runningDoc

I found another Bridgestone Bike I've always wanted:

Bridgestone XO-1

The story of these model XO-1 bikes has been told again and again (short version: they are the early embryogenisis of what has become Rivendell Bicycles and specifically the Atlantis Model).

Basically they are early 90's made road bike geometry-ed, lugged steel bikes with large tire clearances and 26" wheels - actually a particularly popular trend right now with "low trail" bikes using 650b wheels and very similar to 26" wheeled versions of the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

This version differs from the more iconic 1993 Orange XO-1 in that it has regular caliper brakes (instead of cantilevers) and was also offered in two different colors: an awesome purple and a pearl tusk white.

The bike was purchased through an eBay auction. It was a interesting listing, because of the apparent eclectic non stock build pieces which included an old school suspension seat post (answer body/manitou suspension post), MTB handlebars on a riser stem w/ bar ends, a large squishy gel saddle, and grip shift shifters.

It was listed for a very high starting price then wouldn't sell and steadily lowered in price after each re-listing. I was surprised to actually have won the auction, after about 3 re-listings at lowered prices over the course of a month, considering how high these XO-1 auctions were going - especially the more highly coveted 1993 orange version easily into the $1,500 range.




This build is going to be a Christmas Present for my wife. The 48cm frame, and 26" wheels make for a lower stand over height that'll fit her 5'4" frame.

Upon arrival I stripped down the bike bare, inspected it, cleaned then applied frame saver (Boshield T-9). Aside from a couple nicks and chain ring rub everything looked great:



I then checked and cleaned all the components which were in great shape. The wheels were Shimano RX-100 hubs laced into araya rims, The headset was a shimano 600, Suginio GP 110 Cranks and Tange sealed BB, Nitto riser stem, Shimano 105 RD/FD. It still even had the original Toiga City Slicker Tires (old dry rotting but still inflatable).

I was psyched when the huge clunky gel saddle was actually just a gel seat cover shrouding the original Avocet R1 Racing saddle in mint condition underneath!



Basically it was all stock except for the stem/handlebars/seatpost/shifters.

I had a decision to make from that point. Would I strive to keep the bike stock and period correct or would I do a Retro roadies- old frames with STI's or Ergos build?

gerv 

I'd be tempted to keep the old parts in a bag and doll it up with some Rivendell parts. I'm sure your wife would agree with me.

(By the way, that's a nice Christmas gift. I wish that model in a 54 cm was under my tree...)

thirdgenbird

I vote dirt drops and a modern road group with a compact double.

LesterOfPuppets

I vote for retro-roadie it. Super short/high stem is good for that application, except you'll probably have to dig up some nice 25.4 drop bars.

runningDoc

But the true secret when it comes to things wives/girlfriends want (especially if its something like jewelry/clothing/something customizable) is that they actually need imput rather than be surprised.

so I bit the bullet and asked her what she wanted. she wanted a lugged steel road bike with drop bars that could handle off road stuff too. She likes the idea of cyclocross bikes, but wanted something more commuter friendly with braze ons for racks/fenders. she also wanted to try STI/brifters.

Thats why I was excited at the prospect of finding a 42cm or 48cm XO-1. It seemed to fit the bill on all aspects.

After finding the frame I showed her the options we could do with it... and she wanted a modern groupset that would look good on it (ie something silver and shiny).

I started scouring craiglist and eBay and eventually got together a SRAM Rival group in its older silver iteration together:
(only the brifters are the new carbon versions, I found some old silver Rival shifters but they don't usually age well).

The old sugino BRS 110 cranks actually had a compact gearing 50/36 paired with a 7sp cassette 13-28. So it really was a very wide range. the rival cranks are standard 53/39 and new 10 speed cassette is a 11-28.

Unfortunately they don't have the old silver Rival cranks in compact gearing. on a side note standard cranks are often put on smaller wheeled bikes to compensate for loss of top end speed. Hopefully the 39chainring and 28 rear cog will be enough for tough climbs.

The original wheels: 32spoked RX-100 hubs laced to araya rims were still in very good shape. The Toiga City Slickers were old and rotting, but still held air so I kept them on for a reference point (they are around 32c-35c in size).



I found a modern 8-10sp freehub then swapped it out and had the rear wheel re-dished. Rear spacing was at 128mm so it easily accommodated the new 130 spacing of the modified wheel.

Surprisingly these wheels are very light considering the 32spoke count and robust rims. They weighed in at a combined 1807g! Not bad for mountain bike wheels circa 1992.

One of the complaints of the original 92' XO-1 was that the side pull calipers didn't have enough quick release opening to easily get larger than 32mm tires out. Hence the switch to cantilever brakes in the 93' model. I decided to skip looking for/using older silver SRAM Rival brakes and go with some wide mouth/extra wide release Tektro 539 calipers:


silver will mix/match nicely.

Projected clearance just by eyeballing using the 35mm Toigas looks nice and generous:



and some sheldon fender nuts to keep future fender installation nice quick and easy:

thirdgenbird

I didn't think about the smaller wheels when I said compact. Silver rival was a good choice.

gorillagirl

I have an xo-1, and I'm currently considering getting a custom, low-trail fork built, with a matching platform rack, for an ultimate commuting and carrying-things ride. It would have generator lights and probably drop bars. I'm not ditching any of the original equipment. I think the xo-1 is a terrific bike for shorter riders. I'll be using the new Compass tires.

KvltBryce

****! What a lucky gal. Can't wait to see more pics.

+1 on the Sram choice, I've always wanted to try Sram

TiBikeGuy

It would be great if you could mount the original moustache handlebars..

runningDoc

I was initially bummed out about not sticking with a compact crank, but after doing some sheldon gear calculator calculations it does make sense to go with a standard 53/39 especially for use as a road bike. I was also contemplating going with a mid sized cage from SRAM to put a 32t cassette, but I figured the 28t will be enough for my wife. Only actual riding will tell.

In my reading of retro bike magazine xo-1 reviews, it was brought up that the 50/34 crank and 13-28 cassette was a hard combination to use as a real road bike for faster rides.

^wow sounds like a plan! that falls exactly in line with the current 650b wheeled bike trend, a trend thats actually for more practicality. its weird seeing all the new stuff thats so usable/practical its like the bike industry is realizing there's money to be made using common sense.

keeping with the practical trend - i finally realized that these project builds were costing me a lot of money at the LBS for little things like BB removal, derailleur alignment, and headset installations. I've had the Park Tool AK37 for two years now, and its been great, but I decided to buy some early Xmas presents for myself in the form of some advanced bike tools.

I had an extra Cane Creek 100 Classic 1" threaded headset from my Bridgestone build.




I bought a nashbar headset press, a headset cup remover, a 2.25" bearing puller (as a make shift crown race removal tool), and made my own crown race installer (using the googled PVC pipe method). I also have a Park DAG-2 (rear derailleur hanger aligner) and fork cutter guide on the way.

I figure getting an official bearing/headset press lets me be able to install things like BB30 bottom brackets in future modern builds too.

I love my LBS, but I figured it was time to start doing things like derailleur alignment, headset installations, and fork cutting by myself.

I was curious and tempted to just switch out the wheelset to a 650c. All modern 26" 8-10sp rear wheels even with rim brakes rims are about 99% spaced to 135mm axles. I did see that a 650c wheel will fit fine, but the 650c wheels are all very thin tri-specific wheels with 99% of the tires only offered in thin 23c widths.

after doing some research I found these very interesting tires:

Michelin Wild Run'r Lights 1.10 - 28c wide 26" tires claimed at 200g each great online user reviews from my research.

here's a bike forum post by an Aussie member installed on an awesome vintage Peugout MTB and the Michelin Wild Run'r tires: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post13530980


So I ended up buying a pair. Figured the specs are too good to pass up: 26" 28c 200g. Thats weight weenie territory.



they ended up being about 20g more than claimed... fine by me 223g 26" 28c tires? awesome!

runningDoc

Ritchey Logic Curve 38cm handlebars. Ergo-shaped for smooth transition to brifters... and very short reach 73mm/128mm drop for my wife.





silver 80mm stem to shore up the reach for the wife.

I had a big scare... I was trying to align the rear derailleur hanger with a Park Tool DAG-2 and promptly pulled out the whole tool from the threads and ended up with semi-stripped the threads on the derailleur hanger and also stripped the threads on the alignment tool

lucky enough the local hardware store had a 10mm 1.0 tap and die which salvaged the unfortunate incident.


I think I'm going to invest in a Tap and Die set... it makes a lot of sense.

After the quick repair of the derailleur hanger threads with the tap and the DAG-2 threads with the die everything was smooth sailing:



Yokozuna Reaction Cable set.... I've heard that these are a pain to install. I was very curious about these cables supposed increase in brake/shift performance so I decided to try them out.





Everything is coming together... I plan to cut down the fork steerer. The original fork were spec-ed with extra steerer and a large spacer with the original Shimano 600 threaded headset. The threaded to threadless stem adaptor has a lot of height adjustabilitly anyway.

jstewse

Wow. I like where this is going.

frantik

loving this build

TiHabanero

Wait! Don't touch the steerer! Once cut it cannot be recovered. In the future if a higher bar placement is needed (50 yrs old) you will be very happy the steerer is in tact! Don't ask how I know this!!

runningDoc

don't you worry.... its a threaded steerer. the 1992 XO-1 was spec-ed with a extra long threaded steerer tube with a spacer under the lock nut. Since I'm using a threaded-to-threadless converter with a modern stem I can still adjust the height upward easily/generously...thanks for the concern though...I totally understand your logic.

here's the threadless adapter:





and the present Cane Creek 100 Classic 1" threaded headset. Notice the two spacers in-between the lock nuts, also the thin spacer under the stem. I just want to cut it down a little to make it cleaner without the spacers on the threaded portion. If my wife needs to it be raised then I'll raise the threadless adapter and add a spacer(s) under it.

Also I also have the option to just go threaded + quill stem - which allows tons of height adjustment.

4Rings6Stars

I think I should start having you build my road bikes...

Excellent work and thanks for documenting your progress in detail, this bike is going to be amazing.

(just don't post it in the "Hot r Not" thread

jbchybridrider 

Wow! Something nearly moved in my pants when I saw that Pug What a cool Bridgestone, a small wheeled road frame with road calipers and even takes a 53 front ring. It's like the planets aligned for your needs.
Your going to love those tires I can imagine them fitted now. I never bothered with the 1.4 version after riding them only once.
With the 1.1's you'll need a smaller tube to suit, the smallest I could find went down to 1.25, they'll work then pump them up hard to seat the bead straight, there tight first fitting them.
This bikes going to look the biz when finished, cant wait.

runningDoc

^I have to thank you for posting pics of the Michelin Wild Run'r 1.1s. I was really confused on what tires/wheels I would go with. I was thinking about 650c but then there's only 23c tires available and I'd have to get a whole new wheelset. At least this way I can keep the old wheels (which are still good and relatively light at 1807g with rim strips) and there are a lot of inexpensive craigslist listings for MTB wheels often times with tires still on them for an off road option.

awesome awesome Peugot by the way.

jyl

I love the build. I realize you're building it as a roadie, but every now and again, give that lucky XO-1 a bit of what it was made for . . .

frantik

It's not that unusual i don't think.. I've got two 26" wheeled frames with 52t rings on them...

thirdgenbird

The only mistake you made so far was starting a build that may be better than your own

runningDoc

the Yokozuna Cable installation was pretty time consuming. It wasn't hard/overly difficult per se, but since the brake cables are so thick and stiff you really have to measure carefully (test the full range of motion while steering - which required to zip tie/tape down the cables to the handlebars tightly).



the supplied ferrules don't seat fully/securely into sram (and other cable guides).

I had some spare jagwire ferrules. They were very tight, so tight in fact that I ended up using a vice + rubber mallet to get them on. I only used the jagwire ferrules to on the brifter ends.

the brake cables consist of a plastic tube thats surrounded by a perimeter of individual longitudinal wires then wrapped by another spiral wire. the shifter cables are a plastic tube surrounded by longitudinal wires then wrapped by thick plastic again.

the fact that I used a vice to hold down the wire shows how robust/strong the brake cables are. I didn't clamp down hard, but you can imagine how strong the cables are. the downside is more difficulty in routing, measuring, and then taping down.

the shifter cables are easy to work with (just a little rigid than normal cables) and ferrules supplied worked fine and fit everything easily.



substantial difference in size between the two:



now seats fully and securely:










The bikes almost finished. Well, in reality it's "finished" meaning its totally rideable - my wife took it for a quick ride today and was all smiles coming back. Just by eyeballing her on the bike you could tell it really fits well.



I love how proportional the bike's frame geometry and 26" wheels looks when set up as a road bike with drops. The standard chainring does look comically large though Important thing is that it fits her 5'4" frame, there's totally no toe overlap, and it really does look great as a retro-roadie + modern groupset.

The pedals are the original MKS Sprint. I decided to keep those along with the saddle which she really likes, but I'll be swapping out the pedals to bebops (the clipless pedal we both use). Last things to update will be the new tires/tubes and trimmed steerer tube.

thirdgenbird

Fantastic. I can't wait to see it with fresh tires.

rccardr 

Very nice work!

jyl

That is turning out beautifully! Crisp, compact, purposeful.

I'd be interested in your or your wife's feedback on the cable kit.