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Sekai Bicycle Database
Sekai Bicycles were bought out in 1983 by Norco, Production of Sekai Bicycles stopped in 1990 completely.
I'm going to attempt to put as much information as possible about Sekai bikes here in this thread, if you have something to add or correct etc please chime in.
Backstory for the company:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/Sekai_main.htm
Article on History/Value in current market
http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai..._VALUATION.txt
Models Produced:
"The higher the model number, the better the bike was the general rule. You will find though, that you'd be better off referring to this listing below and drawing your own conclusion. (They are not listed by quality, but rather model number, although the general rule applies). Most frames used Tange tubing.
120 Commutor (3 speed - incorrect spelling per Sekai literature, not sure if intentiontial)
150 Cummutor (5 speed)*
175 Folding (3 speed) 16 inch wheels,
350 Superhawk (Tubing 4130)
360 (1980 model)“Firefox” Champion 4130 Cro-Moly 3 Main tubes, 4.6lbs, Chrome Plated. Tange
#500W Cro-Moly Fork, Chrome Plated. Takagi One-Piece Crank with a 5-pin Spider and Alloy Ring UKAI “72″ Alloy Rims. Suzue BMX Hubs, Silver. Kashimax Turbo Saddle. 25 lbs Total
380 Viper (Mild Steel/Hi-Ten)
400 – Tange, high carbon, plain gauge tubing; 26.0mm seat post; cottered cranks, Dia-Compe center-pull brakes; Shimano Lark (rear) and Thunderbird (front) derailleurs with stem shifters. This is on par or just above your run of the mill department store bargain buy.
410 Steel rims, cottered cranks, stem shifters, turkey levers (Unconfirmed but highly likely)
500 - Tange, high carbon, plain gauge tubing; 26.0mm seat post; alloy cranks; SunTour Honor (rear) and Spirt (front) derailleurs; Dia-Compe center-pull brakes.
750 Saquatch (MTB)Tange No. 5 Cro-Moly Butted Tubes ,Sun Tour shifter, Front and Back DR Suntour Mountech, Crank Sugino, 18 speed, Dia-Compe Brakes, Araya 26 X 1.75 rims
1000 Sprint (early 80s) - Tange, hi-tensile, single butted tubing; 26.2mm seat post; SunTour Seven derailleur, alloy bars and stem.
1000 Royal
1400 Magnus GT
1500 Tange High Carbon Standard Gauge tubing, Sugino Cranks, Front derailer: Suntour 7, Rear derailer: Suntour 7 GT,Shifters: Suntour stem friction, Brakes: Dia-Compe Center Pull, Handlebars: SR (Sakae) 'North Road' mustache-like bars, Stem: SR (Sakae)
2000 Super SX (early 80s) - Tange frame, Tange Hi Ten fork, Tange headset, Sugino Gt cranks, SunTour VgT (rear) derailleur, SunTour (front) derailleur, SunTour Perfect 6-speed freewheel, Dia-Compe side-pull brakes, 27 x 1 ¼” Araya alloy rims, Suzue rear hub, SR stem.
1978 Sekai Limited 2400, 62cm, 10 speed (2x5). Tange high tensile steel butted tubes throughout. Upgrades: 42cm bar, bar end shifters, newer wheels. (I have the original shifters and wheels if you want them instead.) Comes with pedals. Good condition. No shifter or water bottle bosses on the frame.
2400 (1981) Sugino Bottom Bracket, V-GT luxe RD, Super Maxy crankset, Suntour DT shifters, tange 1 fork, 27 inch araya aluminum rims.
2400(1985) Tange
#2 Frame, suntour adjustable dropouts, suntour ARX derailers, suntour barcon shifters, 27 inch araya aluminum rims.
2500 Grandtour Frame; Tange Champion
#2
FD/RD; Suntour ARX w/clamp on DT shifters
Crankset; Sugino GT w/add on triple
Wheels; Suzue hubs/Araya rims
2600: 1985 was a club racer that sold for $325. The main triangle is Tange 900, which was a seamed, butted CrMo tubeset. Forks and stays are slightly downgraded with Tange Mangaloy. Angles are typical club racing for the era, with a 73 head and 72.5 seat. Wheelbase is spec'd 39.9", 16.4" chainstays, 1.9" rake, 22.6" top tube. Quoted figures are for a 23" frame.
2600 (1987 model) Tange Infinity Tubing, Mangalloy Fork, 105 components and gold araya rims. Nitto bars and stem.
2700 Examples:
Sekai 2700 Gt Deluxe
Color; Blue
Frame; Tange Double Butted/Hi-Ten throughout
FD/RD; Suntour Cyclone w/banded DT shifters
Crankset; Sugino Mighty Tour w/Sugino BB
Wheels; Shimano hubs/Araya rims
Sekai 2700 Gt Deluxe
Color; Tan
Frame; Tange Champion..........decal does not designate any number, Pro, etc.
FD/RD; Suntour Vx w/Suntour barend shifters
Crankset; Sugino Mighty Tour w/Sugino BB
Wheels; Shimano hubs/Araya rims
2750 (MTB)
3000, Ac 500 brakes ,Suntour Symmetric shifters, suntour arx derailer, sugino gt cranks
techmomic stem, nitto olypaid 115 bars, 12 speed Cro Frame.
1988(Highly likely, but unconfirmed)
4000 Criterium – (1973) Ishiwata tubing possibly until 1975 when Sekai went to mainly Tange.
Tange Champion
#1 Tubing .06x.05 Cr-Moly throughout, Lugs tange short point with cutouts,Shimano SF micro adjusting dropouts, headset tange Falcon,
5000 Tange Professional .06 x .03 double butted Cr-Moly, Lugs tange short point with cutouts, Shimano SF micro adjusting dropouts, Headset Tange Levin Extralight competition, seat lug tange allen key seat pin.
Unnumbered models or unknown numbers
Sekai Magnum S7
Norco era
Tange
#2 Cro-Moly
Chocolate brown paint with a cream head tube
Top mounted downtube shifters (with a protruding square boss underneath it)
Two sets of bottle cage bosses on the top and bottom of the downtube
Nitto stem and Nitto Grand Randonneur drop bars
Sella Italia saddle
Dia Comp canti breaks
SunTour Cyclone M-II drive
Sugino triple crank (not sure what model)
Araya 700C wheels (presta valves, 40 spokes)
Mountaineer (MTB)
Mountaineer SL (MTB)
Cherokee (MTB)
Bush Plot (MTB)
Everest (MTB)
Kokanee (MTB)
Bigfoot (MTB)
Oswego(possibly MTB)"
http://www.re-cycle.com/History/sekai.aspx
Catalogs/Brochures etc.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/SEKAI75.JPG 1975 catalog at yellow jersey
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/gal...2_itemId=25384 Very cool set of reviews/specs from '77.
Decals Available:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/sekai.html
Dating by serial: A large number of Sekai frames came from Kawamura, thus you may find this of use, if your format doesn't match however do not fret.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...mber-Database
80's Yamaguchi/Mikki made Sekai frames
Quote Originally Posted by T-Mar View Post
Apparently, Miki made both Sekai and Sakai frames. Sekai frames were manufactured by Miki and assembled by Sakai Export. It not uncommon for a manufacturer to produce more than one brand. The serial number format should be Myfxxxx, where y is a number designating the year and f is a letter designating the fortnight. The same serial number format shows on on some Norco and Centurion models, though it is unclear whether these frames were made by Miki or another manufacturer with the same serial number format. For instance, Merida of Taiwan uses the same format.
Credits and thanks for links/info: T-Mar as can be seen throughout this thread, yellowjersey cyclery, retrobike.co, classicrendezvous.com, Don Gillies,re-cycle.com, sekaibmx.wordpress.com and anyone who posted in this thread or PMed me more info..
Last edited by RaleighSport; 10-16-13 at 10:22 AM. Reason: updating