brennie 

I recently finished building up the Sequoia and I thought I'd share.

I think all that it's missing is a Specialized flag triple crank and a saddle bag. If anyone has either of those feel free to reach out, I'm in the market!

Thanks for looking.

icemilkcoffee 

Just curious- how do you identify a 3Rensho built Sequoia?

brennie 

Long lugs, fastback seat stays, and chromed dropouts. They also lack serial numbers and only have the sizes stamped on the underside of the BB - either 58 or 60. The fork steerer tube will also be stamped with the size.

3Rensho was a small shop so I wonder how many were produced. Likely only in the hundreds.

Erzulis Boat 

Yours doesn't have fastback stays. ???

billytwosheds 

Sort of. They are...fast(er) back when compared to the later Sequoias.

Fredo76

Nice bike!

I love that first photo.

chain_whipped

Thanks for sharing. OP Sequoia likely appears a Konno built. Rare and low numbers produced. Call it fastback or not, the stays are like Sinyard's personal and first ones from Konno. Plus outer stay rack boss vs inside. Neenan design perhaps had a change order with some purported made by Miki Japan. Scalloped caps etc..

I see Jim Merz has been active on this forum. If anything, he's one whom can accurately confirm. Other fellow whom might know and confirm is Andrew Muzi of Y.Jersey outside of Madison WI. Knows well the hallmarks of 3rensho frames.

Portlandjim

This is an example of a first generation Sequoia that was in the lobby museum of Specialized Morgan Hill. 3Rensho built. Jim Merz

chain_whipped

^ Wow.. Mister Merz zipping around cyberworld and immediately zoned and answers here. Danke and prost!
Ps. Also note the frames down tube has provisions for two bottle cages yet none on the seat tube.

merziac

SS attachment

Neenan/Sinyard = tacked inish.

3R = tacked on

Neither actual "fastback" IMO.

And have never seen or heard these called fastback.

Catnap 

Nomenclature peccadillos aside, that’s a lovely build. The purple cables are nice highlight without being ostentatious. Great work!

Rocket-Sauce 

I've always wondered what exactly the Sequoia was? For that matter, the Sirrus? The Allez was the race bike, and the Expedition was the full tourer....

Aside from the Allez and Sequoia, did 3Rensho make any other models? Is there a Konno built Expedition? Sirrus? What about Stumpjumper? Rockhopper?


I had a 3Rensho Allez (had the cool tubing sticker). I miss that bike.

Portlandjim

The Sequoia is what the French Constructeurs called a Sortif, a bike designed for a discerning non racer. The great thing about this machine is that it does everything well.

3Rensho made only the very first Sequoia frames, I don't know how many but it was a small number. When I started working for Specialized in 1982 I redisigned the full bicycle frame offerings, after this the Sequioa bikes were made by Miki. 3Rensho only made Allez frames for Specialized from 1982 onwards.

Jim Merz

Catnap 

At the risk of being pedantic, it's worth noting that Yoshi Konno wasn't hand-building these frames. He had a staff of builders working for him, which included Koichi Yamaguchi as the master frame builder from 1983-1987. So, it's more accurate to say they were made by 3Rensho, as Jim said above.

Portlandjim Did Konno design those early Allez & Sequoia frames? Or was he building them to Specialized's design? I had thought Konno designed them, given his use of the iconic offset fork crown, but you'd know better than me.

Portlandjim

You are correct about Yoshi not building our frames. I was pretty good friends with him, and I never saw him build any frames! Most likely he did make frames early ​in his company's history, and prototype/show bikes.

​F​or the first ​yearor so (1981-1982) Specialized frames were designed by Tim Neenan, this included the Allez and Sequoia models. ​I​nterestingly 3Rensho​ didn't buil​dthe first Allez​ frames, t​hey were by Toyo. When I started at Specialized in ​late Summer of 1982, we redesigned both of these models plus added a bunch of other bikes. Yoshi wanted to use his offset fork crown, I had no problem with doing that but added our logo cast in. One more little known detail. Right before I went to work for Sinyard, Yoshi talked Mike into making 10 Allez Shimano AX bikes. I am pretty sure this is the only time Yoshi designed any Allez, and the only time he supplied a full bike to us. Those 10 bikes did not sell at the original asking price, and were sitting up in the mezzanine when I went to work there. I remember that they were finally sold at a fire sale price. Pretty neat bikes. I had some photos of one of the Allez AX bikes, but I can't locate them. Jim Merz

The Golden Boy 

I look at the Sequoia kind of like an 83-ish Trek 700. Kind of a sport/touring "do everything" bike- with a medium length wheelbase, rear rack mounts- but out of prime tubing and grade A components.

brennie 

It's a nice all-rounder - it can climb up muddy hills but also zip down pavement. I have 32 tires on it now but I'll likely put 35s on it soon.

shoota 

56cm?

Catnap 

Thank you for the information, Jim! I have seen a few bikes from the Cherubim Cyclone era (late 1970s) that say "made by Y. Konno" on the chain stay. I assume Yoshi Konno hand-made those. I would loooove to see a photo of the Allez AX bikes if you ever dig them up. If any of those 10 survived to the present day, they'd be serious collectors' items.

Andy_K 

I have a 1983 Sequoia and a 1983 3Rensho-built Allez. Both have the "Designed by Tim Neenan" decal on the chainstay, but it sounds like you are saying that this is only referring to Tim's original design and that these 1983 models would have incorporated your re-design. Is that correct? I was aware that you redesigned these at some point, but I've never been clear about exactly when that happened. With the Sequoia I had guessed that it was in 1984 when the seat tube bottle bosses were added and (I've read) more tire clearance was added. Would it be more correct to say that there was just general year-to-year (or even more frequent) continuous improvement of the design?

Based on serial number format and various hints I've found in online discussions, I think maybe my Sequoia was built by Miki, but others have speculated Miyata. Whichever it was, it's one of my favorite bikes. I've had it side-by-side with a 3Rensho-built Sequoia, and while the 3Rensho-built frame had the markers discussed here, I thought the quality of my Sequoia was very comparable. The lugs aren't as long, and the seat stay treatment isn't the same, but they both appeared to be extremely well-made. You can really see the attention to quality.

twolve

I just finished up a rebuild of my 3Rensho Sequoia but I haven't taken any pictures yet. This thread is inspiring. And thanks for all the shared knowledge from everyone here!

Portlandjim

[QUOTE=Andy_K;23138720]I have a 1983 Sequoia and a 1983 3Rensho-built Allez. Both have the "Designed by Tim Neenan" decal on the chainstay, but it sounds like you are saying that this is only referring to Tim's original design and that these 1983 models would have incorporated your re-design. Is that correct? I was aware that you redesigned these at some point, but I've never been clear about exactly when that happened. With the Sequoia I had guessed that it was in 1984 when the seat tube bottle bosses were added and (I've read) more tire clearance was added. Would it be more correct to say that there was just general year-to-year (or even more frequent) continuous improvement of the design?

Your Sequoia looks like it could be an interim design, I'm pretty sure it was made by Miki but designed by Tim. The Allez looks like mine but with Designed by Tim Neenan decals! Those times things were hectic, not every decal showed what was what!

Jim Merz

merziac

Get to it, pics or it didn't happen.

brennie 

It’s a 58

shoota 

Let me know when you want to move it on since it doesn't fit you