indiecore

First off:

Pictures & Serial Number


So I got this frame for basically nothing with the intent to build it into a fixie/SS (I'm going to leave the braze ons alone in case I want to do something else though, don't worry) after I get that rust off and make sure it's safe.

However I went looking for general information on the bike and couldn't turn up *anything* that made me really curious so I'm wondering if anyone here can dig up some information on it. What's really getting my goat is I know Nakamura as a dealer in BSOs with too much suspension that they sell at Sportchek but this frame is pretty decent (under the surface coating of rust).

Hummer

Once upon a time Nakamura was a brand name of Ompax from Montreal, Quebec. Later this company was purchaced by the ProCycle group of Quebec.

Ompax mostly distributed bicycles in the province of Quebec, but their bicycles where found in other parts of Canada.

I have seen a Nakamura Triathlon for sale on Kijiji in Quebec.

Thanks for posting the pictures and serial number.

indiecore

Bam. New info found on a used bike ad.

Ad:

Road Bike ~ Nakamura Triathlon 53cm [u'North West'], Calgary

Pictures for posterity:

https://imgur.com/a/utPy8

Info from seller:
This is clearly a different model year than mine, and some of the components are probably not original (looking at those tektro levers especially). The seller lists a lot of japanese components which backs up the idea of an importer and the fact that all the results I've seen from the web have been Canadian backs up the history I've seen (and that Hummer) provided of the name originally being a Canadian importer brand before the brand was bought by Intersport.

The presence of a 7 speed cassette means this bike has the same rear spacing as mine (126mm) and the general shape and geometry look similar and it's lugged in the same places. My headtube is longer and the headset seems to be different (mine has a knurled grip on it's top race). Nonetheless this might be a decent place to start for a rebuild, exage action was the mid tier exage groupset IIRC.

I tried to figure out how to contact the seller from this ad but it looks like the bike sold so I couldn't get a picture of the serial number to compare formats if I wanted to.

indiecore

What's interesting is that neither my bike, nor this one match the only set of Nakamura decals I've ever seen for sale on ebay.

Nakamura Original Bicycle Bike Decal Sticker SET NOT Remade | eBay

I also notice that his bike has the rear brake cable under the top tube whilst mine has it running along the top centre.

edit

Found another BB forum member with a Nakamura bike. This one looks a lot like the usedcalgary poster's bike does with the rear brake cable running under the top tube and the same Nakamura branding badge on the head tube, however it's equipped with Shimano 105 7 speed components and the location of the cromoly steel badge matches the location on my bike.

edit the second

https://www.bikeforums.net/introducti...mano-full.html

This thread mentions a Triathlon coming with a full 105 set.

T-Mar

Nakamura is a private label brand owned by Canadian sports distributor FGL Sports ltd. (formerly Forzani) which markets the bicycles though their chain stores, including InterSport, Sportchek and Sports Experts.

The Nakamura brand goes back to the mid-1980s and the bicycles were built by various contract manufacturers. Typically the bicycles were spec'd to hit a lower price point than other models with similar major components. Consequently, this often resulted in downgrades to tertiary components such as headsets, bottom brackets, hubs and other components to which customers did not pay close attention. Workmanship could vary from poor to good.

The subject bicycle in post #3 is circa 1989 based on the Exage Action front derailleur which is likely OEM.It is likely of Taiwanese origin. The Tektro calipers are an obvious upgrade.

The bicycle is post #1 is an earlier model based on the fork crown. It is probably circa 1986 based on the serial number and likely from Taiwan.