Hey all
Budget rider here, for now at least... I'm riding a Giant Contend 2 which was the cheapest road bike that met my basic requirements, I'm extremely happy with it but I'm just not entirely sure it's right for me.
I'm a powerful rider, in some way i couldn't possibly quantify - heavy and with rugby gene shaped leg muscles (i try to use gears responsibly to compensate), and the aluminium frame seems to struggle with that; it warps a lot and the chain is forever kissing the front derailleur when i pedal, etc.
I used to have a converted single speed steel bike - nothing too special, but lugged and possibly butted - and in general i have decided that I'd rather have a nice, springy, solid and well built steel frame bike than my aluminium Giant. I like the idea of piecing together
something that would have been top of the line, or on Le Tour, in the 80s.
Anyway, enough background, I've decided to start on a frankenbike, but i live in Japan and I've found it impossible to locate
a good, butted, lugged steel frame bike in my size (I'm 183cm/6ft). So I've been looking at gumtree back home in Australia for a butted and lugged frame. At first i
was looking for a Reynolds 531, but a user whose name i will edit into this thread asap advised me that
not only were some tubesets better than 531s, a lot of those sets were Japanese!
Well, no luck at first because of my height, but funnily enough
I've found a frame on Australia's gumtree for a "Shogun Ninja", using "Tange Prestige" pipes. I'm not sure of the year, so I'm not sure if it's a Japanese model or Taiwanese, and i just want to have a chat about the beast here and maybe receive a
tier rating of the frame, and some
suggestions on fitting it out?
I'd love it if someone could give me a
history lesson on the Ninja and the other Shogun tiers...
Thanks a million!
The attached photos are screenshots of the listing, pardon the poor quality.
Coming off wanting a 531, I'm kind of put off by the lack of an obvious brand sticker for the "tenge prestige" pipes under the seat.. maybe I'm just ignorant
Too blurry, alas, I've asked for a better shot..
It looks pretty great, looks pretty modern in black, makes me worry it's a later Taiwan build?
Sure you guys will know what this signifies...