Writenride 

Ah, yes, the Bridgestone Series. The XO-1, XO-2 and XO-3.

I am much surprised not to see a thread featuring all the Bridgestone XOs in one place before. I mean, this is Classic and Vintage, right? Wouldn't you say these bicycles belong here? I'll start:


This is the 1993 Bridgestone XO-1. It's 48cm.
This particularly rare XO-1 originally was used by a bicycle messenger in New York City, but that's all I really know about it.

Here's the Bridgestone XO-1 again dressed in it's full-on tour mode with my Panasonic FJD1 Demountable touring bike.
Whenever I get something like this, I wanted to soup it up with the best parts I could find. Orange is a "Hot Rod" colour anyway.

The interesting thing about the Bridgestone XO-1 was the rear triangle spacing: 132.5mm. One could use rear hubs,130mm OLD spaced like Shimano 105 road hubs, or like these Shimano M950s, 135mm spaced. The Panasonic has that spacing too. You can't arguably do that with aluminum framesets.

I have a lot to say about the Bridgestone, but what about you? Do you have an original XO?

merziac

No XO and I would have to find a smokin deal on one my size to get me there but I do have this.....

94 MB1 that is bit small, was only an ok deal, but is fantastic for how cool it is and has a pretty neat build IMO.

Obviously a repaint with no livery although I did recently add a workaround HB for now.

IAmSam

B'stone yes - XO no...but please do go right ahead and tell us what you have to say about it.

Happy Holidays - ride safe...

geoffr

bought new in ‘93, my favorite bike

Silver Steve

Here's a XO-4 I used to own. Salsa woodchipper bars and 700x38 tires with fenders for Chicago winter commuting.

bark_eater 

I've got a 700c 1992 XO-3. Its kind of an odd duck with odd sizing. My frame is a medium and too small for me, but at least on paper the next size up would be too big. I only road it a round the block a couple times and it was extremely stable and easy to ride with no hands, that and the potential for big tires have kept it in the pile. It looks like I will need to make up an extra 10mm of leangth with a stem if I ever put drops on it, which is the opposite of most hybrids and mountain bikes one might convert.

IAmSam

I am glad this thread popped back up...

If there's any XO riders here wanting the Nitto RM-016 Mustache handlebar in the harder-to-find 31.8mm

Not that I'm trying to sell one here but I might could point you in the direction of a new one at less than MSRP

Ride safe - love those XOs

jadmt

if you happen to know where there is an original xo1 ritchey stem I would love to find one.

swen0171 

Here’s my 1993 XO-3 in dark green. 59cm. This is not the coveted orange XO-1 but the 2 and 3 from 1993 had very similar frames and geometry. I spent a lot of time in the early 90s at The Alt in Minneapolis drooling over these XO bikes, and years later I traded a nice early mtb for this frame on the “pass it around” frame page here and finally got one with the Alt sticker (it came from Texas and I now live in Indianapolis).

This has been built up in a number of ways over the last 10+ years, I’ll try to find pics from the first, fancy build and post them too. Thise parts got swapped to a Surly LHT because I couldn’t use this frame for year round commuting. Eventually it got a parts bin build and a vintage Burly trailer and became the tractor for rides with my son. Awesome to have a cool bike dedicated to kid rides and we did a ton of miles over the years.

Recently I got a set of beautiful golden Araya RM-40s/XT wheels and they matched the gold stickers perfectly. I also had a set of those insane Rivendell/Nitto bullmoose bars (that didn’t work out on my Atlantis) and both worked so well with the XO that I did a new build.

It’s still technically a parts bin build, though I cleared out all the best bits. It’s a true frankenbike with parts from many different eras but highlights are XT thumbie with later XT derailleur, late 80s Deore cranks with Rivendell chain guard, cool SunTour levers with modern, shiny Tektros, OG MTB front rack (modified to sit totally flat!) and a tight hyperglide 7-speed to give it a faster gearing to match the always surprisingly sporty ride.

One important note is finding Schwalbe Black Jack tires. These are 26x1.95 small tread knobbies that look and ride like old cyclocross tires and I think they’re perfect for XOs. Hard to find modern tires that fit the tight clearance of the front fork.

Thanks for starting the thread!

swen0171 

Here’s the original build I did in 2012/13. Pics pulled from old thread here.

dxf853

Anyone have a '93 or '94 XO-3 for sale? Looking for a 52cm or 55cm...thanks!

eephotog

I just picked up a really nice, but somewhat dinged '93 XO-2.
(Just need a few more posts before I can add photos)

Anyone know what the difference in tubing is between the '93 xo-1 and xo-2? I suspect it's quad-butted vs triple butted ishiwata.

jadmt

post 1 tells you the difference .. different fork crown and components. does not mention tubing so I bet they are the same. good find.

eephotog

I suppose I meant in a more practical sense, it's been hard to find photos with a direct comparison. The 1993 catalog does list differences:
(That I still can't link to, so this is a placeholder)

Tubing: ishiwata crmo; 019E,022E,024E vs ishiwata crmo triple butted
Fork: Bridgestone Atlantis cast crown vs "pressed crown"

The tubing for the xo-1 is listed the same as for my RB-1, and has a different ishiwata sticker.

​​​​​​​If I can dig up a '91 purple xo-1 in 42cm, I could do that comparison

bikemig 

This is my '93 Bridgestone XO 2. The bars, stem, and headset are original. I rebuilt the bike with 3 x 8 gearing. A little heavier tubing than the XO 1 and the crown was pressed not cast but in '93, the two bikes had pretty much the same geometry. In the early 90s, if you wanted a fat tire road bike, a 26 inch wheel gave you a lot of tire choices. Not so much today though.

eephotog

Thanks! Starting to put the details together.
After finally measuring, turns out I picked up a 48cm, not a 42cm. Have some tires coming today, and will be able to see if it fits, or if I need to go hunting for that 42.

runningDoc

I built up a 1992 XO-1 with modern sram rival about a decade ago for my wife.

the 1992 XO-1 was actually different from the iconic 1993. caliper brakes, and a still very cool atlantis fork on a white frame. also still had those same 26" wheels.





It was quite the odyssey of buying from some random eBay seller with only a little feedback on a hunch that it might be something special. The bike was actually in pristine shape with a ton of weirdo parts on it.


I also had a 1993 RB-1 built up with sram red.

We sold the bikes when we moved from CT to TN in 2015 and I regret selling them so much.

eephotog

I took a lot of inspiration from your thread actually! I just built up a 54.5cm '93 rb1/8 with 10spd sram force, I have a build thread over on thepaceline. https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=290792

And finally a photo of the XO-2

ollo_ollo

Bought this XO-2 from NW Hub co-op in Salem Oregon. So tiny, but perfect for my petite grand daughter, Madeline. Pristine condition, rims look brand new. Has period correct saddle, but it's used, with some wear. I replaced those original tires with some new Gravel Kings. Don

ollo_ollo

bikemig 

Very nice. Is this completely factory spec? It looks close to it. I've modded mine over the years. This is one of my favorite bikes.

ollo_ollo

I would say yes, but unsure if saddle is correct spec since seems to be a replacement.

bikemig 

That saddle is likely original, https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridges...3/pages/32.htm

ollo_ollo

A few more component pics

ollo_ollo

Good to know saddle is correct, can't imagine a scenario resulting in such wear with not a chip, or scratch to paint, no wear to crank arms and rims that look like they never met a brake pad unless it was on another bike for a year or two.