Flash

I posted questions at various times re: this project. I've been riding it for a couple of months now, finally got around to posting pictures. The frame is a 1985 Panasonic Team. The fork is original but I painted it in an attempt to match the "night blue" frame color. It was silver. Touched up the frame quite a bit as well.

The frame was de-rusted on the inside using that cool product whose name escapes me at this moment. Then framesaver. I think the pics cover all the key components. Not period-accurate across the board, but I got what I wanted. Weight is a shade over 21 lbs. My favorite part of the bike: the original anodized Araya 20A rims.

Notable are the Shimano 600 top mount shifters which are rarely seen in the wild. And yes, the delicate shifter internals are problematic in index mode as described by Sheldon Brown. I just use friction, which is quite smooth once you get the feel for right tension.

The spokes are dt swiss competition, the threaded hub is a Maillard with 6 spd Shimano 14-28 freewheel. Shimano 600 crank, 39-52 rings. The bottle cages are original made in Japan, close to period-correct.

cheers, and thanks for the help along the way

well biked

Nice job, it's always nice to see a nice old bike brought back to life.

One thing I'm curious about: why the brake hoods pointing up? I think you'll find they're very ergonomic (i.e., comfortable) in a more horizontal position. They create a nice shelf to rest your hands on if installed correctly. As they are, I see wrist pain. But to each their own; and again, nice job-

Flash

thanks, and I agree on the hoods. I'm rotating the bars downward a bit with each ride and finding I like the positioning better. The hoods may eventually get moved themselves. cheers

neil0502

Beautiful

I've recently started scouring FleaBay and CL, in my area, for a similar project bike. Idle hands, as they say....

Thanks for posting the pics. Many happy miles!

Benjamino

Well done!

I was this close to selling my NOS Tange 1 Lotus frame before I saw your post. Not anymore.

Thanks!!

TallRider

Looks like you have RX100 chainrings from the early 1990's on that Shimano 600 crank. It's a nice-looking build.

I had the same thoughts about the handlebar being rotated way too much up. If you need that to get a comfortable fit, it may be that the stem is too long (in terms for forward extension) for you.

Looks like you're running the Shimano 105 (1050) front brake, although no clear picture of that. I've had that brakeset on a few of my bikes at various points in time, and it works well. The levers are nothing to write home about though - they work fine but the shape wasn't as comfortable for most people's hands as the updated Shimano brake hood shape that debuted in the early 1990's and is still made today (although in low quantities because of STI). I prefer the larger Tektro brake hoods myself, patterned after Campy Ergopower shape, but I have large hands.

Flash

wow, thanks for all the details. Nice to know others out appreciate these Japanese bikes. I dream of the day I will acquire one of the higher end Panasonic Team bikes from the mid-80s range. See below for my comments/answers:

I'm not obsessed with weight, but I'm getting there ;-) There's sort of a sweet spot for me with these bikes and it's in between 19 and 21 lbs. I always suspected the Arayas were relatively light and when I got them on the scale they turned out to be lighter than any other vintage wheels I own. They ride fabulously as well. I'm constantly on the lookout for more, espec black anodized. The night blue is such a cool color. My attempts to mix paint to match largely failed on the fork, but you need to look closely. The stock night blue looks black until you get it in the right light, then the blue pops.

Your bronze hubs and rims must look great. Let's see some pix!
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Yes. Another key selling point was the textured swirls on the handles. Love those. More than anything I wanted the Shimano 600 perforated levers, but the non-aero nature of these levers rules them out. I suppose I could re-engineer them to be aero levers if I really tried ;-) I took the Blaze calipers from my 1991 Bridgestone RB-2. I had planned to use NOS rx-100 calipers but the Blaze looked like a better fit from an aesthetic standpoint. rx-100 very bulky looking.

Thanks for the great tips here. Always good to know of more options. The friction shifting is already exhibiting some unpredictable tensioning, so, as you say, it's a matter of time. But I have an ace-in-the-hole! I sold the original shimano levers on ebay, but was able to re-acquire them when the buyer agreed to sell them back to me! I believe they are lower end z-series or something (panasonic bike archive has the details), but they should work.

I have to admit that I really don't like the look of the clamp-ons.

yeah, me too. don't want to tape and retape...;-)

man, you've got a lot of bikes! While I agree that the weight difference is probably trivial, that does not stop me from searching for Tange 1, Tange Prestige frames in my size. Very curious about those...

so far so good, but I don't plan on ever being in the 52/28 combo! I did a 40 mile ride the other day with 1000 ft of climbing -- nothing too strenuous on that ride -- and did not need the 28. Nice to know it is there!