Piprito

Got this for 40$ from somebody in my city. Was a complete shimano 105, but I stole some of the parts off. Replaced the brake levers, shifters, bar tape, front derailleur and stuck that sticker on the head tube not thinking anything of it. I know the tubing is pretty good, but other than that no branding on it whatsoever. The serial number posted on the bottom is M4B16308. Also had a vette rear pannier rack. Would love to know what it could be? Tange #2 frame with tange #1 fork

Pictures at : imgur(dot)com/a/WbpwG5R

unworthy1

that serial number will be best clue for those who understand the code...but it's a Tange Champion #2 frame with long-point lugs, simple details, nice gray metallic paint, full-sloping forkcrown. Something along the lines of a good Univega or Miyata would be my initial guess

Pic assist (had to take screen-grabs cause Imgur won't let me copy)





weird top nut on this HS, nothing I've seen before

Insidious C. 

Frame s/n format used by Miki, fabricated in 84. Two sets of bottle bosses on downtube and long-is chain stays. Higher end Japanese sport tourer. Not a Sequoia but something similar.

Piprito

Do you have any pictures or where i can start to find similar bikes from them?

juvela

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headset is Tange Falcon

a quality conventional model with nice finish

however, races are not rectified after plating


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Insidious C. 

It will take some searching on your part or assistance from knowledgeable forum members to see which marques had frames built by Miki. Specialized is just one of them. I don't think they sold bikes under their own brand. Good luck. Nice frame.

Mr. 66

The frame reminds me of my Sekai 2700 GT deluxe, but the fork is not the same.

Hummer

As stated earlier the serial number is the format of Miki Sakai. Miki was mostly a bicycle frame manufacturing company. Miki was contracted by dozens of bicycle brand names large and small in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

The fork is the unique part of this frame set. I have not seen a Miki Champion No2 frame with this style of fork.

A clue to which brand name contracted this bicycle may be your geographic location.

Piprito

I'm in Canada, must be a North American frame?
As stated above, it does have a specialized saddle. Not sure if that's original, but it could potentially relate to the previous comment that it could be a specialized frame? However I feel that's unlikely

Hummer

If you are in Toronto the first brand to check is Sakai, a house brand name of Bloor Cycle.

rustystrings61 

I don't know whose marque this was sold under, but I am eager to know - I'll start quietly looking for one in 60 cm to top. Lovely frame!

Piprito

I'm actually west coast, but it's possible it could still be Sakai?

madpogue 

Another "close but no cigar" would be a 1984 Centurion Pro Tour. Same frame material and even paint color. Same odd combination of two downtube bottle cage bosses. but none on the seat tube. But different seat cluster and definitely different fork. Odd that this fork would not have mid-mount low-rider mounts. Replacement fork?

Still, it's in that "league", meaning a fine grand-ish tourer.

Piprito

Yes I agree it's very very close, but with subtle changes. This is turning into a much more difficult task then I was expecting

unworthy1

If you scour the extremely helpful Asian Serial Number Guide (a product of the exceptional T-Mar) you might do better than me to learn the secrets of identifying mystery frames, but I'm still a dullard with all that!
However T-Mar mentions a number of brands associated with Miki production of frames, also spelled with two "ks" Mikki and NOT SURE if that's the same or two different mfgs. (including a few from Europe which hardly ever crop up in NorAm) and among these are:
Sakai
Sekai (not the same as Sakai but both sold in Canada)
Norco
Raleigh
SR
Sanwa
Shogun (Mikki)
Specialized
Centurion (another spelled Mikki)
Motioncraft
Bontecoe (NL)
Faglum (Sweden)
Union (NL)

I may have missed some but you can search yourself:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ber-guide.html

And if SOMEbody can streamline or explain the baffling "encoding of the code" {what the hell is S(1), Y(1), etc. there is no "key" to any of these I can find} it sure would help an idiot like me!

Hummer

On the west coast it might be Sekai from Washington state and later part of Norco. There were also RMB Sherpa, but these were touring frames ( not the MTB Sherpa model).

Mr. 66

I don't think is a Sekai, I dont recall any of their models having the over/under bottle bosses. The fork crown, I don't remember that on Sekai. I did a search and I couldn't find one with that crown.

Hummer

I did some more searching also and found these old pictures of a Sekai 4000 in Vancouver.

unworthy1

Ladies and gents...I think we have a ^winner^ !
"...Sekai 4000 in Vancouver."

Piprito

That's gotta be it, even got the gold paint around the joints!

Anymore more info on that Sekai 4000? More pics?

madpogue 

A "database" thread - https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...-database.html - lots of links but most of the information seems to focus on the '70s model years.

A visit to Yellow Jersey's web site or even a quick Email to Andy might shed more light; it seems to be one of his "pet" marques.