toad Test

gra~,~to.~e xo-zThe "Moustache Bike"

BY JOHN KUKODA

P ut 2 bikies in the same roomand they'll disagree aboutsomething, be it chrome-moly

vs . aluminum, Campy vs . Shimano,clinchers vs . sewups . . . . And at BicY-Ct.iNG, with the treasure trove of cycling

120 BICYCLING

Misses by a Whisker

hardware that passes through our offices,the points of contention are limitless.

So when virtually the entire editorialstaff, drawing on nearly 2 centuries ofcycling expertise, reaches a consensus,you can carve the words in stone . In the

case of Bridgestone's unique XO-1,which combines road geometry, 26-inchwheels and a flat "moustache" handlebarreminiscent of the Gay '90s, our unifiededitorial voice says : "Great bike, badbar."

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN P. HAMEL

This opinion wasn't formedovernight. Everyone, including familyand friends, had plenty of saddle time onan XO-1 . Bridgestone designer GrantPetersen feels so strongly about this $925model (the company catalog humblycalls it ". . .the most versatile, most excit-ing bike we've ever made") that he sent 7(that's 0.7% of the production run) in 4sizes . Four came to the Emmaus, Penn-sylvania, office while the others went toour space in Soquel, California. Indeed,we had felt so strongly about the XO-1's

BRIDGESTONE XO-1Distributed by : Bridgestone Cycle (USA) Inc .

15021 Wicks Blvd .San Leandro, CA 94577

Country of Origin : JapanSuggested Retail Price: $925Sizes Available: 42, 48, 52, 55, and 59 cm(all but 59 cm tested ; specs are for 52 cm), cen-ter to topWeight: Frame, 4.3 lbs . ; fork, 1 .6 lbs . ; com-plete bike, 23 .7 lbs .Frame: Mix of Ishiwata 019E, 022E, and024E, seamless double-butted chrome-moly steeltubing ; lugged construction with investment-castfork crownWheelbaseSeat tubeTop tubeHead angleSeat angleChainstaysBottom bracket heightFork rakeTrailWheels :Hubs

Shimano RX100, 126-mm rear axlespacing

Spokes -32, 14-gauge Wheelsmith stainlesssteel, 3 cross

Rims

Araya RM-17 silverTires

Tiogo City Slicker, 26x1 .25 inch,30-90 psi

Drivetrain :Derailleurs

Shimano 105 with Ultegrabar-end shifters

Chain

Shimano Hyperglide HG91Cronkset

Sugino GP, alloy rings,170-mm crankarms

Bottom bracket

Tange sealedFreewheel

Shimano Deore DX cassetteComponents:Brakes

Dia-Compe BRS 300 sidepulls andlevers

Pedals

MKS Sylvan track, alloyHeadset

Shimano 600Seatpost

Sakoe CLE 100 alloySaddle

Avocet racing, leatherBar/stem -Nitto Moustache, 51 cm/Ritchey

Force Comp chrome-moly, 9 cm

39 .6 in . ; 100.5 cm-20.3 in . ; 51 .5 cm-21 .7 in . ; 55 cm

73 degrees-73.5 degrees-16.7 in . ; 42 .5 cm-10.7 in . ; 27 .3 cm-1 .57 in . ; 4 .0 cm-2.33 in . ; 5.92 cm

APRIL 1 992 121

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They can slow you down, tire youout or make you lose control.Until now.

The new Trek DDS3 suspensionfork is designed to make everyrock and root smaller, and theunexpected a breeze .

" Adjustable air spring rate ." Progressive hydraulic

oil damping." Adjustable hydraulicdamping.

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A completeselection of'Trekaccessories area,ailable at yourlocal Trek (realer .

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Race, tour, train, commute,singletrack-this bike doesit all

*Shave that moustache bar

innovative features that we named it oneof the year's 1 1 hottest bikes (Februaryissue) .

By riding the XO-1 we learned 2things . First, the handlebar looks cool,but isn't . Second, this bike defies catego-rization . It reflects the personal prefer-ences of its iconoclastic designer, dubbeda "retro-grouch" by one editor for hisapproach to component selection . In typi-cal fashion, Petersen promptly printed T-shirts bearing the moniker. You probablyknow his work : Bridgestone mountainbike ads proclaim the benefits of top-mount thumbshifters and feature not aTomac or Overend, but Pineapple Bob.He's likely to put track pedals on moun-tain bikes and build road models withgenerous tire and fender clearance .

In designing the lugged, Japanese-built XO-1 frame, Petersen typically

1 He, t77ULOrCyc le nelrnetindustry has known for 20 yearshow critical a proper fit is tosa.fcety . Accurate, fractional sizesare yotir only assurance ofcomfortable, shock absorbinghead protection. Yrhe truth is, alot of ,clmihames compromise fit

sweated the fine points . There's a head-tube pump peg, threaded rack braze-onson the seatstays, 2 pair of rear dropouteyelets, and slotted brake-cable stops onthe top tube for easy lubrication . In addi-tion, the indexed Shimano bar-endshifters have adapters attached to stan-dard frame studs, making it possible toswitch to down-tube levers . The fork'ssteerer tube is extra long and fitted with acentimeter of spacers, allowing use ofheadsets with more stack height.

We decided that labeling the XO-1 a"hybrid" sells it short .

"This bike is different from hybrids,which seem to do many things poorly,rather than many things well," one editorobserved . "As a road bike, it's agile andfast . In traffic and on rough city streets, itoffers a head-up position and bulletproofwheels . It's a blast to ride."

The racer-quick front end and roadbike-like riding position, plus the lack ofa granny chainring (although the SuginoGP crankset is drilled to accept one afterinstallation of a longer axle), combine tomake the XO-I too much bike for thetypical hybrid shopper. And at nearly agrand, its price clinches this assessment.Most hybrids sell for less than half asmuch and attract entry-level riders who

If the best molopcyclnine separate sizes,helmets only come i

ror lower prc(itzcrlon costListen, multi-fit helmets )list

don't work as well as fractionally.sized helmets . Bicycle helmetsthat sell in ? or 3 sizes usuallyrely on, ov4 -sa, 'd soft f6arn"firting pads" which willcompress on impact and localize

like an upright position but don't need amountain bike . They don't need the XO-1's refinements, either . No, this bikerequires customers with enough foresightto envision the possibilities and enoughcash not to balk at the price. In fact,Petersen calls this one of his "High-Ebikes," for the energy required to pro-mote and sell them .

Despite its 26-inch-diameter wheels(559-mm bead seat, not the 571 mm of650C "26x 1 " road wheels) this is nomountain bike . Its Ishiwata seamlesschrome-moly steel tubing includes a I-inch-diameter top tube and IX-inch downand seat tubes, like a road bike . Thelugged frame sports a classic, long-haulroad geometry, with a 73-degree headangle, 73.5-degree seat angle, and 4.0-cmfork rake (in the 52-cm frame size)-acombination that makes the bike muchmore agile than any mountain bike .

Its profile is also cleaner, thanks toPetersen's preference for normal-reach(47-57 mm) Dia-Compe BRS 300 side-pull brakes instead of the protruding can-tilevers you'd expect on a bike capable ofaccepting 26x 1 .6-inch knobby tires . Thissize fits in front thanks to what the cata-log calls "the most expensive fork crownin the world," which adds $30 to the

c..'es to narrower contact,)oints, leaving; the helmet looseon the head .

l leadlway is Australia's leadingbicycle helmet manufacturer, andwe've been in the head protectionindustry for over ?5 years. Theaward winning Headway 701 is

zWhen viewed from the cockpit, you can appreciate the hand gymnastics necessary tocaptain the XO-1 .

bike's retail price . It's a cast, semi-slop-ing crown originally designed for aJapanese touring bike . Even with suffi-

cient clearance for a knobby, it's still lowenough for a sidepull . However, thecaliper quick-releases don't open wide

enough for the bulging sidewalls of thestock 26x1 .25-inch Tioga City Slickertires . You need to diddle with the barreladjusters or give the wheels a sharpwhack when removing or installingthem .

With the stock tires there's justenough clearance for fenders, a neces-sary addition for all-weather utility use.When the City Slickers are pumped totheir 90-psi maximum, the XO-1 feelsalmost as quick as a full-on road bike,yet it can be ridden over broken pave-ment without worry. These small, lightwheels seem to accelerate faster than thenormal 7000 road size, so by mashingthe pedals for a couple strokes you canoften avoid downshifting for small rises.But we found the 50x13-tooth (100-inch)high gear too small to test the bike's topend. A 12T cog would do the trick.

Quick as it is on stock wheels, theXO-1 was even swifter with the lightwheelsets Petersen sent . Equipped withthese Matrix Mt . Titan 355-gram rimsand Specialized 26x1-inch, 100-psiTurbo tires, the bike could be competi-tive in criteriums . It's already faster outof comers than a conventional bike, andhandling became more agile with thelight wheels . Add a drop bar and appro-

e helmets come inwhy do most bicyclen two?

[HEADWAY.]FIT T0 BE TRIED

priate stem, and it even feels like a racebike .

At the other extreme, we also receivedsets of off-road wheels : 26x 1 .5-inchTioga Hound Dawg knobbies on RitcheyVantage Expert rims . They extended theXO-t's range to include fire roads andeven moderate singletrack, where the rel-atively small-volume tires still providedsufficient comfort and traction . Theseknobbies fit fine, although without fend-er clearance at the brakes .

NOW, ABOUT THATHANDLEBAR. ..

Petersen came across this modern adap-tation of a century-old design when hesaw the bikes used by Japanese students.Many school districts forbid drop bars,saying they encourage fast, reckless rid-ing. For Petersen, the shape is a "blessedalternative to the single-hand placementconstraints of regular flat bars" (againquoting from his catalog) .

Maybe, although even one editor'sspouse, who normally rides a flat-barhybrid, didn't care for it . Compared witha good of drop bar, which offers manymore hand positions, the moustache is apoor design, our editors agreed . Wecouldn't find a perfect place to hold it .

For fast riding, the hands fit nicely justoutboard of the brake levers, in whatwould be the drop position if the leversbent down rather than out. This allows areasonably aerodynamic posture butrequires rotating the hands thumbs-inward, which feels unnatural comparedwith a drop bar's comfortable hands-on-hoods position .

"After about one hour, my wristsstarted to hurt," one rider reported .

"I couldn't seem to get comfortable,"another said . "The moustache bar forcesyou to always grip in a compromisinghand position ."

More damning were these experi-ences:

=`I wanted to like the handlebar, butafter trying several lever positions andbar angles, my hands still went numb."-`I find the bar is always pressing

on a nerve in my palm . Standing toclimb, it's really noticeable as the nervespop side to side from the pressure ."

=`I like the bar, with one exception :There's no equivalent to the drop-bar,hands-on-tops position for sustained,seated climbing ."

Even Petersen admits to missing thishandhold next to the stem . For some-thing to grip on top, he suggests adding a

pair of tandem stoker dummy levers orthe bodies from an old pair of roadlevers .

This would help, but the commonthread running through the editors' com-ments is the need for a drop bar. (Wehear that even Pineapple Bob traded hisbike's moustache for drops.)

Fortunately, switching isn't too costlybecause you can use the existing brakeand shift levers . All you need is the han-dlebar and, for fast road riding, possiblya longer stem . The XO-1 complementsthe moustache bar's generous forwardreach with a proportionately short (9 cmon the 52-cm bike) Ritchey road stem .

This isn't the first time Petersen'spersonal taste in handlebars has led himdown the path untramped. In '87 hespec'd the prescient MB-1 mountain bikewith cantilevers instead of U-brakes ; asteep, tight geometry ; round chainrings ;and a drop bar. While the other innova-tions are now considered the norm, thatmodel remains the only large-productionmountain bike to ever come with drops.The next year's MB-1 returned to thefold with a traditional flat bar.

The irony is, that '87 model's flared-end Nitto drop bar would have been theperfect choice for the XO-1 .

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