Photo Heavy Love Story to an XO-4

This all started with a quest to find a 26er with square geometry, similar to @Tijs Muddy Fox, and to scratch a long itch to own a Bridgestone. After many saved searches, I came across a mint XO-4 frameset in a great color that ticked most of the boxes and pulled the trigger. I had come close to getting an XO-1, but decided I wanted a working man’s Bridgestone. I knew I would be massaging the frame a bit and felt better about doing it to a lesser model. First order of business was to ream the seat tube from 26.8-27.2 to run my fav post:

That’s better…

Then a quick mock up with some bullmoose bars and wheelset I had lying around. I knew clearance was limited on these frames (came stock with 1.95s). These tyres did not fit here but they eventually would. More on that later…

Then I polished up some old Sugino cranks I had lying around…

Not bad…

If you haven’t already gathered this, the aesthetic was Klunker functional.

Dream bike material. Where did you find this? Instant follow.

Bloody hell I'm jelous of this already. Can't wait to see more.

Ooof!

Then I scored a used single speed wheelset off of eBay that I am pretty sure was on a trials bike. I mostly bought it for the rear hub (white ind eccentric eno) but I also felt the gold sun rims would really set off with the red. It also has a white ind front disc hub with the weird 3 bolt pattern.

First fully functional mock up…Klunkin!

I really got this bike to be fully functional. I did rip it for a bit in this iteration, sans racks, etc. It loves singletrack, but I have an MTB. So thus began its functional phase. Basket and mudguards fitted…

Just in time for some snow…

Then we got a bit festive for xmas…

More to come later!

Then we went Leopard Mode ™

Then we went full Leopard Mode ™

And did some trips…

And took the cat out (she loves it)

Owning this bike 3+ years, I knew it was a keeper. It’s biggest downfall, however, was the stock fork. It never had enough clearance for what I wanted to do. So I called up Dave of Ellis Cycles, and we chatted a while about “trail” and this and that. The rake on the stock fork is 40, which is borderline road. A big part of the appeal to me of this bike is it’s geo. I love how it feels like a road bike with big 26” tires. However, with the rack/bag setup I run and love, I knew it needed a bit of tweaking (more trail) to handle the weight better. Now, the handling wasn’t terrible with the stock fork, but I was keen to experiment. So we decided on a new rake of 48. I didn’t want to go too crazy with it, and in turn negatively effecting the handling. I knew I was going to build a set of wheels for this, so I had Dave put some Son connector-less dropouts on it, as well as rack points, etc. We went with the Pacenti crown as an ode to the higher model Bridgestones, and also because it one of the best looking crowns in the game imo. I had it powder-coated to match. Really happy with how it turned out…

Quick mockup before new wheelset:

I wanted to modernize the wheels a bit, tubeless, dynamo. I always planned to re-use the rear hub, as this bike will remain SS, so I gave it quick polish…

For rims, I was really intrigued by the new Sim Work Standalones. They are basically just Velocity Cliffhangers, but with eyelets. I love eyelets, so I got a set in. They don’t come in high polish, so I took polishing matters into my own hands once again…

Which leads us to current day. I built them up with the Sim Works Peregrine spokes and brass nipples. Really chuffed with how they turned out. The profile with the Rock Razors is sooo good.

Anyways, this is how it sits now. New mudguards will be fitted eventually, and I am waiting for the light to wire up the dynamo. Needless to say, I am chuffed. This is a forever bike for me, for sure. Thanks for letting me spam you guys.

Beautiful!

The new fork looks amazing and the polishing work is really good too.

Stunner.

God damn, how much work was it getting that satin ano finish off the rims and polishing them?

This thread is amazing, there is even a cat in it. The bike is superb and I love those forks<3

Are those side knobs on the tyres not annoying on the road?

That fork is killer.

Amazing build. How do you find the single speed without a chain tensioner? I have a Trek 930 I want to do something similar to!

How do you find the single speed without a chain tensioner?

There's the Eno hub to do tension.

Ngl it is a lot of work, but worth it imo. I probably have like 3 hours of elbow grease into each rim. I've developed a pretty solid process over the years.

@kjlem They're not too bad. I do a lot of mixed surface riding where I live, even my commute is pretty mixed. I actually cut the side knobs off the rear tyre, so it's just the front that has them.

@davidvdp_is_better yes the white industries eno eccentric rear hub is the ticket for running ss on bikes without horizontal dropouts.

Thanks for all the kind words, dudes!

Cheers. Another bit of machined kit to indulge in.

Wow! So good.

please allow me to compliment you on your fine bicycle.

This bike is rad. Finding a square geo 26er is definitely a challenge! And that new fork is beyond dreamy.
Mate spent ages finding me a 54x54 (I think) Muddyfox Roadrunner 1989
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/379221/

trailblazing work with curating the fork and making an already nice pair of rims even better. however, it's screaming for rene herse rat trap passes.

This is really nice. Good work.

Love all this. What a lovely fork.

Really nice bike. Are the cranks VPs?