Classic & Vintage - c.itoh bicycles

my friend got a 10 or 12 speed road bike out of the trash and gave it to me. its called a c.itoh. The frame construction is rather unusual. the dropouts seem to be strangly riveted to the chain/seat stays. it also has really fat painted lugs and all the tubing is unpainted silver. it may be aluminum, but i havent really checked it over too well. its equipped with shimano 600 group. it doesnt have wheels so im trying to determine if it takes 700c or 27 inch rims. does anybody have any info on this make?

You may have a rebadged Kabuki made with stainless steel tubing. We saw these bikes in Ohio when the bike boom was going in the mid-seventies. Not a bad bike. Very unique. A cross section of the lug/tube juncture shows a threaded, pressure cast joint. Shimano 600 is good stuff. I'd keep it and try to put it back into shape if it looks ok and isn't bent anywhere. Do a search here on Kabuki bikes to find out more about them.

i am planning on keeping it, but i was going to build up a set of 700c wheels with a coaster brake hub, and put full fenders on it (considering it has fender mounts) and use it as a rain bike. but who knows maybe ill just fixe it and leave it stock...

so i did a search on kabuki and c.itoh. sheldon browns website came up, and from what it says there about kabuki applieds whole-heartedly to this bike. most notably is the seat tube with the expander wedge. very weird. so this is indeed a re-badged kabuki submariner.

also, i do have the rear wheel unlike i thought...it has a very nice black dura-ace hub on it! im very pleasantly surprised with this bike because previously i thought it was low-end.

If it's a 70's bike, it almost certainly took 27X1-1/4 inch wheels and tires. Before you buy/build 700mm wheels for it, make sure they fit the bike...personally, I'd go with the 27" wheels...

dont get me wrong, im a HUGE fan on the 27 inch wheel size. i have 27" raleigh fixed gear and a 27" motobecane singlespeed. i am thinking of running a 700c with a fat tire, possibly 38mm to approximately equal the original 27" rim size.

i really like the 27x1-3/8 cross terra all terrain tires

38 mm is not fat.. I've got an electra commuter 7 w/ 700x42 tires...

but will 42mm tires fit in a frame designed for 27" rims?

42mm would be ~1.65 inches. I'd say you'd need to carefully measure the space between the seat stays to figure this out. 27" tires go up to ~ 1-3/8" +/-, so 42mm would be a little on the big side...