JacobLee 

I posted this yesterday in the "Saved from the Dump" thread, and figured it was interesting enough for its own thread. Maybe our Canadian members are more used to seeing these, but other than a few foggy memories from the 80's, there isn't a whole lot of Kuwahara content out there.

It had been a real dry spell for the Total Scrounge. I had offered a guy $60 for his Fuji Del Rey at a garage sale last weekend (asking $100), just because it had a Nitto riser stem and some Shimano bar end shifters. He wasn't interested. Good.

Trash day around here is Thursday, but everybody still had their cans out on Friday morning when I drove my kid to school (I know, shameful), and this Kuwahara was leaning against a fence next to the cans. "Are you sure it was free?" asked my wife. "I'm positive, I didn't pay a thing," I said.



This is the fourth '87-ish mountain bike that has come my way. They just seem to find me. I've had a Jamis Cross Country, a Specialized Rockhopper, a Hardrock, and now this, all with chain stay mounted U-brakes. Too bad the original crank and pedals are gone. Those Deore bear traps are nice. Luckily the K branded Strong Seatpost came out with a little bit of penetrating oil and a trip to the bench vice. Those are already suspect for failures, so I'm hoping the extra torquing doesn't erode my confidence in it, because how cool is that: black with a big ol' K on it!

Anyways, going over the frame, it started occurring to me that this fairly run-of-the-mill 80's mountain bike has an insane number of interesting frame details. And they're nothing too outlandish, like early Kona's or maybe elevated chain stay MTB's, but they all add up to a frame that seems to have had more than the average amount of thought put into it. Here's my list, followed by pics (Sorry nlerner if any of my close-ups are out of focus, and sorry everyone for the bits of dried wax in the crevices):

1. Two different tubing stickers! Sure the main frame is Ishiwata EX, and they spec'd a Tange fork, but that's one more tubing sticker than I'm used to.
2. Lowrider mounts on the fork! Again, not a big deal, but thanks for that.
3. One piece head tube and lugs. Is that what I'm seeing there? I dunno, but seems interesting.
4. Cables go through the bb shell. Didn't they know you could just slap one of those plastic cable guides on there. Actually, for an MTB this doesn't make a lot of sense, but still, thanks for doing something interesting.
5. Serial number stamped on the seat tube. I guess there was no room on that bb shell with all the cable holes. I'm going to assume that's an '87.
6. Panto'd K on the seat stay caps, and it's filled with yellow paint! What?
7. A pump peg? Oh man, do I still have that Mt Zefal?
8. Rear rack mounts on the insides of the seat stays. Very clean! Maybe less versatile, but cool.
9. And just to cement their victory in the production frameset detail competition: a chain hanger.

Thanks Kuwahara! And thanks to whoever put this out with the trash!

juvela

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thanks for sharing this fun find!

"I didn't pay a thing."

the frame's bulge-formed head is almost sure to be a product of Nikko Sangyo

https://www.nikko-bulgeform.co.jp/e/



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jamesdak 

Pretty sweet! The Kuwahara Count I picked up last year was very nicely made and also had the serial number on the seat tube. I passed that on to another owner a couple of weeks ago. Guy fell in love with it instantly.

RCMoeur 

"I parked my bike for just a moment out by the trash cans... and now it's gone! And I was gonna lube the chain this week, I swear!"

georges1

It is a very high quality frame and Ishwiata EX triple tubes were a scarcity even back then . Maybe retouch the chips with red nail polish and rustproof the seat tube

JacobLee 

Ha! Only took a couple of hours to find a Deore crank for the Kuwahara! It was attached to a Raleigh Technium at the Goodwill bins for $30. Even has some nice LowFat pedals to round out the resto. I was killing time at Goodwill after dropping my kid off for a birthday party. I've come to really hate driving around in the car, but it seems to be working for me lately.

juvela

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wondrin...

do LowFat pedals come with a marking indicating their HDL and LDL levels?

if reading too high is one supposed to give them a soak in a vat of statins?


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leftthread

Total score

prairiepedaler

Boy that Shasta is snappy. I ride a Sage which is a little lower down on the rung and also a younger bike. One thing I don't like about that Shasta frame is the chainstay mounted U and that the seatstays are touch brazed to that seat lug. I've had bad experience with snapping a frame at that contact point but who knows yours might last indefinetely. Otherwise, she's finely tricked out with a pump peg, double eyelets on front a rear dropouts, mid-fork mounting point, dual bottle cage mounts (which should be absolute standard on every frame), nice tubing, recessed seatstay mounting points which aren't barrel type (which I have snapped off both of them on my Sage) and a chain hanger to boot!

JacobLee 

And then there are the components...

Forgive me, but I always get a kick out of scrutinizing the components on a vintage bike, especially when they've been upgraded, downgraded, or otherwise cobbled together. This one has some interesting originals, as well as replacements.

Firstly, the stem. How cool that they spec'd a name brand stem, then painted it red, and then stuck a big K on it:



And the headset looks like a Tange, but it's got the Kuwahara branding as well:



I thought the seatpost was original, but I'm thinking somebody found a cool, black, Kuwahara branded seatpost and made it fit:



Because it measures 27.0, and the seat tube, which is completely free of corrosion, measures 26.8, and it had such a firm grip on this post that it required a bench vise to slowly twist it out.



So, I guess somebody went to town on this baby to get it to fit.



And while they were at it, they installed this Rocky Mountain branded Sella Italia Anatomic saddle. This has Canadian finger prints all over it!!

Hummer

Hey JacobLee,

nice find. Steveston Bicycle is from Richmond, British Columbia.


I have owned two Shasta models. Nice bikes for manoeuvring around town. Both of my Shasta's had the serial number on the bottom bracket.


Shasta serial number


Shasta red

JacobLee 

Hey! Thanks for posting those! The red one is a ringer! It's nice to see a match. You must have the same magnetism that I do to u-brake mtb's.

I looked up Steveston Bicycle and it appears to be permanently closed. The picture of the storefront says Steveston Bicycle and Mobility, so probably not the most exciting shop to visit.

Do you happen to remember the seatpost size on yours. Am I correct at 26.8?

It's nice to know that the grips are original, and clearly indestructible!

Hummer

Both seat post diameters were 26.8.

JacobLee 

Spent a few evenings with the Simple Green HD, the purple stuff, and now I'm ready for reassembly! Gave the tubes a good squirt of framesaver, but I don't have the patience to apply the red nail polish; keeping it real, or something like that.

The bottom bracket that was installed with the replacement crank was a KCL, or something, Made in Japan. Measured 118 and spindle stamped CR-VD. Maybe a replacement? I had a UN-55 cartridge 122.5, which would probably be a good idea given the holes in the bb shell, but I'm opting for an XT unit that I tried, unsuccessfully, to sell on the C&V marketplace - Sorry suckas! At least it's got the plastic boot-thingy.

Why do all of the anonymous parts makers have three-letter names?


Much better:


Next to the headset. Despite the cool Kuwahara stamped locknut, the thing is unsealed and has a disappointing cable hanger. I considered replacing it with this sweet Dia-Compe from the Technium donor bike, but realized this would be better used on something without barrel adjusters in the brake levers. I actually ordered one of these from SKS Cycles in England once, so better just to use the simple original hanger and hang on to this baby.



I could be a hand model.

JacobLee 

Well, silly me, it turns out I had not one, but two MT-60 cranks in my possession, and the crank on the Raleigh that I bought at Goodwill is a Deore LX. That's okay, because one of the MT-60 cranks I had was missing the granny spacers and long bolts, and the other was a crank that my buddy toured South America with, so the rings are all worn out and there is a pedal which is pretty well fused onto it. I also had a very funky Sugino crank that I had scavenged from my friend's backyard along with his abandoned tour bike, which could have donated rings in a pinch. In the end, I used my bare MT-60 crank, some SG-X outer and middle rings, the granny from the Deore LX, and the spacers from South America tour crank. A real Medley; fingers crossed! Also, a good learning experience figuring out which spacers go where and why.



But the donor Raleigh is still coming in handy. It had a Kalloy seat post quick release with the correct bolt diameter, so I can replace the funky, little Suntour that came on the bike. And boy, that Kalloy quick release feels like a brick in your hand, so it'll probably be replaced with a binder bolt at some point.



How do you end up with so many junky cranks? By hauling crap like this out of your buddy's yard:

JacobLee 

A few more interesting details, and then I'll shut up!

There's a huge, long list of things I've never seen before, and this is one of them. There were cool, little brass bushings on the brake cable ends. Maybe these were included with the Shimano levers? I can't imagine very many of these survived a cable change or two.



Nextly, the rack mounting bolts front and back are monsters. I'm used to rack mounting bolts being the same size as water bottle cage bolts. These are the next size up (Sorry, I don't know the size). I wonder if you'd have to drill out mounting hardware?



And lastly, four-cross lacing on the wheels. And spokes that are not stainless, but not rusty or tarnished. Chromed, I guess?

JacobLee 

So, that all adds up to an eighties mountain bike, but one that is crying for modifications. I had some Continental Vertical Pros on the shelf so those went on, but even at 35 psi, they weren't doing anything for the ride. A pair of big ol' Fat Franks would be great. And it's been a while since I rode a flat bar; I don't miss them. And getting the front wheel off the ground with 17.5" chain stays? Not for long. But, it's got that slow steering of a low trail fork that makes loaded touring on a dirt road sound like a good idea. We'll see. It made it up and back down the hill on it's maiden voyage without a single mechanical mishap, and I think that might be a first for me!

wintermute

I picked up an unstickered (except for a Tange MTB tubing sticker [I assume unbutted]) '86 Kuwahara frame from a forum member a while back. Eventhough it's a lower end frame, and has a few less curious details than yours, the attention to detail on the frame is phenomenal, and it rides very well, albeit slow. The slowness could also be attributed to me taking advantage of the wider-than-normal tire clearance for the era.

JacobLee 

That's a beauty! I had a bike set up with RhynoLites and 2.35 Fat Franks and I loved the way it rode. Zippy enough and would go just about anywhere. It was a late 90's handbuilt frame, so that might have contributed. Still, I'm looking forward to some form of large volume Schwalbe tires, and these Araya 26X1.75 rims are even wider than RhynoLites, which surprised me. Not sure if I'm going to do a drop bar or some sort of big sweep bar, but the Nitto flat bar has got to go.

Thanks for sharing your Kuwahara!

JacobLee 

Transition Time! I rode the Shasta a few dozen miles and deemed it worthy. I even got used to the flat bars, although my hands did start to go numb, thanks to the rock-hard grips. I have a plan to do a two or three day trip to the coast and back this summer, and I thought it would be cool to do it on a free bike. There are logging roads involved, so this thing might be perfect.

First step was to check the wheels. I don't suppose I ought to be nervous about touring on a solid-axle, freewheel hub, but the small cog was a mile away from the dropout, so I swapped some spacers, re-dished the wheel, and checked tension. I've never seen a cone/locknut/spacer/locknut setup on the drive side, but I assume it's original, and I guess it keeps things from moving on that side. I hope I didn't make it less bulletproof by moving the thick locknut to the non drive side. Chainline is better now.






And it won't be completely free, because I splurged on some new tires. I resisted the urge to go Monster Truck on this thing, and I'll probably regret it. Instead, I chose 2.0 Big Apple Performance tires, figuring that would be plenty wide, and still relatively light. The honking' 2.35's all seemed to be in the 800-900 gram range, and these are in the 600's. We'll see. These will work well with fenders, and I can always go bigger. Disappointing caliper measurement, especially considering they're mounted to 1.75" rims!



Meh.



Next, to the U-brake pads. I figure these are 30-plus years old, so probably worth replacing. I somehow have a nicer looking set, but they still have cracks on the back, so probably not a great idea. The hardware is really specific, but Jagwire makes something called the X-Age (Exage), so I figure I'll give those a try.



Racks? Sure! I got out the paint stripper and made the beat-up, black Vetta, that my buddy used to tour South America, silver. I have an older Vetta rack that came on a Miyata 610 a few years ago that just might work for the front. They are both the same height, so maybe both are intended for 26" wheels. I dunno. The only problem is the rack and fender mounts on this frame are 1 mm larger than normal (5.8mm rather than 4.8mm) so I'd have to drill out the mounting holes on any standard rack. This makes me a little bit nervous. Maybe I'll think of a clever solution.

JacobLee 

There's no such thing as a free bike! Let's see, $30 for a parts donor Raleigh, $88 for a pair of Schwalbes, then, would you believe it, I found a Thomson Elite 26.8 at a garage sale yesterday. The sticker said $50, but I rode back at the end of the day and got it for $40. The guy also had an XTR 27.0 new in the bag, but he wanted $100 and I just didn't feel like shelling out that sort of money for something I don't really need. Hopefully it finds a good home.

I had been thinking that a zero setback post might be a good compliment for this bike, because I had pushed the seat all the way forward to reduce the reach to the flat bar. I do not like a lot of reach. So, when I read the measurement on the Thomson post, I sorta had to buy it. I also had a B17 on a tandem that is not getting much use right now, so I figured that'd look classy. Black would be ideal, but I don't have a black one. I thought about using something lighter, because this bike is a genuine tank (30 lbs with no accessories) but at least the Brooks/Thomson combo is no heavier than the Sella Italia/generic combo; In fact, they weigh exactly the same amount: 1 lb 10 oz.



I had planned to get some bars with a bit of sweep, but the Avenir Brahma bars on the donor Raleigh were too good to pass up, so I wrapped them with some used, foam bar tape and gave them a try. Pretty good, really! I don't think I've ever done a bar swap where I had too much cable afterwards. I was taken back to the early 90's, when the thumb shifters were almost touching! Uh-oh, spaghetti cables!



I did a 32 mile maiden voyage on the Big Apple 2.0s and give them two thumbs up. The ride was an urban/gravel/singletrack mix, and I really thought the tires felt great. They easily kept up with my awesome climbing power, and the equally awesome stopping power of these 30-year-old brake pads (sarcasm). Anyways, no regrets about the tires.

JacobLee 

Trash Day Kuwahara update: Even though I have a perfectly good touring bike (Bruce Gordon Hikari) I thought it would be more fun to do a couple of overnighters on a free bike. Was I wrong? Maybe. Can I help myself? No.

I used the Brahma bars from the Goodwill Raleigh, a rear Vetta rack that my buddy used in college, a rear Vetta rack that I got a couple of years ago on a Miyata (brake bridge mount, so used on the front), an old Shimano V-brake with a travel agent to get around the front rack mount (I think it's cool to use a V and a U brake), and a comfy B17.



That is around 35 lbs of bike and 25 lbs of gear. Rode great. I mean, you can ride almost anything on an overnighter, but this was an 80 mile round trip with about 3,000 feet of elevation. I felt much better descending on this than my 700c BG.



Downsides? Cog spacing on the 6 speed was a little rough, although it shifted just fine. It's been a long time since I've ridden thumb shifters, so my muscle memory has not remembered yet. The big weak spot was the wheels, though. Having to carry a 15mm wrench for the solid rear axle is a bit silly. Also, the 1.75" Arayas are really wide, so hard to get the V-brake to work well. And the front rim has a little ding in it that you can barely see, but makes the brakes click with every rotation. Still, worked fine and looked great. Much better steed if we hit a gravel road next time.



My buddy just scored a 26" Long Haul Trucker, and we're both digging the vibe. Oh yeah, and I can't overstate how much I love that my toe doesn't overlap the front fender. Anybody looking for a Bruce Gordon Hikari?