Origins
The Bridgestone Bicycle Company was started in Japan in 1945 by Soichiro Ishibashi. In the early 1950's they started selling motorized attachments to add to their bicycles. They branched into motorcycles but continued with bicycles.
Head Man
Bridgestone is one of the largest tire makers in the world, and their bicycle company is a small part of the company. It was run by Grant Peterson, known as an individualistic inventor who marched to his own beat. He ran the company through the 1980's and into the 1990's.
Types
The RB-1, a road bike, combined Italian design with Japanese workmanship to make a racer that held its own against much more expensive racing bikes in the 1970s.
Innovation
In the 1980s Bridgestone was one of the first to start producing mountain bikes. They were more maneuverable and easier to use than most mountain bikes at the time.
Non traditional
The XO series was the most unusual of Bridgestone's cycles. It was a sporty, fast urban bicycle, with enough ruggedness for some mountain bike use. It was an attempt at being a hybrid of street and mountain bike.
Parting ways
In 1994, Peterson left the company and started Rivendell Bicycles, and is now on his own. Bridgestone continues to make its brand of bicycles in Japan.
Article Written By James Jordan
James Jordan has been a writer and photographer since 1980. He has worked for newspapers in Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kansas, winning state press association awards for writing, photography and page design. In 1995 he received his master's in Christian education and completed two years of Ancient Greek at the graduate level. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism.
