Dannyboy21

Hello Japanophiles - I took this bike a Panasonic PC700






in (and some cash) as trade for a bike I was selling. It is too small for me but I was intrigued because, well I like bicycles and knew nothing about Panasonic...and it looked cool.

I assumed mid-level because of the Shimano 105, and the fact that it is relatively light, but tubing is a mystery. Any information you can provide is welcome. I am assuming the orange decal on rear bottom of seat tube is the serial number: 8912161? for your database T-Mar
Thanks, Dan

GrainBrain

Any other markings on the rear dropouts or bottom bracket? Was this model for the Japanese home market? Maybe that tag is a registration sticker. Cool bike.

Dannyboy21

Yes. It was a long day. I always get so pumped with a new bike, I just want to get at it ... and didn't bother looking under the BB. I included the pic and I edited the post accordingly. Looking forward to cleaning this up and making it road worthy.

T-Mar

That not a typical Panasonic serial number format. The components are mostly Shimano New 105, which would place it 1987 to 1989. If the SIS unit is 6 speed, it's 1987-1988, while 7 speed would make it 1989. I'd call it lower mid-range.

Soody

those nitto bars are nice

Dannyboy21

A very nice bend!

pcb 

Pretty neat! The orange sticker is a local registration sticker, from Saitama-ken, in Kanto and basically part of the sprawling Tokyo metro area. So the bike definitely spent some time in its home market.

The Nitto bars are newer than the bike, I think, or it's also possible Nitto's been making the same bar forever. The bars certainly look newer/shinier/less-corroded than the other parts. The B115 is still in Nitto's catalog, still available everywhere. Not sure if they've updated the stampings, but I have 3 or 4 stamped the same bought some time in this century.

Don't think I've seen that Panny stem before. Kinda neat, looks like a Cinelli 1R knockoff from the front, but has a standard-ish bar clamping setup.

I googled a little bit, lotsa images out there of PC-700s, not a lot of data.

Dannyboy21

Yes I saw a few images from Asian sites.

T-Mar

It's definitely not Canadian market, as our New 105 model was the DX-4000, same as in the USA. I'm wondering if this isn't a frame that has been rebuilt with New 105. By 1987 I would have expected a pump peg and dual bottle boosses at this level, but I don't know if the Japanese market had the same expectations. I'd also have expected a Unicrown fork. However, most telling is the headset which does not appear to be New 105. When rebuilding a bicycle using a donor parts, it's pretty common to retain the orignal headset.

Many of the late 1980s Panasonic had the serial stamped on the front of the lower head lug, so check that location. Lacking that, check the steering column when you overhaul the headset. There's a good chance that it's a off-the-shelf fork, stamped with a manufacturer and date code. Tange was their preferred supplier in the 1980s. If it is a Tange tubeset, the seat post diameter will help a bit but not much, as most 1980s Tange tubesets used a seat tube with a common inner diameter.

Dannyboy21

So. Steer tube is Tange. No ssrial number near headlug. Seat post is 26.8. Digging further on the net, I found that 26.8 seat post size is spec as seems to be the 105 groupset. I have included photos of a couple of decals with numerals on them, from my bike. As well, I included a screen shot of a same model bike in Japan. Added in a 1989 version pic of the same bike with link. https://www.carousell.sg/p/panasonic...725032/photos/







c

T-Mar

It looks like there is an 8.H behind the TANGE stamp, which indicates August 1988. That's right in the grey region where it could be a 1988 or 1989 model. I thought the Japanese would be even more demanding of amentities than the USA market but it appears not to be the case. Many Tange CrMo double butted tubesets used a seat tube with a 28.8mm inner diameter, including #1, #2, #3, 900 and Infinity. Many manufacturers would use a 26.6mm post with these sets but if a light reaming operation was performed, 26.8mm would be appropriate. This is exactly what I was expecting and, as I stated, it doesn't help much because this size was used on so many Tange tubesets..

Dannyboy21

Thank you. I saw one Web site instance that said Tange 1 but it was not authoritative in any way , so hearsay at best. And as always, thank you T-Mar for your input. I have learned so much from you and other contributors over the last while.

Dannyboy21

The collective knowledge in this forum is astounding. Thank you for the info regarding the orange decal. I have looked at quite a few online pics of various pc-700s now and the NITTO B115 and the stem were on all except one example which has a Lady's10 bar. Thank you for your input.

T-Mar

FWIW, the Canadian market DX4000 with New 105 used Tange #1 during this era. The PC700 may or may not have been the same.

pcb 

Couldn't make much out on two of the sticker photos. FWIW, aside from any serial number/mfr stamps, any numbers on the stickers aren't likely to be all that helpful? I think. I mean, unless somebody can look at the Saitama Police bicycle registration sticker and know that they stopped using that format in 19xx, or that bb sticker wasn't applied after a certain date, yadda yadda yadda, they don't tell us much except that it was most likely a Japan-market bike that spent some of its life in Japan.

I think the bb sticker is some kind of code certification sticker. The N.B.I. is probably "Nihon Bicycle Institute," or something similar, "Nihon" = "Japan," and you can also see the JIS logo, "Japanese Industrial Standards." It's a Japanese-market, probably older logo, written Japanese style, top>bottom, right>left. JIS certainly had build/dimension? codes for bicycles, and the sticker probably sez the NBI certifies the bike conforms to Code #6109, whatever the heck that is. It's hard to imagine the number could be a sequential thing, meaning the next bike off the line would have #6110, the #6111, etc. I reckon they all had the same #6109 sticker.

Japanese had/have? a love for bureaucracy, and JIS was/is? everywhere. Bike people can go nuts when they see a JIS stamp on a bike part, but I used to chuckle every time I changed a roll of toilet paper in Japan and saw the JIS logo molded into the plastic toilet paper holder spool. Makes sense, I guess---if the holder's too fat, the roll won't fit, and if it's too skinny, the roll will rattle around and maybe erratically dispense the paper. You try to tear off a discrete 3~4-sheet chunk, and 20 sheets rocket out. Chaos will ensue. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it!

Dannyboy21

pcb - I figured maybe the stickers might give more insight bit knew it was a crapshoot. But Japanse attention to detail made me wonder. Anyway, I am guessing you have spent some time in Japan because your knowledge is so specific in this case. I have really appreciated your slant in this process.