Bridgestone Kabuki?

[Hardlyrob]

Oh knowledgable Bike folks, I have an unusual one. One of my wife's employees brought in her bike for me to look at. It is a Kabuki by Bridgestone, and what looks like a really nice frame. Here's what I gathered from a quick look:

Mixte frame
Stainless steel main triangle - polished, lugged, with nice thin lugs
SR cranks
Suntour stem shifters (ugh), and Vx Front and Rear der's
6 speed Suntour FW
Shimano 600 hubs w/ 1 1/4 rims
Weinmann center pull brakes with suicide levers
Sakai (sp?) bars and stem
Bridgestone decal on down and seat tubes
Submariner-12 deal on top tube
Kabuki (by Bridgestone) head badge

It looks to me like a nicely made bike from about 1983 (?)

I know a little about Bridgestone, but never heard of a Japanese bike with their brand. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Rob

[Ken Robb]

Well this post is a bit off--I just remembered that Kabuki was, in fact, a Bridgestone line. They too, like Nishiki, used the two-label system to widen distribution channels without violating exclusive franchis ageements. Maybe later I'll remember what the parallel brand of Nishiki was. Those two might have been made in Japan by Kowamura and both Nishiki and the other brand made up for USA sales?
Try Harris Cyclery, iBob list, or classic rendezvous sites for info on this bike. I'm not sure but I think Kabuki might have been made by Nishiki. They did the two name ploy to avoid problems if they awarded too many "Nishiki" franchises in a given area and ticked off the retailers selling them.

Nishiki made bikes across a wide range of price points. My "Stelvio" is really a Nishiki Pro and it rides like a dream (right Kevan?). It came with Campy dropouts and a full Nuovo Record group. IOW, one can't comment on the quality of a Nishiki product without knowing the model any more than we can about a Trek or Specialized which also cover a full range of price and quality.

Typically bikes with stem shifters and suicide levers were lower priced models but they give new riders a lot more confidence than dt shifters and regular brake levers. They were the only way I got my first wife to try riding a "10 speed" bike instead of a single speed cruiser. As Grant Petersen of Rivendell says :" Don't laugh at mixte bikes because if we keep riding long enough we'll all be on one".

[weisan]

nothing much to contribute except that I found one in the dumpster a couple of years back, still have it sitting in my garage. One interesting thing about the frame is that it requires a seatpost with quill in order to work, there's no clamping mechanism built into the seat cluster area.

http://alicehui.com/serotta/kabuki/kabuki.jpg

It weighs a ton. The one I got is probably in the 59-61 cm range. Too big for me, would be happy to pass it along to any forumite...would that be you, Ken-pal? :D

[Hardlyrob]

Thanks Ken Robb - That's what I was figuring, just curious if anyone knew anything specific. The bike IS heavy, but appears to be well made.

Weisan - Yup, that's the head badge, but this one is silver on a black background.

Thanks again.

Rob

[rwsaunders]

When Gene Simmons was making frames.

[Ken Robb]

nothing much to contribute except that I found one in the dumpster a couple of years back, still have it sitting in my garage. One interesting thing about the frame is that it requires a seatpost with quill in order to work, there's no clamping mechanism built into the seat cluster area.

http://alicehui.com/serotta/kabuki/kabuki.jpg

It weighs a ton. The one I got is probably in the 59-61 cm range. Too big for me, would be happy to pass it along to any forumite...would that be you, Ken-pal? :D
Thanks for the thought but I should be thinning not increasing the herd. Heck, the doc says I can't drive a car for a month :crap: let alone ride a bike. Hmmmmph, we'll see about that in a week or so. ;)

[BoulderGeek]

I remember when I was a kid, I used to hang out at a local bike shop.

The Kabukis were pretty cool. Definitely not light, but well made with nice finishes.

I wouldn't have any problem having one in my stable.

[mhering]

That sounds like a Kabuki "Submariner." As I recall, this was the name of the Kabuki 12-speed model with stainless steel main tubes. It sounds like you have the mixte version.

I bought a Bridgestone Kabuki in about 1980. It was my first decent bicycle. It had pretty much the same equipment you describe here. The Suntour derailers were great - really the best of their day despite the fact that I coveted a Campy derailer. This was because Suntour had the exclusive patent on the slant paralelogram design. The company (Suntour) died in large part because that patent expired.

The frame is good, but pretty heavy. I imagine that's the same for your frame. The Japanese bikes of the mid to late 80's (Nishiki, Centurion, Lotus, Univega, etc. and, of course, Peterson era Bridgestone) that were made out of name brand (Tange or Ishiwata) tubing were lighter and better.

I think its definitly worth saving from the dumpster (I still have mine), but I wouldn't replace your Serotta with this.

Michael

[1centaur]

I still have a Bridgestone Kabuki Submariner that I acquired around 1980 or before (could not have been far from $200 - I saved for many months). I had read a review guide and this model was very highly recommended, though the Nishiki and Fuji were lighter. 31lbs if I recall correctly (anything under 30 was considreed pretty good for a road bike), back when Olympic track bikes were 19 lbs and I thought that was such an untouchable weight. And those stainless tubes were easy to remember when the latest version of stainless showed up. I rode 36 miles on it one day after riding no more than 2-3 miles, and it was 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity. Could not walk up the stairs when I got home.

When I re-entered the cycling world in 2001 that was the only bike I had so I had it tuned and headed out. Still worked fine. Found I liked cycling, and upgraded to a Lemond Zurich that was 18 lbs something - less than an Olympic track bike had been. The similarities in vibration transmission between those two were so strong that I decided I knew what steel could do for me - which is why I moved on to carbon fiber and never looked back.

One of the funny things about the Bridgestone is that it came with decals to put in the lug webbing to make it look from a distance like the lugs had points.

[TimD]

I had one, purchased in 1978 or so. I don't remember much about it save it was a 12-speed with stem shifters. Retail was about $200 as I recall.

Ultimately it was stolen out of my basement. Still later it was replaced with a Cannondale R500 with a Shimano 600 group and Suntour rims. Needless to say that was a quantum leap...

[Hardlyrob]

Thanks All;

You've confirmed what I've been thinking about this bike. It is heavy, and has the unusual aluminum lugs that are formed around the tubes and the strange quill seatpost mentioned earlier, but overall looks like a pretty nice bike for 1980.

It IS tagged as a submariner-12 - perhaps referring to the weight?

It has Ishiwata stainless tubing.

Based on a quick look at it, it needs some adjustments, I might move the shifters to the down tube with some friction shifters I have in one of those boxes of bits we all have. True the wheels, adjust the brakes and replace the freewheel and chain and she's good to go.

Don't worry, this won't replace the CSi!

Rob

[oliver1850]

Fun stuff, but I don't like the entry fee, or the lack of the quill seatpost:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bridgestone-Kabuki-Submariner-Stainless-Steel-Tubed-Frame-Rare-Xlarge-/171621397653?pt=US_Bicycles_Frames&hash=item27f56eb495

[1centaur]

Mine's in better shape than that and I'd give it away for nothing to free up basement space (but I wouldn't make the effort to ship it). I figure it will eventually go to Bikes Not Bombs.