Mark M’s 1990s Bridgestone XO5

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This is Mark M’s reverse conversion mid-1990s Bridgestone XO5.

This is a reversal of sorts. A 1990s Bridgestone XO5 hybrid converted to a road bike. Bar end shifters, 21 speed, 700cm wheels and cantilever brakes. Kind of  a cyclocross bike. Nice riding bike that works great in northern Minnesota where one traverses both paved and gravel roads.

Thanks Mark

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  • Julie s

    Nice looking bike. The door has now been opened for “Old twenty one speed/hybrid/mountain/convertion gallery” OTOSHMCG ;)) More pics would be welcome, for the do it yourselfers.

    • Mark Lapakko

      Julie I’ve noticed you are the queen of the buried seat post. These smaller hybrids make great road bikes. The Trek 700s are easy to find and cheap to buy. All you need is an old set of Sun Tour bar ends to set it up like I did. I’m a Bridgestone fanatic so when I grabbed this one I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I think the older Sun Tour stem and downtube levers with the larger take up cable rounds would work fine also. Nice geometry, nice ride, great commuter in all weather with the cantilever brakes.

  • older1

    Very nice work, Mark; it turned out great!
    By the way, is there a temporal rift in the time-space continuum, or do I actually see dropbars on your mountain bike?
    Good job editing that photo because everyone knows you can’t do that or the internet might implode!
    Hurray for Mark! Give ’em a little dose of their own medicine, and take back that “turf” lost to ATB’s!
    Better watch out though, radical thinking like that might provoke undesirable attention from the comfort police, and dramatically influence impressional minds! In this case, that happens to be a good thing! Well done!

    • Mark Lapakko

      Well this is a hybrid but early Bridgestone mountain bikes used drop bars. I have a Nashbar copy of a Bridgestone mountain that I’m considering setting up like this. I only ride mountain in the winter with studded tires though. The hybrid style is appropriate for conversion into the touring/cyclecross style. Cantilever brakes are nice in inclement weather.

      • Cameron

        Like my 1990-1 Schwinn Crisscross-turned-tourer.

        • older1

          Hey, hey, hey! Slow down, you guys! All this radical “reverse-drop-bar-conversion” stuff is getting out of control!
          Next thing you know, we’ll start seeing posts of conversions with not only drop-bars, but two chainrings and down-tube friction shifters, so take it easy!
          Think of the children! Does any of you really want the responsibility of explaining those “funny bent bars” to a generation raised on flatbars…oh…you do? ALL of you? Oh…okay…sounds good, I mean, um, oops, sorry about that; I forgot where I was for a minute there, he he, I was really just kidding, you know. So anyway, MAN, is it warm in here, or WHAT!

  • Mark Lapakko

    Yep same deal. Nice bike. I’m surprised more folks don’t convert these. I have a bunch of light classic road bikes in my collection but the hybrid conversions are nice touring/inclement weather bikes.

  • Julie s

    Fenders would make it even sweeter. (I do miss the lug feature when it comes to hybrids.) I”m a Queen? Why thank you. Better to bury the seatpost than put blocks on the pedals-lol. I had a mongoose 450 for a long time/but it never rode as well as an old ten speed.

    • Mark Lapakko

      It is possible to find lugged hybrids. I’m selling a Bianchi which is lugged and Bridgestone’s XO1 and XO2 were Japanese lugged frames. The XO3-XO5 were Giant built welded frames. Grant Peterson designed these Bridgestones and now builds bikes like this at Rivendell. I have fenders which I can pop on if I care to but I don’t like them on there at all times. Personal preference is all. LOL. I’d forgotten about pedal blocks!