justin10054

I keep my Fuji touring bike at my dad's house so that I have a bike to ride when I visit. While visiting last weekend, I fell in love with this bike again. Since then, I've been daydreaming of building up the ultimate Japanese long distance bike with all Japanese parts.

So, to get me inspired I thought it'd be fun to start this thread and see what you guys are riding. We can be loose here with the definition of a touring bike. I just want to see some cool bikes.

Here's my Fuji. I'm not sure of the model, but it's heavy enough to be straight-gage tubing. It's still a lot of fun to ride and I've got it set up with some great components.

This is what it looked like when I was experimenting with a Campy drivetrain



This is how it looks now with the original Suntour derailleurs and a triple crank

The Golden Boy 

Really surprised this thread hasn't gotten a lot of traction...

I accidentally bumped into a cherry 1984 Schwinn Voyageur SP. This is a Panasonic built bike- the frame is a Columbus SL and SP mix. This bike was built with THE finest, top of the line in road, touring and mountain bike components made in 1984. It's also interesting that this is a completely Shimano free build. I've swapped a few things out here and there (the handlebars were bent in shipping), but it's really a fantastic riding bike. It has an entirely different feel from my Trek tourers, but it's a great riding bike.

justin10054

Me too. I guess people aren't riding Japanese bikes anymore.

I really dig your Schwinn, but must confess to knowing very little about Japanese-made Schwinns. What are the models to look out for?

Roger M

Picture's a few years old. I used to tow my son down to the MUP so he could ride. The bike is an 82? Miyata 1000.

nlerner

Ebisu in bagel-fetching mode (the front bag holds a baker's dozen bagels):

The Golden Boy 

Thank you!

I think all the Japanese made Schwinns are pretty well regarded, much like most Japanese made bikes from the 70s and 80s.

The 82 SuperSport SP really intrigues me- the Super Sport was always more of a 'go fast' kind of bike. So the 82 model was outfitted with a triple and racks... I don't know about the geometry- but it certainly looks like a nifty bike.

The Golden Boy 

I thought the Ebisus were made in CA.

Roger M

Neal, didn't you mean " a Bakers dozen dozen"

nlerner

Spec'd and imported by Jitensha Studios in Berkeley, but made in Japan.

nlerner

Are you saying my bag's too big, Roger?

The Golden Boy 

Ahhh!!!

Roger M

Nope, but with that bag you can make fewer trip to the bagel shop( or lumber yard)

otg 

Here's picture from today of my 1985 Miyata 615.

KonAaron Snake 

I'm not sure if this counts or not...

bikemig 

I'm not quite sure if this counts either since my '93 bridgestone XO-2 was designed around 26 inch wheels and it indexed on 7 originally; I rebuilt it around 8.

To my mind the classic Japanese touring bikes came in 27 inch or 700c wheels and were mainly pre-indexing. But I do like my bridgestone; lightweight 26 x 1.5 rims and tires roll well:

The Golden Boy 

I'm so glad you picked up that bike!!! It suits you well.

elmore leonard

I wonder how many of these Japanese bike were made by Kuwahara and branded for others? Below is copied and pasted from google.

History and Models
Please click on each picture of the different models below for much more info, pictures and others details.
[TABLE="width: 650"]
[TR]
[TD]Kuwahara was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1918 by Sentaro Kuwahara. It was a family run business with help from his wife and eight children that made and sold bicycles and bike parts at first in his neighborhood, then growing and expanding more. In 1925 Kuwahara began to export bicycles and parts to Russia, China and Southeast Asia. Kuwahara closed their doors for business temporarily from 1940 till 1945 due to World War II. In 1947 Kuwahara reopened again for business and Sentaro Kuwahara became the first chairman of the board of directors of the first bicycle wholesale association in Japan. In 1959 the very first and small shipment of bicycles were delivered to the USA. Sadly in 1960 founding company president Sentaro Kuwahara passed away and his Son, Masao Kuwahara took over in his place. In 1962 Kuwahara sent it's first shipment of APOLLO brand sport (10speed or 12speed road racing) bicycles to Canada. In 1968 Kuwahara started exporting bicycles to the USA as private label bikes for other companies such as Schwinn, Takara, Puch, Concord, Apollo, Azuki and others. Kuwahara had never produced their own Kuwahara brand bike outside of Japan until 1972 when Kuwahara began developing BMX bicycles for the US, Canada, European and Australian markets. During the middle 1970's the BMX boom had started and Kuwahara was regularly exporting Kuwahara brand BMX's to these countries. In 1979 Takuo Kuwahara became the new (and present) President of Kuwahara. He started up a Factory Kuwahara BMX team each in The US, Canada, Europe and Australia. In 1980 Kuwahara also started developing and exporting Mountain bikes to Canada and Australia. In 1982 Steven Spielbergs hit movie E.T. featured Kuwahara BMX's and famous riders of those days including Bob Haro. Many famous riders raced for the Factory Kuwahara teams such as Gary Ellis, Clint Miller, Joe Baumert, David Cullinan, Lee Medlin, Leo Green, Matt Harris and Kevin McNealve. Kuwahara International was founded and Kuwahara road race bikes were used by the Canadian Olympic team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Kuwahara's were also used by Germany, Switzerland, and Finland of the KUWAHARA MTB mountain bike XC team for the world cup. 1991 saw Kuwahara win it's first world championship UCI MTB series in Switzerland. In 1992 due to the escalating Japanese Yen, Kuwahara closed it's Japanese export business in Osaka and shifted that part overseas where it could be more competitive. Kuwahara International was then moved to Osaka, Japan where many interesting new bicycles were designed and won many awards around the world. In 2001 Universal Studios opened an amusement park in Osaka, Japan and Kuwahara set up a small exhibition for display. With the last remaining KZ frames from the 1980's Kuwahara re-released a reproduction model in the classic E.T colors. Kuwahara is still active today and very popular in Canada and other European countries.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Cougrrcj

I picked up this Miyata-built Univega Gran Tourismo a couple of months ago. Pic is from the original Craigslist ad.



Over this next Winter, I plan to refurb it to my specs. SunTour barcons, changing out the cheap seat for something a bit nicer (think Brooks or VO touring saddle), getting rid of that gawd-awful foam grip stuff on the bars, adding a set of VO 45mm Facette fenders, installing a Blackburn rear rack, etc.

Originally, I was going to turn my beloved '75 Fuji S-10S into a dedicated tourer since it already has a triple crank and longer wheelbase, but then this Uni came along...

BTW, as a nod to the previous post on Kuwahara, my aforementioned Fuji has a serial number that starts with a 'K' so maybe the frame was manufactured by Kuwahara.

RidesaJapanese

Did I hear Japanese touring bikes? This is my favorite steed so far, a Takara Deluxe Touring. Not sure if I ever mentioned this, but I only paid $3 for it at a flea market last spring.

RidesaJapanese

While not exactly a touring bike, this Kenko 10 speed is all Japanese and a great ride.

RidesaJapanese

And here we have a project bike, a Japanese made Schwinn Traveler, all complete and for $15 I couldn't leave it. I think very highly of the Japanese bike boom era rides.

justin10054

How do you like your Ebisu and what was the ordering process like? I've kinda had my eye on them lately.

eschlwc

'83 kawamura nishiki international

nlerner

I like it a great deal though it's not quite as sprightly a rider as I would have liked. I'm not quite sure why. Ordering was by phone and email. Very easy when I did it about six years ago or so.

justin10054

Nice! Weren't some of the early Sequoia frames made by Yoshi Konno/3Rensho?