 the xox ->Many are those who have a reverence for the bicycles made by the Bridgestone company back in the 1980s and 90s. The steel frames, both lugged and TIG welded, were well-thought, nicely built, and geometrically savvy; they rode great, bottom line. Particularly noteworthy were the XO bikes, which were probably closest, philosophically, to cyclocross bikes, given their versatile geometry, cantilever brakes, whathaveyou.Anyway, my mechanical mentor Bill wanted an XO-influenced frame, and wanted it built with True Temper's OX Platinum tubing (nice, zooty stuff- light, but not so advanced that a hack like me can't work with it), hence the Wildebeest moniker "XOX*". He also requested that it be designed for 650b wheels and with a slightly taller head tube so as to provide a little more uprightness in his riding position. (* - Does one say it "ex oh ex"? or is it a word, in which case are the Xs treated like the former "X" or the latter "x" in "Xerox"? One could pronounce it as "zahz", or, if "X" is phonetically -cks, then it could be rendered "cksahcks", in one syllable... Or could it be "zOHz" with a long "o"- I had not thought of that... Or "zOHcks"... Submit your suggestions by clicking here and you might win an astonishingly fabulous prize.) |
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