Hi Jim,

I was going to clean up my cross bike but decided to take a few shots for your cross gallery before I did. I've been meaning to submit a bike to one of your galleries for a while. It seems appropriate to submit pics of a bike that's been crossed for this gallery. This is a great site, thanks for providing it.

This is a 1991 Bridgestone RB-T. I love this bike. I have a lot of bikes, but this is the one that I really have a strange emotional attachment to. I got the frame set for $80 about 4 years ago. The rear canti post was bent. A local frame builder brazed on a new post and it was good as new. The rear triangle has been spread to 135mm (from 126!) and I've also added a bit more tire clearance in the rear.

I've commuted on this bike, done over nighters on it, and used it as my snow bike. I have always abused it and I'm always expecting it to die on me, but it keeps plugging along. It's standard gauge tubing all around: Ishiwata 22 on the main triangle. It's got mid-trail/racing geometry and is just a lot of fun to ride. This year I raced cross for the first time and had a ball. This bike has finally found it's true calling: it's a great cross bike. I'm running it as a 1x8 with an XTR 12-32 cassette and a 39t Dura Ace crank set. I'm looking forward to racing it next year.

-- John Speare

Spokane, WA USA
http://cyclingspokane.blogspot.com/

johnspeare@gmail.com