Despite being a new, innovative shape, it had an oddly old-fashioned "retro" appearance - making it both new and yet oddly familiar at the same time. The mustache bar adapted the shape, giving it more width and a bit more reach, making it suitable for American adult hands. The semi-drop bars that these bikes used had a shape that was something almost between a flat bar and a drop bar which still allowed a fairly "sporty" riding position. The inspiration for the mustache bar came from bikes in Japan where many schools would ban kids from riding bikes with drop bars - the belief apparently being that drop bars encouraged reckless riding habits. But the most prominent, and perhaps most controversial feature was the mustache handlebar - designed by Grant Petersen, and produced by Nitto. It had a double chainring crank that was drilled for a third ring (110/74 bolt circle - for a large selection of rings) should a rider decide to add one later. The ultimate "hybrid" (while conspicuously avoiding the term "hybrid"), the XO-1 had a road bike frame and geometry with 26" wheels, but slick road tires (mountain bike tires up to 1.6" would fit). Introduced in 1992, the concept was to create a "do anything" bike, equally at home on the road or on the trail. The bike practically defines the concept of a "Cult Bike." And that is the bike that, more than any other produced by Bridgestone, probably has the strongest following almost 20 years after the end of B'stone's US operations. Of all the bikes that Bridgestone produced for the US market, I believe the bike that most strongly represented Petersen's unique philosophy on bicycle design was the XO-1. I mentioned in an earlier post, Retrogrouch: Origin of the Species (8/30/13) my affinity for the work of Grant Petersen, formerly of Bridgestone Bicycles, and the founder of Rivendell Bicycles.