diekaiser

This post may be a little premature as I don't have many good photos but I've been going down the rabbit hole that is the internet and figured I'd drop it off here too. Also, the bike is at my friends house and it's raining... I'll post better photos soon.


This is how I got it. 650a wheels. No clear branding but quite a few original stickers. Hard to say what components are original but if I had to guess it's likely just the diacompe brakes and possibly the super maxy crankset?
Arraya 650a rims
Sunshine hubs
Dura Ace downtube shifters
Deore FD
Newer Deore RD
Super Maxy 50.4 crankset
Dia compe cantilevers
rear cable hanger is marked dia compe
dia compe brake levers
Shimano dropouts


This was my first clue, the "Maruishi Kangaroo" (small, in the top-left upper most sticker). I actually have another Maruishi Tour Ace 18 from the mid 80s so this was a fun discovery. I am curious what the lowest most (silver) sticker is though.

Japanese Bicycle Registration license (yellow sticker)

Again, I'll post more photos soon. Just wanted see if anyone else had some immediate ideas.

unworthy1

The lowest-most on the seat tube is "JIS" the Japanese Industrial Standards (passed) decal, so it's safe for sale in Nihon.

diekaiser

Ah! Now, from looking at the design the "JIS" is obvious. Go figure...

diekaiser

So beyond all of the Japanese markings this sticker seems to be the biggest identifier.

1st line/1st string: Maruishi bicycle (as I suspected, this is indeed Maruishi. There's not a lot of info or catalogs out there pre-mid 80's to help identify)

1st line/2nd string: Marumai bicycle (never heard of Marumai and no results on the old internet)

2nd line/ black background: Hirayama wheel industry (no idea here)

3rd line: Matsubara, Setagaya-ku (location in Japan)

pcb 

1st line/1st string is Maruishi Jitensha, the fun part in smaller print above reads: "anzenkoso maruishi no negai" kinda means: "Maruishi's wish is for safety." Likely their feel-good corporate marketing slogan?

1st line/2nd string is more likely read "Maruibei," not "Marumai" with "bei" meaning "America" or "western." "Mai" means rice, and would be read "mai" on a bag of rice, but as part of a corporate name, especially for a manufacturing/trading company that might be involved with export, "bei" is much more likely. Same "bei" as in "Nichbei Fuji." All that said, I don't know the relationship between Maruishi and Marubei, though having both at the same level on the sticker, with Maruishi first, maybe Marubei was Maruishi's export company.

2nd line: Hirayama Ringyo is the dealer's name, with the address in the 3rd line. Lots of Japanese bike shops, come to think of it, distributors as well, use "ringyo" in their names. Hirayama Ringyo doesn't ring any bells with me, if they were around when I was in Japan they probably weren't a large shop.

The address is "Setagaya-ku Matsubara 2-38-6." Here's a listing for a rental room/apartment in the building that stands there today, only around $1,300/mo. There's a business on the ground floor, doesn't look like a bike shop. Coffee shop?
https://www.kaguaruoo.com/en/listings/11384

pcb 

So with the 650A wheels and all the domestic Japan stickers, pretty sure this was a Japanese-market Maruishi sports/touring bike, with what was originally probably a whole lot of Maruishi/model stickers removed. The wheels are likely original, might have been a fully-fendered, fully-racked model originally.

Check the serial# when you get your mitts on it and run it through T-mar's serial# decoder to see what you get. I'd guess maybe early '80s.

diekaiser

Thanks for all of the info and the breakdown for the translation!

Serial is:

Doesn't line up with the serial info on Maruishi as that suggests there would be 2 alpha characters.

pcb 

Hmmm, fascinating. I wouldn't think Maruishi would be subcontracting a frame/bike at this price point. But it might be worth seeing if it fits any other Japanese mfr's serial # scheme.