It Lives!

Rain notwithstanding Imade it around the block a couple times each in SS and Fixed!

The Bridgestone XO-3 has finally been around the block (with me aboard).  I recently finished up some house projects that have had priority over bike wrenching and even more important I located a rear wheel with a White Industries ENO Eccentric hub.  This little wonder allows you to tension a single speed or fixed chain on a bike equipped with vertical dropouts... I'm really impressed with the simplicity of it.  So I picked up the wheel that came with a WI 17T freewheel and a 19T Surly fixed cog about 2 weeks ago and knew it was time to get the XO rolling.

Of course I got the bike rideable in time for this massive rain storm in the Mid Atlantic but that's ok.  Since the last time you would have seen this bike I've replaced the rear wheel completely, stripped all the shifting components, reversed the handlebar's to angle down and added the sweet Schwable Big Apples that have been gracing the tandem of late.  I was thrilled that the 2" tires fit the frame at 50psi.  I think they'd even work with fenders.

As for the SS/Fxd setup, I picked up a 3/32 8 speed chain and I've selected the middle chainring of the Sugino crank giving me a 40x17 SS, 40x19 Fxd setup.  I don't know alot about gear ratio and gear inches, on my 9 and 10 speed shifting bikes I've always had plenty to choose from and never paid close attention.  Based on my first ride around the block (which I did both free and fixed) I think I might be able to step up the chainring to a 42 or 44 but I'll just ride it for a while.

The brakes are still a bit of a mess and the seatpost is frozen.  I'm not sure the Shimano canti's are completely salvagable in the back but we'll see, I've also got fresh cables to go with.  Hopefully the liberal amount of WD-40 I sprayed into the seattube is working some magic.  The saddle height is about an inch higher than I need which is pretty noticeable.  Finally I'm waiting on some 130mm axle ends for the rear hub, the 135mm are pretty easy to cram in the rear dropouts as is but I'd like to have the correct spacing for the long term.

Stand by for impressions on riding SS and frame comparison's to the Trek and Atlantis!

This little beautie is really cool, I love it when a product has an elegant solution that just works.