Not many of the groms out there associate “Bridgestone” with anything but car tires; however, Bridgestone bikes had been one of the premiere brands brought to the US out of Japan. They even produced one of, if not the lightest production mountain bike of its day with the steel 24.3 lb MB-∅ (also known as the MB Zip). Two and a half decades later and that bike and many of the other early Bridgestone bikes are sought after collectibles.
Now in Taipei we got a look at a new range that is looking to bring Bridgestone back. For a start check out the carbon goodies they brought to the show, and a pretty cool steel specimen that purists will love…
Walking into the Bridgestone booth, I immediately turned back into my 18 year-old self and had the urge to ask for some free schwag stickers (none were to be had, but I did get a cool catalog). Quick history: Back in the day preparing to buy my first real bike, I read magazine after magazine researching bikes and components, and though I found a couple of cool bikes, when I walked into a shop and saw the Bridgestone MB-3, time stopped. Ritchey Logic tubing, fork, cockpit & wheels, and Deore DX drivetrain… that was THE bike! Nostalgia aside, Bridgestone has a very long history with bicycles dating back to 1949 and has been continuously manufacturing frames based out of Japan ever since.
Up top is their carbon X9B Elite XC mountain bike with 27.5 wheels. It looks to cross off all of the marks with internal routing, rear thru-axle, etc. It only comes in small and medium sizes for now according to their catalog and is the only carbon model in the line-up. They do list an aluminum X6B with SLX that does come in S, M & L.
On the asphalt side, Bridgestone is hitting the pavement pretty hard with their road line-up. Leading the pack… and not new (at least in Japan), they offer a full custom RXR Frame (above) which can be custom measured by the millimeter and be set up with one of seven levels of ride quality depending on what its intended purpose is.