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Kuwahara American Flyer Sabra Road Bicycle

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Kuwahara American Flyer Sabra Road Bicycle

Old 07-22-22, 03:59 PM
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Kuwahara American Flyer Sabra Road Bicycle

A google and forum search resulted in one useful find on the "Sabra" model via BikeIndex. My version came to me missing crankset, bottom bracket, pedals, wheels, saddle, seatpost hardware, and bar-end shifters.

Serial number on NDS above bottom bracket reads: 75 6 34328
  • 25.8 SR custom aluminum seatpost
  • .833 Gran Compe Stem
  • Sohrin Custom Road Champion handlebars
  • Suntour GS forged dropouts
  • Suntour 7 GT Rear Derailleur/ Cylone Front Derailleur
  • Dia Compe Brake Levers / Center Pull Calipers








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Old 07-22-22, 04:59 PM
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It's a Dia-Compe (maker) Gran Compe (model) stem. Arguably the bestest .833" diameter (fork mating surface) ever made. Arguments? Anyone? Anyone?

https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.a...102&AbsPos=124
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Old 07-22-22, 05:20 PM
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Cool frame... I like the obscure brands. You didn't ask for any info or comments, so here are some... the chromed fork and rear stays is always a nice touch. I always liked that many of the 70's Japan frame producers used lugs with scrolled edges, more times at the headtube lugs, but sometimes at the seat tube (yours has both). The wrap around upper seat stay points are nice too. I like the almost a "World Champion" bands, and that a Japanese manufacturer used a gutsy name like "American Flyer" (I think someone here touted once that some company or other were taken to court to stop using a similar name.. probably Nishiki/American Eagle) on their product. I like the Kuwahara headset (I pulled one off a bicycle to use it on my recent Fuji build)... because of the brands connection to the E.T. movie; the headset was about the same quality of all low entry Japan headsets of the era, which is to say excellent for cost. And the biggest piece of history, with little to no connection to your bicycle, was that a girlfriend of frenemie, named Sabra, asked me to teach her to ride a 10 speed bicycle, and we rode together numerous times to help her build confidence, and that I really had a secret crush on her, but being a girlfriend of a frenemie, I never bridged that gap.

Last edited by uncle uncle; 07-22-22 at 05:23 PM.
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Old 07-22-22, 05:39 PM
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With a name like American Flyer, it HAS to be good, right? 😎 Plus Kuwahara is actually a known make, in early mountain bikes (not that I have details). Nice grab. 👍

If nothing else, you know another poster here in this thread secretly covets it. 😁😉

EDIT: Stupid auto-correct changed my correct spelling.🙄 Fixed.

Last edited by stardognine; 07-22-22 at 07:22 PM.
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Old 07-22-22, 05:44 PM
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BTW, that headbadge kicks butt, but it's hard to see. You should experiment with getting the lighting right, in your pics. 🙂
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Old 07-22-22, 06:11 PM
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Originally Posted by uncle uncle
...I like the almost a "World Champion" bands, and that a Japanese manufacturer used a gutsy name like "American Flyer" ...
American Flyer bicycles were actually a USA brand, owned by Petee Cycles out of Denver, Colorado. Kuwahara was only the company contracted by Petee to manufacture the bicycle. So, no guts required on Kuwahara's part.
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Old 07-22-22, 06:20 PM
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These were imported to the US and contracted by West Coast Cycles which at the time owned the American Flyer brand this one is rare 71/72 frame set they changed to American Eagle for 73/74 and then Nishiki 1974 . I really like the hand detailed nickel plate head badge. Pretty sure the components you do have are original except for the cyclone FD.
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Old 07-22-22, 06:44 PM
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
American Flyer bicycles were actually a USA brand, owned by Petee Cycles out of Denver, Colorado. Kuwahara was only the company contracted by Petee to manufacture the bicycle. So, no guts required on Kuwahara's part.
Dagnabit. Still, kinda cool story behind the who/why/when of it and ironic that a Japanese Co. got the job.
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Old 07-22-22, 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by zukahn1
These were imported.... Pretty sure the components you do have are original except for the cyclone FD.
Do you think the rear derailleur would be a Suntour Seven-GT? You see a lot more Suntour GT's and V-GT's spec'ed for bicycles back then; although, my earliest Puch Austro Daimler, entry level, bicycle had a Seven (I think).
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Old 07-22-22, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by zukahn1
These were imported to the US and contracted by West Coast Cycles which at the time owned the American Flyer brand this one is rare 71/72 frame set they changed to American Eagle for 73/74 and then Nishiki 1974 . I really like the hand detailed nickel plate head badge. Pretty sure the components you do have are original except for the cyclone FD.
American Flyer and American Eagle were separate brands that existed concurrently in the late 1960s and very early 1970s but were related though business contacts. American Flyer was owned by Pettee Cycles, while American Eagle was owned by West Coast Cycle Supply. However, the owners of the two companies often travelled together to Japan, acted as regional distributors for each others product and even licensed their brands to each other, so it's easy to confuse the ownership.

West Coast Cycle Supply changed the American Eagle brand to Nishiki for the 1972 model year but Pettee continued to use American Flyer. The subject bicycle has a June 1975 serial number, proving that the brand was not the direct predecessor to Nishiki and American Eagle.

Last edited by T-Mar; 07-22-22 at 07:25 PM.
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Old 07-22-22, 07:49 PM
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Originally Posted by uncle uncle
Do you think the rear derailleur would be a Suntour Seven-GT? You see a lot more Suntour GT's and V-GT's spec'ed for bicycles back then; although, my earliest Puch Austro Daimler, entry level, bicycle had a Seven (I think).
Well if your building up it doesn't matter much I would go with the Suntour V-GT long cage best RD off all time IMHO . Also plays nice with almost any components gearing you pair it with..
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Old 07-23-22, 08:23 AM
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The only advantage of a SunTour VGT over a Sun Tour 7-GT is lower weight. They both used the same geometry and had the same chain wrap capacity and large cog limit. The 7-GT was basically a more economical version of the VGT, using more steel to reduce the cost but at a 85g weight penalty.


As to whether the 7-GT is original to the bicycle, there is a small possibility. The 7-GT was released for the 1976 model year. Consequently, SunTour would have started building the early production units just around the same time as the subject frame. However, the frame manufacturers typically wouldn't start building their new models until around September and it seems unlikly that Kuwahara would install a 1976 model year derailleur on what should be a 1975 model year frame.


By examining the relative manufacturing dates of the frame and derailleur, we will have a better idea of the probability of the derailleur being OEM to the bicycle.There will be a date code on the derailleur. It will consist of two letters (often within a circle) and is typically located on the back of the inner parallelogram arm. Attached is an example with a WH date code. The SunTour date code key can be found at Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
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Old 07-23-22, 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
The only advantage of a SunTour VGT over a Sun Tour 7-GT is lower weight. They both used the same geometry and had the same chain wrap capacity and large cog limit. The 7-GT was basically a more economical version of the VGT, using more steel to reduce the cost but at a 85g weight penalty.
As to whether the 7-GT is original to the bicycle, there is a small possibility. The 7-GT was released for the 1976 model year. Consequently, SunTour would have started building the early production units just around the same time as the subject frame. However, the frame manufacturers typically wouldn't start building their new models until around September and it seems unlikly that Kuwahara would install a 1976 model year derailleur on what should be a 1975 model year frame.
By examining the relative manufacturing dates of the frame and derailleur, we will have a better idea of the probability of the derailleur being OEM to the bicycle. There will be a date code on the derailleur. It will consist of two letters (often within a circle) and is typically located on the back of the inner parallelogram arm. Attached is an example with a WH date code. The SunTour date code key can be found at Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating
Absolutely wild, this Suntour 7-GT is also date code WH. Not original to the frame. 1980 August.

Originally Posted by stardognine
BTW, that headbadge kicks butt, but it's hard to see. You should experiment with getting the lighting right, in your pics. 🙂
I am sure a poor photographer, I plan to take a class in the future.

Future
Not sure how it will be built in the future as it is too small for me.
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