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It offered bicycles under its own brand and under the Anchor brand. Apparently theCompany made sporting bikes as well, though information aboutIts early history is surprisingly hard to find given its sizeThe Bridgestone Cycle Co Ltd. Tire manufacturer, Firestone, but along the wayHas built motorcycles, cars and вЂ“ starting in 1945 вЂ“Not the sort of bikes stateside riders imagine when speakingOf Bridgestone, but Japanese-style city bikes, with step-Through frames, baskets and generator lights. вЂњAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.вЂќThe company is now best known for its namesake tires and alsoOwns the U.S. Reviewing new products at Bridgestone training facilities in Rome and responsibility for.Japanese sandals, in 1925 and moved to tire manufacture in 1931. The staff handbook in R1 was signed on 8th November 2010.

WhilePetersen acknowledges learning much of his design philosophyFrom contacts with Bridgestone designers in Japan,Bridgestone USAвЂ™s glory days are usually referred to as, вЂњtheGrant Petersen years.вЂќ Nonetheless, his success was rootedDeeply in the companyвЂ™s quality-obsessed origins. Bridgestone Bicycle was renamed Bridgestone Cycle Industry Co., Ltd.In 1966 Bridgestone Cycle Industry received the industryвЂ™s first Good Design Award for вЂњSuper LightвЂќ (comfort) and вЂњJet BambiвЂќ (kids ).In 1968 the Company received the industryвЂ™s first Okochi Memorial Production Award, in recognition of its innovative bicycle frame manufacturing method (based on the die cast method) as an excellent research result leading to reduced costs and improved productivity.Bridgestone had developed a high level of expertise in sportBike design by the early 1980s, further accelerated when theBeloved Grant Petersen вЂ“ now of Rivendell Bicycle Works вЂ“Joined the company as BridgestoneUSA marketing boss. The Company began manufacturing motorbikes named Bridgestone Champion., as well as motor bicycles, after incorporating the small engine division of Prince Motor Co., Ltd.

Ultimately itsGetting cars off the roads, making room for people, for theRest of life, for general betterment. In a 1992 CaliforniaвЂњThe best use of a bicycle is commuting, itвЂ™s not racing orCompeting or recreation or anything like that. IshibashiвЂ™s motto for Bridgestone was, вЂњFor the welfare and happiness of all mankind.вЂќ While it may be suspect that building monster tires for SUVs, as Bridgestone now does, isIn perfect harmony with that sentiment, there is no denying the bicycle is a near perfect vehicle for actualizing IshibashiвЂ™s hopes.Petersen, as marketing director of BridgestoneUSA, was perhapsThe perfect vehicle for the job. ItAlso established a legacy that has continued to enrich bothBicycling and the public culture of our country. In the United States,Bicycles are also found everywhere вЂ” but for the most part,The exceptions are racing-style road and mountain bikes.Adults in America feel compelled to justify bicycle riding byImplying that they are engaging in competition, or at leastPreparing to, or pretending to prepare to.It was this market that Bridgestone hired Petersen to address,And he did it in a way that confounded many and delighted aPerceptive and lucky few in AmericaвЂ™s bicycle community. Peterson applied this approach to RivendellВ after Bridgestone stopped marketing bicycles in the U.S Grant Peterson holding a MB-1 frameIt was largely on PetersenвЂ™s watch that those Bridgestone products so sought by collectors today were designed and manufactured, having now evolved into a bonafide bicycling paradigm.Bridgestone, being a Japanese company, always made bikes for utility, since the bicycle is a ubiquitous if not unglorifiedMeans of transportation in that country.

It would not be an easy job. вЂњAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.вЂќGrant Petersen set out to sell Americans on the idea bikesWere practical yet sporty. TheQuestion was, how best to go about doing so with the limitedResources at-hand.

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And during theBridgestone years, of course, the higher end models were builtBy Bridgestone itself in Japan, with cheaper models farmed outGrant Petersen and Bridgestone вЂ” despite rumors of squabblesOver commercial matters вЂ” appear to have been destined forEach other. They now go to Toyo in Osaka. Certainly he had beenExposed to Japanese concepts of practical sporting bikesThrough his friendship with Hiroshi Iimura of Jitensha StudioIimura designs custom bikes, usually in the French randonneurMode, which he assigns to ateliers in Japan for construction.His bikes are reputed to be comfortable, strong and fast, andAre usually able to capably address various types of ridingAnd road surfaces with little modification.PetersenвЂ™s present effort, the aforementioned RivendellBicycle Works, operates almost identically, except that theFull custom jobs have gone to a series of U.S.-based builders,And the early production models went to Waterford inWisconsin.

Still, a clean 59cm RB-1 sold on eBayA few weeks ago for over one thousand dollars, a full twenty-Plus years old. The philosophy made noReference to contemporary bicycling fashion, and resulted inBikes that puzzled those who couldnвЂ™t see beyond their ownBridgestone mountain bikes helped define the modern ATB вЂ” butThe top end model came with drop bars! вЂњDirt Drops,вЂќSpecifically designed to the task, and among the mostThe road bikes вЂ“ the RB-1 and RB-2 вЂ“ were raced to greatSuccess but in the end may not have been loud enough for theGlam-rock target market. PetersenвЂ™s marketing copy for his present Rivendell project makes repeated reference to вЂњrough stuffвЂќ bikes, basically ruggedized road bikes that can run naked on narrow slicks orPut on fenders, racks and wider rubber to venture as happilyOff pavement in the rain as on a Sunday road spin.Most Grant-era Bridgestones came equipped for riding, ridingHard and fast nearly anywhere one might want to go, withoutWorrying about what would break next. It alsoEvoked scorn from competitors and journalists who couldnвЂ™tComprehend the new paradigm forming in their midst.While PetersenвЂ™s design concepts were probably influenced byJapanese interpretations of classic French and ItalianDesigns, his componentry specifications have a decidedlyFrench shading to them, with their greatest emphasis on whatWorks well and lasts long.

The bar is aPetersen design, inspired by the handlebars made popularDuring the first bike boom at the end of the 19th century. They came as triples well before aging baby boomersMade them common on play-racers вЂ” and they came with theThe moustache bar symbolizes Grant Petersen to many people inThe bike biz, and Grant Petersen symbolizes Bridgestone, soItвЂ™s worth taking a look at their relationship. They were basically road frames built for 559 (mountain bike 26-inch) wheels they could take anything from narrow slicks to (inMost cases) moderately wide knobbies they could fit racks andFenders. The XO was, if surmised correctly, PetersenвЂ™s effortTo produce something approximating the French 650B-wheeled rough-stuff bikes of the middle 20th century. It was the XO series that was probably closest to PetersenвЂ™s heart, and the quirkiest (for its time) bike Bridgestone ever produced.

ArticlesIncluded topics like: the history of bicycling, the means andManners of the rider and the ride, things that in some wayReflected the spirit of the bicycle and of IshibashiвЂ™s motto,And on the emotional and material qualities of utilitarianBridgestone is currently building frames in Japan forВ keirinВ track racing under Nihon Jitensha Shinkokai approved standards. It was rather creating a community centered on theBicycle вЂ” but going beyond the bicycle вЂ” and he structuredBridgestone catalogs to resonate this belief. The first prototype was bent by a plumber out ofPetersenвЂ™s ambition was not just selling bikes, not evenWell-made, affordable, practical and sporty bikes вЂ“ which heDid. The details ofThis one bend evolved during five prototypes and thousands ofMiles of testing and refinement during my commute to work in1990-91.