Bridgestone MB-6 Project, Part 1

I love junk bike projects. Taking a bunch of old, abandoned parts and making something new, useful, and maybe even beautiful out if it can be a lot of fun. Of course, working with nice parts has it advantages, but the challenge presented by a pile of junk is unique.

This 1991 Bridgestone MB-6 may not be the finest salvaged bikee out there, but it is a tigged-in-Taiwan double butted Tange Chromoly frame with pretty decent geometry. It's actually pretty similar (probably identical, save for the size) to my MB-5, and like that bike, I plan to limit this build to a single gear. I perhaps too-hastily built it up for my cousin visiting last month, and it barely survived the 100km gravel race she rode it in. My main problem in that build, besides chain tension, were the frozen-in-the-frame bearings and stem wedge. Carrying it home from the bike club, I ran into a fellow with a high-pressure hose cleaning out the tram turnouts in the street, and had him clean the mud off of the thing. After about an hour at Veloform today, I left with a bare-naked frame and fork, ready for powder coating.

A local powder coater has had pretty reasonable rates for bike frames, which encourages one to experiment or modify a frame more than one would without a cheap and effective way of covering the frame up again. For example, my fixed-gear bike is a salvaged road bike with brazed-in track ends, replaced brake bridge, and removed down tube shifter mounts and brake cable stops. My wife's commute bike is an old mountain bike with down tube shift bosses added. I don't think I'll be doing any frame modifications to this bike, but it certainly needs paint.

Walking home from the shop today with the frame I ran into Patrik, carrying a repaired Surly Cross-check. We compared frame weights a bit, and can only conclude that this frame is a boat anchor. Of course, one only has to consider the 26.2 seatpost to realize that the tubes are a bit thicker than bike snobs may be used to...

But like I said, good geometry, a solid frame and rigid fork. It should be a fun bike.