strathconaman

Hi Everyone,

Picked up a bike in need of some love; it has nearly a full Shimano Golden Arrow group on it (which is why I bought it). The frame has been spray painted, maybe a few times. I think the original was red. I did some exploratory sanding, but I can't find any decals.

I am not sure if the parts are from the original bike. The frame was likely for 27" wheels, but has 700c Trek Matrix Titan rims laced to Maillard 500 hubs. Stem and bars are Nitto. Seatpost is SR. The crank is a Takagi AR-T. Someone has replaced the BB with a sealed unit.

As you can see, it has "sport" or "sport touring" dimensions. Seatpost is 26.6 (but a loose fit, could be 26.8 if reamed). Rear dropouts are Suntour GS.



It has a serial number: Y5L7039. And cables pass through the BB shell. If the frame matches the fork, it is from 1985.



Shimano "B" shifter bosses:


Lugs are nothing to write home about.



Fork is chromed, and based on the date, from 1985. If it is the original fork, it is the same period as the groupset. And chrome.

T-Mar

The frame was manufactured by Yamaguchi of Japan during October 1985, while the fork is from November 1985. Both are late enough in the calendar year that it should be 1986 model year. First generation Shimano 105 (aka Golden Arrow) was manufactured for the 1983-1986 model years, so it's era appropriate and likely OEM.

A 26.6mm post is consistent with a Tange tubeset. However, the used the same gauge set tube for a number of sets, including Tange #1, #2, 900, 1000 and Infinity. Given the Golden Arrow, I doubt it's Tange #1 but the other three are possibilities.

Yamaguchi provided contract manufacturing for a number of brands but those that surface most often are Lotus, Sekai and Shogun. Offhand, I don't recall any Lotus or Sekai models that used Golden Arrow. Shogun did have a Golden Arrow model but their mid-range models from this era typically featured embossing on the stay caps. I may be able to widen the search somewhat, if you're located outside the USA.

strathconaman

Thanks T-Mar. I am in Toronto, Canada. So I have been focusing on Sekai, Norco. Not much out there. At first I thought it might be a Shogun, but the cable routing at the BB shell is unlike any photos I have seen.

I can't feel any seems on the inside of the tubes.

T-Mar

I have the 1986 Norco catalogue, along with 1985. There's only one Shimano equipped model and it used New 600EX. Norco owned the Sekai brand by this time, so the two brands were very similarly spec'd.

Another Yamaguchi sourced, Canadian brand was Sakai, Bloor Cycle's house brand. Again, I have both catalogues and neither show a Golden Arrow equipped model.

The third Canadian brand that sometimes sourced from Yamaguchi was Steve Bauer. However, I haven't seen a Yamaguchi model as early as 1986. So far, all the 1986 models that I've seen are Maruishi product.

Of course, there are likely other brands manufactured by Yamaguchi of which I'm not aware. There's also a small possibility that it was rebuilt using the components from a donor bicycle and that the Golden Arrow is not OEM, despite the age match. Now that I think of it, one odd feature is spec'ing a SunTour dropout on a bicycle intended for Shimano derailleurs.

I've had several bicycles from this era with seamed Tange tubesets, that have passed though my shop. The seams are virtually undetectable.

strathconaman

I am going through this list you made some time ago:

Miyata 310
Panasonic DX-3000
Shogun 600
Maruishi Raodace RX7
Ross 292
Fastab Eagle
Raleigh Grand Prix
Miele Tempo
Bianchi San Remo

And none of them seem to line up with this frame. There does seem to be a few Bianchi's with 105 from this time, including the Brava, Sport SS, Maybe sport sx...

There is at least one Brava from 198X with this BB shell:



Which is as close as I could find to mine.

And I quote:

T-Mar

Of the manufacturers listed, Miyata, Panasonic, Maruishi and Ross would sill have been been using their in-house manufacturing during 1983-1984. The only reason to outsource would have been if they had some sort of production problem.


Bianchi and Miele used the same Japanese source during this era. That Bianchi photo has the S/N format of their standard Japanese source during the 1980s and represents April 1988. Unfortunately we haven't been able to identify the manufacturer.


Few manufacturers had proprietary bottom bracket shells. Most were purchased from companies that specialized in frame fittings. Popular Japanese manufacturers of bottom bracket shells, included Nikko Sangyo, Eisho Seisakusho, Yamazaki, Kobayashi and Otsuya, to name but a handful. I don't see any markings on shell to identify the manufacturer

Hummer

Hello strathconaman,

here is another serial number and bottom bracket similar to your bicycle.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ying-bike.html


I do not profess to know the brandname that was on your bicycle.

One suggestion was Sakai brand from Bloor Cycle in Toronto. I have never seen a Sakai brand with a Yamaguchi serial number. They may exist, but I have not seen one.

strathconaman

Thanks for this lead. Going through the Sekai database as well it looks like similar serial numbers are there.

At the end of the day, I won't ever really know. I have to decide if I am going to repaint and put a known, possible decal on it, or repaint with something novel entirely. Right now I am trying to decide if there is a dead brand that I could use that won't offend anyone.

Then again, I have always wanted to make a Freddie Merckx frame...

Sactown_Albert 

strathconaman

OMG that was good for a chuckle.

Hummer

Saving this for posterity.