dfw7849

Hello,
I am new to this group and have a question. I own an antique Japanese bicycle called a "Kofu Wind". It is a 3-speed 24 inch bike made around 1950 by the Kofu bicycle company in Kofu, Japan and then imported to the US and other countries. The Kofu Bicycle company no longer exists to my knowledge. I have owned this bicycle since I was 10 years old in 1957! Since then I have never seen another one like it. It is still in pretty good shape. However, I am missing all the accessories like the fenders, chain guard, storage pouch, tire punp, and even the mechanical switch mounted on the handle bar for changing the gears. These parts were on the bike when I got it but most were prompted discarded back in the late 1950s. Over the years I have tried to find parts for this bike but the only thing I have ever found was a new seat and an advertisement from a magazine showing a picture of the bicycle on eBay. I have contacted many antique bike dealers and organizations but no one has ever been able to help me. I was told that the Kofu bicycle company existed for many years and made many bikes for export as well as for sale in Japan. But my attempts to contact anyone connected to the company or antique bike clubs in Japan have not been answered. Someone somewhere must be familial with this Japanese bike company and maybe even have a bike like mine. So this post is my latest attempt and I have nothing to lose by asking for help! Don Weston

veganbikes

So your best bet is asking in the Classic and Vintage subforum. Beyond that Japan is probably the only place but finding obscure parts from the 50s outside of their origin country can be quite tough as you have already found. Certainly a shifter can be found as it is probably a Shimano 3.3.3 shifter and I have seen those occasionally on the fleaBay. Fenders you might find something more modern-is for 24" which may work but chainguard and correct storage pouch would be tough.

dedhed

The catalogs of Japanese vintage bicycle

​​​​​​https://www.proteanpaper.com/scart_p...00000000008140

dfw7849

Thanks. I have tried posting on a Japanese antique bike website that was in English but never got any responses. I will report my request as you suggested.

dfw7849

Thank you. The 1960 Kofu Wind bike certainly looks like my earlier model and I misspoke on the tire size. It should have been 26 inch not 24 inch.

veganbikes

26" you might have a better time finding fenders of course 559 ISO is going to be different from the other 26" ISOs but at least close enough to work.

dfw7849

Thanks for the information. I am looking for the correct fenders for my bike, not something close. If I fortunate enough to find another bike like mine for sale, hopefully it will have the parts I am missing and then I can restore those parts and put them on my bike!

veganbikes

Fair dinkum, that is going to be a real tough one but a fun challenge.

GamblerGORD53

Those are 590 wheels I think, same as my 1973 CCM. Just look for a department store bike.
These are the best fenders I have ever seen.

dfw7849

Hi veganbikes. Did you see the pictures of my Kofu Wind bike that I uploaded? It was in pretty rough shape after sitting in a shed for over 50 years. I did an amateur restoration which was limited to new paint, tires, chain and seat. Everything else on the bike is original including the pedals and handle bar grips. Finding the correct seat on eBay in like new condition was amazing! It was the one and only Kofu Wind bicycle part I have ever found on eBay or anywhere else. Also finding 26 inch red tires with white sidewalls was a bit of a challenge.......Don Weston

veganbikes

I have not seen them yet but when you get to 10 posts on the forum you can post them here and everyone can see them easily. I am excited to see them and I am sure you will find some helpful and fun folks to chat with in the Classic and Vintage subforum as well as many of our other sub-forums.

dfw7849

Hi Vegan,
Someone told me I could upload the photos even though I don't have 10 posts yet. They said the photos would be visible in some kind of general gallery but not in the thread? So I uploaded the photos but don't know how to check the gallery to see if they are there?

dfw7849

*******It has now been 14 months since I first posted my request for help. I received some positive and some negative comments. But the bottom line is that I have had zero luck finding any replacement parts for my Kofu Wind bike. It is hard to believe I have the only one still in existence but based on my attempt so far that would seem to be the case. But I will continue to look and if any here comes across a Kofu Wind bicycle built in the early 50s please let me know! Thanks, Don Weston 602-332-0194.

thumpism 

Still see no photo of the Kofu Wind on this thread, but here is a pic of an old Miyata home-market bike that I saw in Norfolk, Virginia about 30 years ago, the oldest Japanese bike I've ever seen in person. I suspect you might be able to adapt parts from other bikes to fit yours. Good luck!

dfw7849

Thanks for the picture and advise. The bike in the picture looks nothing like mine however. And I am not interesting in putting parts from other bikes on mine even if they are from the same time period. The whole idea here is to try and make my bike in the exact same hardware configuration as it was back in 1957-58 when I was 10-11 years old. It was a complete bike but I threw away the fenders, chain guard, and even the 3-speed control switch. The goal would be to find a parts bike that is identical to mine and then transfer the missing parts from that bike to my bike. It is no different than when I restore a classic car and transfer parts from a parts car that is identical to mine. Only in this case there are NO parts bikes which are the same age, brand and model as mine to be found!!!!!