Friday, November 13, 2009

CB-Zip


I found this bike up at Wheel Sport. It's a 1991 Bridgestone CB-0. It's been there for at least two months and has been on my mind for a couple weeks. Once a bike gets in like that, it's hard to shake the thought.

I like this frame: double-butted, Tange, with standard-diameter ST and TT; 73 degree HT/ST; mid-trail (about 52mm with the studded tires); takes 26" wheels. It's a lot like the famous XO-1, but tig-welded with less-fancy steel, and not as celebrated. It's also a lot like the Kogswell P/R that Jon is now enjoying. Anyway, $100 complete was a pretty good deal and it came clean and ready to roll.

Liza is not going to ride this winter when it's icy or snowy, so we had an extra set of 26" studded tires. That's how I justified buying this bike. We'll see where it ends up in the spring.



I put the tires, fenders and rack on it and swapped out the cockpit from straight bars to drops with the Softride. I may steal the dyno hub off the tandem for the winter and light it up too. We'll see.

It's fun to ride. I did the quickie Highdrive Trail loop this morning, and aside from the awful riding tires, it handled nicely. I wonder if this might make a good loaded tourer?

8 comments:

Pat S said...

very cool. was wondering what you were up to last night.

jim g said...

73 parallel? INTERESTING. Howzitride?

John Speare said...

Thanks Pat.
Jim: It's hard to evaluate the ride with big nasty studded tires on there, but the handling seems ok. It came with the original Fat Boys -- still in great shape -- so I'll probably put those on in the spring and see how it feels.

Cool Water Bikes said...

Did it come with the Softride stem? I have wanted to get one of those for a long time.

Ken Paulman said...

Whoa - that looks familiar. You paid a lot less for yours, though ... ;)

Mine seems to handle best with a light load in front. It's OK with fully loaded rear panniers, but it really does best when I pull all the commuter crap off the back end.

They do make 26" Paselas, ya know...

Anonymous said...

John, that turned out great!
Glad to see you could put it use since it wasn't doing anything cool at our store!!

Ryan Bezick

Steve Chasey said...

Nice bike! Also a pretty good deal. I'm pretty new to biking, but loving my new (to me) road bike and reading through your blog!

John Speare said...

bike: no, the softride is from my stash. Softrides are still pretty easy to find on ebay.

Ken: oh yes -- I have a 1.75 Pasala on the front of our tandem. What a great tire. As for price, I tried to remember what yours cost... must have been more. In either case, I'm sure it's a bargain, practically speaking.

Ryan: thanks for knocking off the last $20.

Steve &amp: thanks for the nice words.