure Dan, I can post some pics. Not sure if they will do any good for you though. The one that has not been repainted (it had the better paint) is in pretty rough shape. The other was rattle canned 'cause it was in worse shape. Nothing stock on the FG and I am not sure what is stock and what is not on the other. I have no idea what year the FG is but the blue one is a 1984, both sport the Chicago head badge.


----------



## Ranger Dan (Jun 9, 2012)

fixed1313 said:


> Nothing stock on the FG and I am not sure what is stock and what is not on the other.




That was nice trip down ... um, memory road.  I don't remember how mine was equipped except that I'm pretty sure it had center-pull Weinmanns and the aforementioned yellow paint. Oh, and the shifter bosses were in the traditional radial position rather than top-mounted as shown on your second model.  For the life of me I also can't remember how we parted company, which seems odd considering how much I liked the machine.

Thanks for taking the trouble to shoot the photos.


----------



## fixed1313 (Jun 10, 2012)

No problem......like I said, they were pretty beat when I got them so I reconfigured to what I wanted. It was not so much as a restoration process as it was making ridable bikes.


----------

