23skidoo

I sold my Bridgestone a few years ago after converting it to single-speed and upgrading the wheels from a set off a '78 LeTour III and the guy who bought it is still happily rockin it around town in spite of owning several newer and nicer bikes.

David Newton

THIS is a C. Itoh:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/coaland...n/photostream/

Grand Bois

It appears to be the same frame as my Bridgestone, but without the stainless tubes.

noglider 

My college roommate loaned me one of these bikes for a semester because I realized that commuting on an expensive racing bike wasn't a great idea. Mine got stolen, and I replaced it soon enough, but I didn't want to commute on another racing bike any more.

So I used the bike. It had Dia Compe centerpull brakes, which were OK. It had the Lark rear derailleur which did its job dutifully. It wasn't a bike I would covet, but it served me tirelessly and loyally for a whole semester. I can't diss it.

Don Buska

I know this is many years late on a reply , but Digital Equipment (DEC) terminals used for so many years the C. Itoh's on their equipment and also the test equipment manufacturer that I worked for used them too. They were actually very well made units and took a real beating. DEC used them pretty much through the whole PDP series of computers and for so many years they were number one in mini-computers. I pounded away on those terminals for at least 20 years and never had a keyboard give me one bit of trouble. A few CRT's got dull over the years, but that's normal for a picture tube type terminal.

noglider 

Thanks for the reminder. Now I remember seeing terminals with that name on it and being amused that the company was into bicycles, computer equipment, and who knows what else. It is (or was?) common for Japanese companies to be into a very diverse line of products, and it's a bit jarring for Americans.

srinath.the.man

This mirrors my experience from the last 5yrs.
I leave it in the rain. And I am hard on stuff, and I weigh 240 lb and not the most graceful 240 either.
I've pinched several wheels on curbs including this one atleast 4 times on the front and 2X rear, and am hard on use as well as cleaning and maintenance.
I've destroyed things from maintaining them for sure.
And nothing is falling apart on it. Not even the wheels that haven't been even trued in 5+ yrs.
Paint is still better than all my other bikes save 1 (my trek navigator 200 which is 15 yrs old not 40 and was an indoor bike till recently) and a lot less rust and any other undesirables than any other.
Even the seat is holding up well.

All I can say is ... maybe they had huge variances in what they sent out the door.
There may have been the monday morning jobs, that ran 13 shifts and 1 shift where they sent out nice ones.

Cool.
Srinath.

Staypuft1652

I have an unidentified, from what I can determine, mid 70's c itoh, definitely nothing fancy, gas pipe, suntour equipped with cotterless sr crank. Just added new tires, different saddle, and kool stop front pads, grease etc. Granted I am no expert, but seems like a decent bike, enjoy it alot.

OldsCOOL

There were a few of these around in the mid-70s, not the bottom of the barrel models, though. The ones I recall were a step above, alloy wheelset with the big wingnuts instead of QR's.

Hummer

I believe that C.Itoh was a Japanese export company. Not the parent company of Bridgestone. One of C.Itoh's clients was Bridgestone bicycles.

C.Itoh had an American subsidiary for importing products into the USA.

C. Itoh & Company, Ltd. ? FREE C. Itoh & Company, Ltd. information | Encyclopedia.com: Find C. Itoh & Company, Ltd. research

oldroads

Yeah, the one I bought around 1972 had wingnuts, cottered crank and steel rims.

T-Mar

+1. C. Itoh was a Japanese trading company with no apparent corporate ties to Bridgestone. However, I don't believe that Bridgestone was a client in the sense that the Bridgestone approached C. Itoh to market their bicycles in the USA. The circumstantial evidence suggests that C.Itoh saw an opportunity in the USA market and approached Bridgestone to build bicycles for them. The Itoh brand first appeared in the USA for the 1972 model year, followed by Kabuki the next year.

RoadGuy

C.Itoh is/was indeed a trading company. Importing/exporting whatever products they could slap their name on to sell, much like Emerson Electric does now (with electronic products).

At one time they also sold dot matrix and daisy wheel printers made by TEC (Tokyo Electric). Some of the dot matrix printers were the same ones house branded by Apple, Radio Shack, and NEC.

Loose Chain

I was given a C-Itoh while in college. I have to positively say aside from some Montgomery Wards kiddie BSOs it is the worst of the worst BSOs. J

oldroads

bso ??

OldsCOOL

Bicycle Shaped Object