bulldog1935

You order online through their cart, and they will send you a paypal invoice with shipping. For most things, shipping is under $15 - of course it won't be for a bike...
Also to do the math, xe.com has current exchange.
I did a bunch of shopping in Japan when it was pushing JY120 to the dollar. When it drops below 100, it may not be cost-effective - at JY 120 that's a 20% off sale for a whole country including shipping.
Right now, shopping in UK is really good, and even EU is weak against the dollar.

El Chaba

The folks at Grand Bois are great to deal with. When your package arrives, allow just a little time while unpacking to marvel at the detail and care that they use in packing your order....

bulldog1935

Alex's cycle also - their English is better - great source for Nitto and Ostrich bags.
Track Supermarket is another good Japan vendor.

If you're not comfortable with Japan shopping but really want something, call Jitensha - they'll get it for you.

Japan has strange laws. Japanese companies can only take credit cards based in Japanese banks. But paypal has opened that up, and some companies aiming for US market have additional offshore banking.
I've bought a lot of custom fishing tackle from Japan before the market really opened up, and used a broker, noppin.com
Custom glass fly rods, benchmade reels, ultralight saltwater rods (Japan is the only country nuttier about fishing than US and UK).

In fact, I bought my Sun XCD crank arms that way, found in a small Japanese shop, brokered, delivered to US with brokerage fee for $145.

Scarbo

Thank you! This is great information.

repechage

I give the French probably first nod.
The Italians for a brief period did it, Colnago, Masi all made a few at least during the Merckx era.

The Golden Boy 

My "dream" grail would be a chrome Herse like that, with cantilevers, a biplane fork and possibly fillet brazed.

On the other hand... I'd be so afraid of owning a Herse bike- I'd want to change things around all the time- and I don't think that's particularly acceptable for a bike of the status of a Herse.

gugie 

+1, but I wouldn't change a thing, and treat it like a Frank Lloyd Wright house - maintain, not change.

Scarbo

These bikes are amazing.

So, um, how hard are they to come by? Do only private collectors have them?

I have to get back to work; but I keep coming back in here to stare at this bike.

bulldog1935

they turn up on ebay with $5000 price tags.
Back on topic, here's a decent $1600 rando with stud-mounted centerpulls - Velo Routier 650B Randonneur Bicycle | Cycles Toussaint


$525 is not a bad price for a frame, either
https://www.cyclestoussaint.com/collections/frames

gugie 

That's the only current production frame I know of with stud-mountered centerpulls. And, yes, that's a good price.

repechage

brings to mind:

Decades ago, my prints were at a dinner party in the Palm Springs area at a house designed by FLW, he was in attendance. The owner in a conversation asked FLW what would be the material to replace some redwood siding that was being rapidly eroded by the sand and wind. Mr. Wright answered- redwood.

bulldog1935

For somebody over 6'6", Rivendell has a 67cm Hilsen build up right now with braze-on Paul centerpulls
Price is appropriately steep.
https://www.rivbike.com/collections/...-braze-on-67cm

bertinjim 

hilltowner-

Brazed on CP brakes grew out of the French cyclotourism trials of the 30s and 40s. The bikes had to travel paved and unpaved roads and points were deducted for equipment failure or malfunction. To minimize weight (bonus points!) and maximize reliability and function, braze-ons became normative for derailleurs, brakes, racks, lights. I had braze-on Mafac Competitions added to my Bertin - big functional, performance improvement and feel.

bulldog1935

(well no, Mafac invented centerpull brakes in 1952)

bwilli88 

Here is my 85 Centurion Pro Tour

SuperLJ

Well, no. PYL and Lewis debuted centerpulls at the 1946 Paris Bike Show. Jean Robic road a bike equipped with Lewis T46 centerpulls in the 1947 Tour de France. MAFAC introduced their Racer centerpulls at the Paris Show in 1951.

ref: BQ vol.7-2, pg.29

bulldog1935

Then congratulations on finding something that Peter Underwood has never found - but it had nothing to do with Technical Trials.

The Golden Boy 

We've done the Oak Park Frank Lloyd Wright tours- those houses are so awesome- even though they're turn of the century/teens, you totally see where "mid-century modern" comes from. There are a few FLW houses in the Milwaukee area, as well as a couple of FLW apartment buildings. There was a FLW home for sale for a completely do-able price up in northern WI, but the other glorious prairie homes are... gloriously eclectic. But for all the fantasticness of those houses, I'd want to have modern ammenities- so I guess a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home might be more preferable than an actual FLW house.

Chris W.

Yet another Centurion Pro-Tour...
My 76' with the ultra cool brake bosses

[IMG]IMG_20150926_171233837 by Chris Wilson, on Flickr[/IMG]

Salamandrine 

I would just like to point out... Aero Rims!!!

Apparently wooden rims would sometimes shatter unexpectedly, though they were the lightest and fastest rims available at that time. Sound familiar?

So did cantilevers precede centerpulls? It would appear so. It's also clear that there were numerous varieties of cantilever.

old's'cool

Qualitatively, there is no argument that the angular twist at the boss location will be greater when the boss is nearer the middle of the blade versus near the crown.
I'm skeptical though, that the quantitative effect is anything to worry about, when compared to the flex of the calipers, and the bosses themselves, small as those deflections may be.

gugie 

Norther Cycles imports Grand Bois, and stocks quite a bit of SunTour XCD.

gugie 

This is likely true, but one can have the feeling of superiority in stating the undeniable.

hilltowner

If "it" was the decision to mount the pivots on brazed on posts then perhaps it might have, given the Mafac article you referenced: "Some specialist French builders offered brazed on versions of these brakes using a cut down cantilever boss. This reduced flexing with the top end of the spring acting directly onto the frame instead of the back plate." Those specialist French builders were heavily influenced by the Trials. Brazing on posts that improved the performance of the bike and perhaps saved some weight would have sprung from the incentive for better Trials results.

I suspect "it" means the development of center pull brakes. Thanks very much for the backstory on the brakes. I find it fascinating.

obrentharris 

Another modern manufacturer of center-pull brakes is Paul Components.



Brent