bikemig 

I reworked my Sekine SHS 271. It's my trusty commuter. I didn't like the titlist rear derailleur. The shimano front derailleur that came on it was terrible. So I replaced the rear with a Shimano 600 RD 6101 rear with bullseye pulleys and the front with a Shimano 600 arabeque FD 6200. The "new" RD and FD work a lot better than the originals.

3speedslow

bikemig

That is interesting. I’ve only heard good things about the early Titlist. Might yours have been worn out?

Was the 600 you had handy or a preferred choice? I am going with a Crane rear and 1st DA front when I can build mine this summer.

Still, a very nice looking machine!

bikemig 

To be fair, I have more gripes about the titlist front derailleur than the rear. The spring action on the titlist front derailleur is not, in my experience, all that robust. I've had two and they just didn't hold up. The rear titlist derailleur is pretty decent but I had the shimano 600 GS sitting in my parts bin with the 600 arabesque front and thought they made a decent looking pair. But I believe the design is pretty much the same between the 2 derailleurs since Shimano couldn't use a slant parallelogram until Suntour's patent ran out in '84.

I like the idea of using early dura ace on an SHS 271. I remember when you bought the bike (or was it a frame?). I'm looking forward to seeing the build.

browngw 

The gentleman who gave me my SHS271 also gave me the early Dura Ace stuff he had in boxes to put on the bike and never needed to. I sold it separately for almost as much as the bike! My neighbour around the corner still has the bike. There was a rear derailleur too but I don't seem to have a picture. the original owner was a sales distributor and is the one who provide the factory slides a few years back.

3speedslow

It was a frame. I am so looking for the build to happen on this one. I have the DA runner up parts and some of the 1st DA as well. Mine is green!

browngw 

The step through 1977 Sekine has been sold and will hopefully be cherished by its new owner who purchased it to ride with her children. Her somewhat neglected 2005 Giant OCR2 is being rebuilt/repaired by myself, and will be returned when I can find the parts I need!

Sekine1974

I just found a full Chrome Sekine with all original parts. From what I understand, there are only 2 versions of these known. One of them is the frame only and has been converted into a Fixie. I’m hoping to post pics soon.

T-Mar

The subject bicycle is a mid-1970s, mid-range, Sekine SHS. At the time, it was 3rd from the top of the line. It is not completely original, as the saddle is a replacement. The shift levers have also be moved to an atypically low position. Heres a link to your photos; https://www.bikeforums.net/g/user/538619

Sekine1974

Thanks for responding and posting a link to my pictures, much appreciated!

Have you ever seen any other fully chromed versions like this one? The frame is ChroMoly too, would that be right?

Also, I understand there was a leather seat available in one off the catalogs, but it was on the high end version? Not sure if it would have been a Wright...

Thanks again for the input!

T-Mar

No, I've never seen a chrome plated Sekine and I worked in (and later managed) a Sekine dealership during this era. We took on Sekine for the 1974 model year. This one has the Sekine Canada seat tube decal and the Canadian facility only opened in June 1973. It has the 1st generation Titlist derailleurs and not the 2nd generation Titlist II, which were introduced for the 1977 model, so we know the era is mid-1970s. The only colours I recall for the SHS are white (Sekine called it Pearl Gold), Dark Green, Royal Blue and Burnt Red. There's some disagreement on the interpratation of the Sekine serial numbers but knowing yours should help to narrow things down a bit.

Some bicycles of this era were fully chrome plated under the paint and owners often remove the paint to have an all chrome bicycle. However, this does not appear to be the case with your bicycle. Chrome that is meant to be left exposed undergoes extensive polishing of the steel prior to plating, to remove scratches and provide a more lustrous finsh. If it's to be painted, then it's not polished, as the polising is expensive and the fine scratches actually promote paint adhesion. Based on your pictures, this chrome plating looks like it was meant to be exposed. Plus, the decall set looks like it's been on there since day one.

The tubing is Tange Champion. Champion was Tange's name for their seamless, chromium-molybdenum steel alloy. Champion was available in plain gauge, single buttted and four gauges of double butted main tubes. While your main tubes are double butted, the gauge was never identified. With most companies, you can identify the gauge via the seat post diameter, but in Tange's case, three of the double butted tubesets and the plain gauge set used the same diameter seat post. It's definitely not Champion Pro and unlikely to be Tange Champion No.1. That leaves Tange Champion No.2 and No.3 as the most likely candidates.

No Sekine from the Sekine Canada era ever spec'd with a leather saddle, The top Sekine SHX model used a leather covered, foam padded, plastic base saddle, manufactured by Fujita. That's as close as they got. Basically, it was a Japanese copy of one of the popular Cinelli Unicanitor saddles of the era. There was nothing in the manner of a Wright or Brooks, during this era.

Sekine1974

Wow T- Mar such great information! I feel very fortunate to be on the receiving end of such detailed and precise minutiae regarding these bikes. If I might ask, what LBS did you work in? This one came from George’s Cycle in Edmonton, but I’ve had no luck trying to contact them (even though there is still some listings and phone numbers for them on Google)...

The serial number on this one is: Y10 6238 - Would this be ‘74?

Once I pass the 10 post probation period for newbies, I will certainly submit some more pictures.

Thanks again!

T-Mar

The shop where I worked during this era was on the other side of the country, about 3,000 km from Edmonton.

As I stated earlier, there is some disagreement on the Sekine serial number format. Your frame was manufactured during October of either 1973 or 1974. Normally, by October, manufacturers are building the new models, so your SHS would be 1974 or 1975 model year.

Please be aware that the SR Silver crankset employed on the SHS uses a 3 degree taper that is incompatible with the standard 2 degree taper. Overhaul your bottom bracket regularly, as once the spindle starts to pit, replacements with 3 degree taper can be hard to find..

Sekine1974

More excellent information, much appreciated.

3000 kms from Edmonton would be somewhere around Montreal, I’m thinking... If so, that’s quite interesting to me as I grew up during the 70’s in the West Island. I was the first person in Canada own a 1976 all nickel Mongoose and was somewhat famous around the West Island because of that. I ordered it directly from Skip Hess. My wife and I visited with him at his home in California back in 2007. I love the 70’s.

BikeCrazy24

Greetings Sekine1974

I have an all chrome one. I talk about it about it roughly 4 years ago. Based on your pictures, it looks similar to mine. My derailleur controls are also on the down tube. Mine came with a seat that has Sekine on the back of the seat.

Greetings T-Mar,

You mentioned that spindles have a different taper. I did not know this. I salvaged a bunch of spindles from 70s bikes and was wondering if one could determine the taper from the part # stamped on the spindle.

T-Mar

No, it wasn't Montreal but I often competed there, mostly at the Olympic Velodrome. I knew quite a few guys from West Island. Most of their names escape me. I'm more of a face and bicycle person than name person. I recall running intoone of them (figuratively, not literally). He remembered me but I couldn't mhis name. I apologized then floored him (again figuratively) by recalling the brand and model of his bicycle. Also, I've spent quite a bit of time at Montreal shops, mostly Marinoni and Cycles Gianella,

T-Mar

I can't remeber all the numbers, but according to old edition of Sutherland's, they are:

68mm, 3 degree series spindles: 3S, 3S3, 3K, 3H & 3F
70mm, 3 degree series spindles: 5K, 5M, 5H & 5F.

You have to be careful with spindles marked 3S as they were available initially in both 2 and 3 degree variants.

BikeCrazy24

Thanks for the info T-Mar

So given that one size of spindle can be either 3 or 2 degrees, is there a way to figure out which it could be using a caliper or something?

Is there any literature on which 70s crank sets used 2 or 3 degree spindles? When I stripped some bikes, amongst other things, I kept the cranks and spindles, but put them is separate bins because I thought all the spindles had the same taper. So now it looks like I'm going to have to match spindles to cranks.

BikeCrazy24

If you want to read what I found out, this is the thread. Basically it was likely a special order bike or a display front bike to draw potential customers in.

Sekine Chrome Frame Bike

T-Mar

It should be readily apparent if the taper of the spindles and crankset are mismatched during loose, hand fitting. IIRC, in one case the spindle only fits in very slightly. In the other case, the spindle fits in all the way and can be manually rocked from side to side. The only 3 degree crankset that I've seen is the SR Silver, which is what Sekine used on the SHB/C and SHS models The Silver had three flutes on each crankarm. I don't know if this was intentional, but 3 flutes = 3 degree taper is easy to remember.

BikeCrazy24

Hey Thanks T-Mar,

I took another approach. I found a 3 degree spindle in my stash and measured it with a caliper. What I found was that the diameter of the 3 degree taper is larger than the 2 degree by roughly 1 mm (using a really cheap caliper). Therefore I agree that if you tried to install a 3 degree crank on a 2 degree spindle, it would fit loose and likely not tighten down. If you road it for any length of time, you would likely destroy the crank set. This may just be why I destroyed a few crank sets back in the day.

Learn something new every day.

BikeCrazy24

Greetings Sekine1974,

As I said, there is no hard proof I could find, but it is believed that these bikes are special order and/or store display bikes. If that is the case, then there were likely not many made. After 40 plus years even less have likely survived. To date, yours is the only other one I have seen pictures of that is chrome but also has the decals, which suggests it is likely an original one. Therefore you likely have a very rare Sekine bike. Not up on pricing, so not sure if that equates to valuable.

Sekine1974

Thanks Bikecrazy24, that’s nice to hear. I’ve really gone down the rabbit hole on the Sekine history and from what I’ve read, I think you are correct.

Right now, I’m trying to find more history on the bike shop in Edmonton where this bike came from. Seems they only closed recently, so I’m hoping I might have some luck tracking down some former employee or owner who may have some memory of how this bike came to be.

As an avid collector of vintage BMX bikes, I am acutely aware of when a frame has been re-done or not, and again, I fully agree with you that this bike is 100% original Chrome. It’s very obvious when you look closely.

If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to see some pics of the other Sekine that you mentioned that is also Chrome. I’ve only seen the one that was frame only and converted to a fixie. I’m not even sure if that one is OG Chrome.

Ausberger

Actually, George's Cycle closed down around twenty years ago...!

Ron Moore is someone you might want to look for regarding info/history of the store (Ron sold me (well, my dad) my first road bike, a Nishiki Competition, in 1982). Ron is on the left in the picture below.

I seem to recall that Nishiki and Norco were the more prevalent brands in '82, whereas Sekine would have been more prominent in the mid-to-late seventies?

Sekine1974

Thank you Ausberger! More great info! My Goggle searches came up with a few links for them with phone numbers, so I assumed it wasn’t that long ago, but I guess 20 years goes by pretty quickly these days! I’ll try my best to find Ron... Thanks again!

T-Mar

In my region Sekine became the dominant brand after they opened up the factory in 1973. The Peugeot UO8 had been the best selling bicycle during the first few years of the boom, but the Sekine SHB/SHC took over in 1974. Based on other dealers that I talked to, it pretty much the same story throughout Eastern Canada and Manitoba, where the factory was located. However, Deelite/Apollo reigned Supreme in British Columbia. I imagine Apollo and Sekine were closer in sales in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Both Norco and Nishiki weren't a real presence until very late 1970s. Nishiki was originally imported by Shields, a Toronto based company and they didn't really go nationwide until acquired by Norco, circa 1980. Norco didn't have their own brand until about 1977. At that time, new competition was popping up in the East from from Velosport and a rejuvenated Peugeot, thanks to Canadian manufacture of the entry level models by Velosport (later to become Procycle). This new Canadian competition hurt Sekine sales and they closed the Canadian factory, circa 1983. They continued to distribute in Canada but were a shadow of their former self. While all the brands were nationally distributed, Apollo, Norco and Nishiki were still strongest in the west, with Peugeot and Velosport being stronger in the east.