mstateglfr 

Haven't seen this posted before, apologies if its old news.

The catalogs of Japanese vintage bicycle

A webpage dedicated to the 1968 Kenko bike catalog.
This is before Kenko merged with Zebra to become the Zebrakenko brand some here know of from the 70s and early 80s.

Interesting detail to some of these models. The touring bikes, in '68, had cantilever brakes, full set of racks, and comfortable geometry.

Between the canti brakes, insane chainring gearing, and a couple of the bikes not using traditional drop bar brake levers, i thought it was an interesting look back at what was coming out of Japan half a century ago.

clubman 

I really love the look of this one. 5 speed simplex, turkey wings only and a set of those funky hand supports that were popular in the 80's/90's with couriers. What were they called? Not bull horns but...?
Orange and chrome!

non-fixie 

One of my favorite websites. I have spent many hours in The Catalog of Reminiscence.

markk900

Thanks for the links. Very cool bikes there - and the mounting of a friction shifter on the brake lever for one of the 5 speeds was very interesting!

The Golden Boy 

Way cool stuff!

thumpism 

I toured in Europe in '74 and saw setups like this one occasionally. I was on a garden-variety ten-speed with rack and bags and thought at the time that someone, somewhere had a handle on how a touring bike should be built.

thumpism 

Stoker levers or stoker nubs (technically Dia Compe 138 - stoker hoods), originally handrests for the rear bars of tandems. And those are not turkey wings, but guidonnet levers.
guidonnet.JPG

clubman 

Ahhh...Guidonnets are much better. Couldn't see for looking.

Weresquatch

Can anyone help me date it? I haven't been here long enough to post pics yet.

non-fixie 

Pic assist:

Weresquatch

I can't find anything matching it (or that particular Lark derr for that matter). I also have a pic of the head badge. Thanks in advance.

non-fixie 

non-fixie 

Nice find, BTW. Entry level, but in great shape.

Weresquatch

I appreciate your help.I figured it was more low end (along with the Jupiter Beat I got today) but I'd never seen one before and I was surprised at how smooth the bike ride. It looks like plenty of room for wider tired.

turtledove

Love these things

TenGrainBread 

In the 60s, Japanese cyclists were obsessed with French cyclotouring and randonneuring. Hence all the French-style camping and sport touring bikes with guidonnet levers, handlebar bags, etc...

TenGrainBread 

@Weresquatch Read the Disraeli Gears article on that Shimano Lark derailleur. Lots of history there.

non-fixie 

Nothing wrong with "affordable" bikes as long as the geometry works. I've been pleasantly surprised before. And "smooth" is indeed a word that keeps coming to mind when riding these bikes. For touring that's a nice asset.

verktyg 

@TenGrainBread

I was stationed near Hiroshima, Japan in 1964-65. I traveled around parts of the Inland Sea and the Tokyo-Yokohama area.

Saw very few lightweight derailleur bikes except around US military bases. Most of those were probably owned by officers who may have been exposed to cycling in Europe or while they were in college.

The majority of the bikes were black 50 lb. urban single speed rod brake clunkers. Many had band rear brakes. The women sat side saddle on the wide rear rack carrying a child and groceries while the man pedaled. An amazing balancing act.

I bought this Bridgestone randonneur style bike in 1964 and rode it all over the Hiroshima area. It was fairly light weight considering it had mostly steel components, racks, fenders, generator and lights.

The derailleurs were Huret, the brakes were Weinmann 999 center pulls and it had a British made Wright leather saddle.

The gears were pretty steep with 51T-44T chainrings and a 15-16-17-19-21T freewheel. 27" x 1 1/4" tires. The frame was around 21". It was Legnano green.

Portrait of the artist as a young man in 1964.



This was probably taken when I'd just started riding the bike. The seat was WAY too low. It had a steel riser stem. Rode the plastic grips on the drops a lot.



1967 Bridgestone ad for a similar bike. ¥ 28,000 Japanese Yen was over $250 USD back then.



Sunday group ride in October, 1964 sponsored by a local bike shop that sold derailleur bikes. I was the "snuffy" with the red line pointing to me. Most of the rest of the 8 US riders were officers.

Larger size frames were very rare, notice how high they had their bars. There was a tandem near the right end. The two Japanese guys at the far left ran the shop. They were really cool, hard riders too. The 4 Japanese kids in the black schoolboy hats were fast.



Cycling in Japan in the mid 60's rekindled my love of bikes that started when I was 7 or 8 in the early 1950's

verktyg

juvela

-----

Hiroshi at Jitensha in Berkeley, California reports that in post-war Japan there were stiff tariffs on bicycles and bicycle parts to the point that no bicycle imports were made.

Japanese cyclists would ogle the French touring & randonneuring machines from producers such as Herse & Singer shown in cycling magazines.

So they had to create their own, giving rise to badges such as Toei.

-----

Weresquatch

Sorry I'm just getting back to this. As a newbie, it seems I had to wait 24 hours before posting again. So I'll try to make this post a bit longer.

I VERY much appreciate people's help. I loved the old photos of Japan. I get that this bike is lower end, but given the late 60s when it likely was made, and the PRICE of bikes in Japan at that time, I don't know that it was "department store" quality in Japan, maybe compared to Europe? Doesn't matter I suppose as I'm going to build up the Kenko.

Well, whatever the case, I carefully disassembled everything last night. The frame when measured center of BB to center of TT was 22.5" and weighed a bit under 6lbs so definitely not high-falutin' metal. The fork was 1.4lbs.

I did look at that disreailigears website and there isn't a Lark like the one that came off this bike, so the mystery continues. Both derr and shifters are Shimano just marked 333. I'll clean it all up as I go. I'd like to continue to use the supplied front and rear derr but I think the Lark can only wrap a 28T and while that is respectable, the other bike has a Suntour GT which I believe to be a bit more capable (correct me if I'm wrong, please).

As I don't plan on using the cottered crank, I'll switch probably to a sealed unit. The BB shell appears to take a 70. What are the go-to BBs for these old Japanese bikes?

I'm going to give her a good and thorough cleaning and while she's got a good amount of scratches and the like, little to no rust to speak of. I'll likely give the frame a wax to protect against more oxidation and then set to building a rough pavement/dirt tourer. Something for a good ride on the local fire-roads where I maybe wouldn't want to take my more modern road bike or taking a mountain bike or fat bike might just feel silly and slow. That's how I'm going to justify to the wife having even more bikes anyway.

Thanks again!

verktyg 

68mm and 70mm indicate the bottom bracket shell width: 68mm British and French while 70mm shells were used on Italian bikes (plus a few oddball others). 68mm and 70mm terms are sometimes misused to describe the BB spindle lengths.

Japan used British threads for most BBs, headsets and freewheels so the BB shell is probably 68mm wide but measure the shell width without the cups.

Before guessing or assuming, I suggest that you make some measurements first.

Find some cotterless cranks that you are interested in and then determine what BB spindle length you need to go with it.

Shimano sells their BB UN-55 sealed bearing BB cartridge for as low as $15.00. They come with British threads in spindle lengths from 107mm to 127.5mm. They also make 70mm BB-55 with Italian threads.

There's a cheaper model, the UN-26 but it has plastic "cups" that hold the BB in the shell.

You will also need a tool to install the UN-55 cartridge. They're not very expensive.

BTW the drive side cups on British thread BBs have left hand threads so you need to turn the cup clockwise to loosen it.

One other thing, this is very low end bike which will be reflected in the quality of the components and their durability; the wheels for instance.

I wouldn't recommend investing a lot of time and money upgrading this bike. In the end, you will still have a "Gasupaipu" (gas pipe bike). Not trying to be snobby, just realistic.

verktyg

Weresquatch

Luckily I'm new to this forum, but not new to bikes. :-) I started racing in '89 and had stints as a product tester, etc. Granted most of that experience was with MTB and cyclocross and I do not know very much at all about vintage Japanese bikes. I measured that BB shell (BB completely removed) at 70, but I guess I'll put digital calipers on it in case I screwed it up. If it's 68 thats great as I think I have a UN71 and a SuntourXCPro in the garage that would work...have to check though. I get that the frame is low end, but I love the idea that it is unusual and the whole mystery of how it got here. I'm looking forward to building it up....Oh, another weird thing, the cottered crank is 48/40T. That's really low for these bikes isn't it? Is that indicative of like a "camping" model? Thanks again for all your help!

philbob57

Per my memory and Wikipedia, the exchange rate in 1970 - and 1967 - was 360 yen to the US dollar. The Y28,000 Bridgestone was just under $78, close to $600 today. When we visited Japan on our way to Taiwan in 1970, I loved that exchange rate, which is why it's engraved on my brain....

rando_couche

And 50+ years later, the enthusiasm is still there.