Classic & Vintage - WOW classic With PICTURES!! I.D. this bike

PIcked this up today

56-57cm Kuwahara Cromoly butted frame/forks/stays
Dura Ace headset 1in.
Sugino Mighty Crankset and BB
Gran Comp Brakes/calipers (sidepull)
Suntour Cyclone F/R derailleurs
Suntour Power ratcheting downtube shifters
Gran Compe stem
Nitto Universal bars
Belt (? Tokyo) seatpost 27.0
Saddle says Seamless "Professional"
Forged Dropouts Suntour GS

Haven't found any sort of SN. I'm going to see if I can date the components.

It's pretty light even with the components on it. Besides the decal peeling bit it is in PERFECT condition.
No scratches on the chainstays, no chipped paint, no road grime, nothing. Just the dust and chemical shmeg that builds up over time. Check out the pics. Let me know if you have a clue about it's origin.

Oh yeah, Wendy O Williams did not build this bike.

http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w1.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w2.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w3.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w4.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w5.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w6.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w7.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w9.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w10.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w11.jpg

I'm going to give it a wipe with a rag and see how she prettys up.

Nice bike! Looks pretty darn clean as is. I'd say it's a relatively high end UJB. I have one of those drilled Sugino cranksets on one of my bikes, too--nice stuff.

Neal

Very Sweet bike! it's a Kuwahara, says so on the tubing decal...sorry, I don't know what WOW stands for...based on what I see I'd guess it's from around '76. I thought Belt was a Fuji brand, but maybe not.

Wow! Nice bike.......(couldn't resist). :)

Nice bike! Looks pretty darn clean as is. I'd say it's a relatively high end UJB. I have one of those drilled Sugino cranksets on one of my bikes, too--nice stuff.

Neal

UJB?

It's clean but needs to shine:D

UJB?


universal or ubiquitous Japanese bike--terrific quality lugwork on a mass production frame.

Neal

Looks pretty nice, love the headbadge! WOW!

Flip the badge. :p :D

Are the dropout adjusters supposed to be in that way? I've always seen them with the smaller surface touching the axle.

yeah they are backwards, maybe the PO thought they worked better if he could use a screwdriver from the outside, but...you'll need a couple little springs, too, in a pinch you can cannabalize 2 ballpoint pens.

I have a 79 Raleigh SuperCourse with those same SunTour GS chromed dropouts if that's any help on dating. Don

Clamp on everything! I say make it a fixie!;) :D

Clamp on everything! I say make it a fixie!;) :D

If I were going to turn ANY vintage steel in to a fixie it would be this one:D I saw the potential as soon as I got it home. I like gears though. They make things easier. :D Call me lazy call me crazy but this baby's beautiful just the way it is.

It's too nice, especially with those vintage components, to fix-i-fy. You're on the right track, keep it (close to) original.

I am finding bits and pieces. Unworthy1 seems to be right. I had just figured that kuwahara was the tubing fabricator not the bike company. Checking their history I can't find much about their road bike line. They didn't start exporting to the US until 72 and that was their BMX stuff. This one seems to be a 75. The SN was on the seattube #75-8-0005 and the date code on the cyclone derailleur is from june of 74. Their history also mentioned that they manufactured bikes for over 20 US manufacturers... So who is WOW. A guy at my LBS said something like "World of Wheels" or "World on Wheels" Strike a bell?

Cmdr,
Awesome bike!
Love the wicked 70's Easter egg color too!

Got to keep it all 70's and stock, I bet it had Sunshine (suhshin(sp??)) High flange hubs.

Cmdr,
Awesome bike!
Love the wicked 70's Easter egg color too!

Got to keep it all 70's and stock, I bet it had Sunshine (suhshin(sp??)) High flange hubs.

Aaron, You're on it! I am getting the hubs tomorrow (they look like the campy sheriff star hubs:p ). Have you seen this bike before or is it a period thing to have those hubs?
Everything is in such great shape it would be a travesty to go and switch it all up.

The lavender was strangely, one of the things that I love the most about it. It is unrepentantly pastel purple.

Anyone have some 700c alloy rims that just need to go on this bike?

Agree, mid-70s. Those look like Mikashima pedals with the leather covered toeclips. Saddle Seamless Professional . . . had one on a 1975 Fuji Professional. Very nice upscale components.
WOW . . .
Kuwahara also exported tandems to the US in mid-80s.

Agree, mid-70s. Those look like Mikashima pedals with the leather covered toeclips. Saddle Seamless Professional . . . had one on a 1975 Fuji Professional. Very nice upscale components.
WOW . . .
Kuwahara also exported tandems to the US in mid-80s.

Pedals are Kyokuto "Pro Ace".

The leather's so old I thought the were fur covers at first:D

I'm really still a complete noob.

But with the Sugino crank, and the Suntour Group it's a definate "Suntour Mafia" effort, with quality stuff sourced from any company in Japan other than Shimano.

From what I have seen, Sunhine (suhshin?) would have made the hubs, my Rampar is all Suntour/alligned stuff, although way the heck down the food chain, I'm pretty sure it has low-flange Sunshine hubs.

I'm really still a complete noob.

But with the Sugino crank, and the Suntour Group it's a definate "Suntour Mafia" effort, with quality stuff sourced from any company in Japan other than Shimano.

From what I have seen, Sunhine (suhshin?) would have made the hubs, my Rampar is all Suntour/alligned stuff, although way the heck down the food chain, I'm pretty sure it has low-flange Sunshine hubs.


I remember about the Suntour/Shimano split, but I guess this was before the JASCA (Japan Sports Cycle Association) split in to JBM (Japan Bicycle Manufacturers) and the JEX (Japan Bicycle Parts Manufacturers Group for Export Promotion) and Shimano went to the dark side. It has a Dura Ace headset (could be a replacement, maybe?) The thing that makes me think not is that those snazzy housing clips on the TT are also Shimano.
Good call on the association grouping. It had totally slipped my mind.

Oh yeah, I got that info from this great article on Suntour:
"Sunset for Suntour"
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/page35.htm

Great bike cmdr. The more you describe things, the better it sounds. :)

SunTour and Shimano were never together so far as I know. Looks like whoever built your bike up knew their stuff about getting performance and a good deal.

fwiw - SunTour had some arrangements with Sansin to make hubs. Sansin "Anglified" their name on some of their products to Sunshine. They made a whole range of hubs - all the way from cheapo junk, to Pro Ams - which are just about as good a hub as any you can find from that era.

With the Cyclone derailleurs and sidepull brakes, I am guessing late 1970s, possibly 1980 vintage. Earlier in the era, with centerpull brakes, a bike like this might have had Sunshine high-flange hubs. For yours, consider low-flange hubs with Araya rims. That frame is significantly more refined than my 1971 Nishiki -- the Japanese really learned the art of fine framebuilding through that decade.

...
SunTour and Shimano were never together so far as I know. ...

True. Shimano was the first Japanese company to introduce a full grouppo. The "other" Japanese grouppo was typically provided jointly by Sansin/Sunshine (hubsets), Araya (rims), DiaCompe (brakes), SunTour (derailleurs and freewheels), Sugino (cranksets), and Kyokuto (pedals). In the early 1970s various Nishiki models (Custom Sport, Olympic) were spec'd with full Shimano, whereas others (Semi-Pro, Road Compe) got the conglomerate's components. Very few Japanese bikes came through with a mix of Shimano and "other."

Wicked cool bike!! The split stem is beautiful! Of course the lug work and paint is nice too,,,,BD;)

I thought by the title that you were just very surprised at seeing an old bike.

With the Cyclone derailleurs and sidepull brakes, I am guessing late 1970s, possibly 1980 vintage. Earlier in the era, with centerpull brakes, a bike like this might have had Sunshine high-flange hubs. For yours, consider low-flange hubs with Araya rims. That frame is significantly more refined than my 1971 Nishiki -- the Japanese really learned the art of fine framebuilding through that decade.

It did come with the Sansin/sunshine high flange hubs. They were taken off the bike for some reason. The rims are gone (I need to find some arayas) but I can get the hubs from the shop that I got the bike from. You think they'll trade me for some NOS Athena hubs?

Love the chrome dropouts too.

On the Kuwahara built Apollo branded bikes distributed in Canada by Fred Deeley, that serial # would indicate August of 1975. They may have had a different system for your bike, but the parts and style would lead me to believe that it is a 75.

vjp

On the Kuwahara built Apollo branded bikes distributed in Canada by Fred Deeley, that serial # would indicate August of 1975. They may have had a different system for your bike, but the parts and style would lead me to believe that it is a 75.

vjp

I agree on the dating. I just got the original hubs back for trade:D they are dated june and july 1975. By the way, they are beautiful, check them out:

http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w12.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w13.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w14.jpg

Now I just need those pesky-not-made-anymore Araya rims (36h). I guess I'll just have to ebuy them:( ;)

I have a 79 Raleigh SuperCourse with those same SunTour GS chromed dropouts if that's any help on dating.

My '83 Raleigh Prestige has those same dropouts.
Nice catch!

Araya still makes rims, there website doesn't look like they sell them themselves, and it's also in Japanese. Put this link into Google's translator.
http://www.araya-kk.co.jp/rim/product.htm

I agree on the dating. I just got the original hubs back for trade:D they are dated june and july 1975. By the way, they are beautiful, check them out:

http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w12.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w13.jpg
http://www.offcenterdesign.org/images/w14.jpg

Now I just need those pesky-not-made-anymore Araya rims (36h). I guess I'll just have to ebuy them:( ;)


Those hubs are sweet. I picked up a set for $30 along with the rims. Sold the rims and I'm also looking for some NOS Araya.

Just for s*&ts and grins, I searched for some more info as to what WOW might have stood for. The only mention I could find was from a guy who examined one while on a group ride and was curious about their history, too. He was fairly sure it was a house brand for some shop or chain and the bike/rider that he mentions were from West Virginia, so he speculated the WOW was a shop from thereabouts. But nobody had any more info...BTW, the frame sounds very much like yours, but his example came with all early black Dura-Ace...sounds tasty!

Holy crap that bike is gorgeous...and the leather covers on the pedals...oh my. Please don't tell me you picked this up for twenty bucks at the local thrift store! It tears me up that someone would actually want to get rid of this bike.

Holy crap that bike is gorgeous...and the leather covers on the pedals...oh my. Please don't tell me you picked this up for twenty bucks at the local thrift store! It tears me up that someone would actually want to get rid of this bike.

First, to ease your mind, I did not pay 20 bucks for it at a thrift store.
Secondly, I don't think that anyone ever OWNED it. It's 32 years old with almost 0 wear... anywhere. I'm guessing it was a demo at some shop. I could remove most of the nuts and bolts with no effort at all. The stem jumped out like I was freeing it from slavery.:D
Now the sad news; the leather clip covers are gone, disintegrated...kind of.:( I know a really nice guy who does custom leather so I may (if I can afford it) get him to re-cover them and maybe sew up a chain-stay protector.

To All:

Thank you so much for echoing my excitement about this find. I feel that I have been given a chance to breathe new life into this beautiful machine. I feel up to the task, but you... are the wind...beneath...my
wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings

Affordable clip covers are available from Velo Orange (http://velo-orange.com/heduhotoeclc.html) They would really make the bike;)

Aaron:)

Affordable clip covers are available from Velo Orange (http://velo-orange.com/heduhotoeclc.html) They would really make the bike;)

Aaron:)

Aaron,

Celebrate! You won!
You are my hero of the day.

I will order them right now.
Yay!

Affordable clip covers are available from Velo Orange (http://velo-orange.com/heduhotoeclc.html)

I have to thank you for reminding me of these. I just ordered two sets of black elkhide. The toes of my shoes thank you :D

Aaron,

Celebrate! You won!
You are my hero of the day.

I will order them right now.
Yay!

Always here to help a fellow C&V'er:D I have bought some odds and ends from VO. I love buying from people that are in it for the love of the sport rather than the newest and greatest or for the big bucks.
How's the riding in Richmond? I was working up there a couple of years ago and did some riding mainly on the southside:eek: and out towards Atlee Station.

Aaron:)