BikeCrazy24

Could you take a look at the head badge again? Look inside the badge. Does the tube inside the badge look like bare metal to you? I wonder if the badge has been replaced.

TugaDude

No, it simply appears that the chrome is pitted. Look above the badge just under the head tube lug. Looks pitted there also. Would be difficult though not impossible to polish in the voids of the head badge. I would probably spend the time to do it and then wax the heck out of it.

TugaDude

Some are, some aren't and it doesn't always follow with price or hierarchy. I sold an Iron Horse road bike that was full chrome with paint. Paint flaked off all over. I also have seen bikes and forks that only had the tips plated. And my PX10 has a fully chromed fork that has smooth socks and a lightly textured surface on the rest. Gives the paint a mechanical bond, reducing flaking. Wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't stripped it.

TugaDude

Crappy fork pic, but you get the idea. Too much trouble to pull it down.

BikeCrazy24

You may be right. There is another explanation though. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I don't see any other badging on the frame like SEKINE on the down tube. Therefore I wonder if the bike was stripped at one time and either painted with chrome paint or had an after market chrome plating done. Hard to tell from the pictures, but may explain with that section looks like bar metal, as it may of been masked off. With regard to paint, look above the badge and it kind of looks like runs. Again, hard to tell from the pictures.

The bike is too stripped down to be of much use to my resto project anyway, but good to see there may be anoter one out there.

TugaDude

I saw a page advertising a fully chromed frame in the promotional brochure from Randy's website...shows that Sekine did fully chrome frames as advertised on this special order model. Of course the pic shows it painted afterwards. As such it was likely not "show" chrome, meaning polished after plating.

TugaDude

Shx 270.

TugaDude

Found this ancient post from Jimmibud....he refers to a fully chromed frame.

wow.... awesome thread....

last spring i picked up a Sekine frame (and a cdn peugeot uo8) from the police auction.... the Sekine frame is silve chrome... no paint.... i took it apart to build up a fixie... not sure about the components... ill look in the box....

i also picked an old sekine out of the garbage over the summer and my bro and i thru on some upright handlebars and a comfy seat and made him a cheap ride.... this sekine i recal had some nice components.... it was offwhite in color...

i also recently received another sekine from a freind for free..... it is also offwhite..... and dusty..

when we were kids my mom had a yellow sekine....

anyways, i'll check out the labels and see what the scoop is on models and years and compnets...

cool

i'm also in winnipeg, manitoba...

J

TugaDude

Check out post #163 in this thread. Lots of pics of the Jimmibud Sekine. Obviously the one from the fixed gear website. And definitely chrome, likely original.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks for hunting it down. At least there is some level of confirmation that they have done something like it. My frame is definitely not an SHT 270 or SHX 270 series frame though. The one big give away that it is not and is a lower grade frame is that the SHT and SHX series frames have a frame rear derailer hanger. The frame I have does not and uses derailers that bolt on with the rear axle.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks for hunting down as well. I don't seem to be able to access it though. I guess being a senior member gives you more access than I have.

TugaDude

This is the thread...

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...t-bicycle.html

BikeCrazy24

Thanks. I started looking at this thread a couple of days ago, but it is very long and therefore had not got this far yet. I'll have to put some time in and finish reading it.

It is definitely the same fixed gear bike. Again hard to tell from the pics, but there does not seem to be any badging on the frame other than the head tube badge. Also a little hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like it has a rear derailer hanger and, as you mentioned, it has the other head tube badge on it. Therefore it looks like a later frame that is higher end than mine. Sadly, it doesn't help me figure out what should be on my bike. Good to see there are other examples though.

BikeCrazy24

randyjawa,

If you haven't looked at this thread yet, you may want to. There are a couple of people on it that claim to have worked at the factory. It's an old thread and it may be difficult to verify what they are saying, but it is an interesting read.

papaj said,

"The Sekine plant was turned over to Acklands in Jan 1979 and by august of that year it had been closed and the equipment sold.The Aircadets took over the hanger in 1980 and in 1988 the former sekine plant became home to about 100,000 hogs. To elaborate on the QC i had stated it was done by the Japanese management, these guys had no life , they were at work long before anyone else and stayed until late at night. If sekine bikes were as good as you guys say it was because of them!"

Sekine1974

Just for documentation purposes








, I’m posting pics of my fully chromed Sekine here and also a copy of the Sekine brochure that mentions they produced a fully chrome bike.

cbrstar

Man I have never seen a chrome one before!!! And the Georges Cycle sticker is awesome. That was an amazing shop especially for BMX back in the 80's, it's a shame they closed down.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks for adding the pictures of your bike Sekine1974.

The one thing I can remember is yours is likely a higher end version than mine. I'm pretty sure mine had stamped drop outs and yours has forged drop outs.

T-Mar

The above description is not a reference to nude chrome but chrome plating under a painted finish. It is simply a crop taken from the SHX page of a mid-1970s Sekine catalogue. The photos accompanying this description show the standard Pearl Gold finish (see full page below). Furthermore, the spec pages of the catalogue also menton "fully chrome plated" but state the colour as "Pearl Gold". Finally, when Sekine introduced the SHX, they produced a poster for the dealerships. This poster also shows Pearl Gold paint, the only finish in which the SHX was ever offered.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks for the Info T Mar

That was basically where I got stuck 7 years ago. All information I could find suggested these bikes should not exist and yet they do. They both have aged chrome and decals. The big bonus is that Sekine1974's bike has the Georges Cycle sticker on it. This suggests that somehow a bike that shouldn't exist made it to a bike shop. That is the best lead I have seen in the last 7 years.

T-Mar

As previosuly suggested, they may have been a special promotion, though our shop never got them. While I don't recall Sekine doing it, some brands rewarded their top selling dealers with exclusive models. Also, though we never took advantage, it was always possible to pay a manufacturer a premium get get some customization, such as a different colour. I knew other, typically larger shops, who did that sort of thing. So, there are several ways to account for non-catalogued factory variations such as this. I just don't what the story is behind these chrome Sekine. What I find most interesting is that it appears to have been offered on both entry level and mid-range models.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks T Mar,

I agree with your assessment. I spent some time in the world of manufacturing. If the volume was big enough and/or the reason good enough, manufactures will customize their product for all kinds of reasons. So far I haven't been able to find any Sekine info on why these bikes exist.

Yes I also find it it interesting that a mid level Sekine chrome bike would exist as well. I also have an inexpensive 90s 26" MTN wheel bike with a single piece crank that is also chrome. So, likely rare, inexpensive chrome frame bikes do seem to exist.

RoddieSalma

[QUOTE=BikeCrazy24;22076702]Thanks T Mar,

So any speculation on the value of an all chrome Sekini?