I bought my wife a 55 cm 1993 XO-1 from the Bridgestone Owner's Bunch
sale in (IIRC) 1994 when B-stone was closing up shop in the US. It
was an engagement/wedding present. She loved the bike and rode it
lots. Unfortunately it met its demise at her office one day. It was
locked up in front of the building when a lady apparently confused
the brake and gas pedal while parking (note it was a Toyota, so who
knows). The car surged over the curb directly at the front windows
of a beauty parlor on the first floor, ran over the bike and the sign
to which it was locked, was diverted by this the accelerated down the
sidewalk parallel to the building until it struck a tree. You could
see where she continued to spin the wheels until the car died. No
one was hurt but several people- the driver, the beauticians and
their customers were of course terrified.
The bike was destroyed. Every tube was bent except the head tube.
The wheels were mangled. Almost nothing was salvageable. The
driver's insurance company (State Farm) was a complete PITA to deal
with (and lost our auto and homeowner's insurance business as a
result). My wife was distraught, not only for the bike itself but
also its meaning.
Here's why I tell about the tragedy. I replaced the bike with a
Heron Road with full Superbe, building it up over months at a
friend's shop and sneaking it into the house while we were out on
Christmas Eve with the help of neighbors. She was shocked and
delighted and, more than 10 years later, rides the Heron lots. But
when I received the Heron frame from Rivendell and examined it
closely and compared the two frames, I realized something about the
XO-1.
It was crude. The lugs were not attractive. They were not filed or
thinned. Tube mitering was not good. The brazing was sloppy and
incomplete around the BB shell. The paint was not well done. The
Heron was a *vastly* better made frame. My nostalgia for the XO-1 as
a bike vanished (although my nostalgia for what it meant- it was
basically our engagement ring- remains).
The XO-1 is an iconic bike. It's a unique moment in bike history
with nothing really like it before or since from a major
manufacturer. But there are better bikes to be had (and Rivendell
has a lot of 'em). For the price these go for on eBay, I'd rather
buy a better bike with that money.
So my level of nostalgia for the XO-1 as a bike is pretty low. I'd
pay maybe $350 for one in near-mint condition. Obviously I won't be
winning any auctions...
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