Suteki road bike?
 

Okay so I was at my local thrift store and I spotted a road bike amoung the broken huffys and kids trikes. I did the lift-test and it was probably around 22 pounds or so. It had stem shifters, turkey levers, rubber? tape, and was a 10 speed. Then I looked closer. Shimano 600 front and rear mechs? Tourney centerpulls? sake road champion alloy bars? So I paid the $20 and took it home. The shimano? freewheel is seized and it has Araya 27x1 1/8 rims with no name tires. It actually had newer looking 105 pedals with toe clips but no straps. The rear hub is a wierd 'Suzue' alloy and the front shimano hub is alloy and has '81' stamped on it, which I presume is the year made. Its maroon and measures ~23 inches seat tube length. There are no markings besides 'Made in Japan' above the BB. This is a lugged steel frame with a crome-tipped fork.

Does anyone know what this is? What twilight zone did this come out of? It seems pretty light. I thought Tourney was a mountain group. Is that really Shimano 600/Ultegra? Any knowledge would be appreciated.

Suteki was one of the minor Japanese brands distributed in the US during the mid and late 1970s. They may have survived into the 1980s, but offhand, I don't recall them from that period. The Tourney center-pull brakes were very common in the 1970s and were found on mid-range and upper entry-level bicycles. It was not uncommon for manufacturers to bait customers by upgrading the derailleurs, as this was the components by which many cusumers judged the overall quality of the bicycle. So it is posssible that the 600 derailleurs are original, especially if they are the 1st generation 600. These rear derailleurs were slightly downscale to what 600 would eventually become, using stamped aluminum sheet for the lower pivot housing and parallelogram arms. The only casting was the upper pivot housing. Still, I'm surprised to find stem shifters.

Some pictures would also help.

Here's mine. This is a old picture. It looks WAY better now. If its demanded, I might try to get some up to date pics. If your bike is the same model as mine, it will have Track 10 on the top tube.

Here are some shots of it:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...004_resize.jpg
Drive-side view

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...016_resize.jpg
BB & serial

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...014_resize.jpg
Tourney centerpulls

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...015_resize.jpg
Seattube logo which is the only other marking on the bike except the headtube badge.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...010_resize.jpg
Shimano 600 FD

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...012_resize.jpg
Shimano 600 RD

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...005_resize.jpg
Badge

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...006_resize.jpg
Comfort/Stem shifters

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...IMG_4002sm.jpg
bad rear shot (the bike on the floor)

That bike is all the same as mine, except mine came with white bar tape and mine didnt come with rear QR.

That's what I used to call a UJB (Universal Japanese Bicycle). Back during the height of the bike boom, when we couldn't get enough Schwinn's and Raleigh's in at the shop, we'd be getting flyers on at least a weekly basis offering bike either identical or damn close to this (alternative versions would have SunTour), unlabeled, so the shop could come up with it's own brand and sell them as that.

Merle, the owner, never bit on any of them - figured it wouldn't do the shop's reputation any good. At least you got the better crankset. Most of the SunTour equipped ones had the cheap three pin cotterless crank (SR?).

Syke
Deranged Few M/C

Mine has the SR cranks. Well, that explains the toasted crankset bearings. Well, in all its a pretty good bike. [IMO]

so does anyone know what the frame material is?

Do you mean steel or allumnum or that sort of thing? My vote is steel.

actually i was referring to any decals on any other suteki's that say 1020 hi-ten, or 4130 butted, etc, because here are no such decals on mine.

The stamped rear dropouts are usually a good indicator that at least the stays are hi-tensile steel. As for the main triangle, unless there is a decal on R54's bicycle, the seat tube diameter is usally a pretty good indicator. 26.8mm and above are usually indicate butted, CrMo. Plain gauge CrMo is usually in the 26.2-26.8mm range. 26.2mm and under is typically hi-tensile steel. There is some overlap. Considering the fittings and era, my guess would be a hi-tensile or plain gauge CrMo main triangle.

Just watch the front deurrailer cable, its prone to breakage. Ive broken mine, and before when somebody made a suteki track 10 website, they had broken there stock front deurrailer cable.

Oldie but goody
 

I have owned one of these bikes since I graduated from high school in 1984. My dad bought it from sears. I still ride it today just starting riding again. This bike rides really nice after new tires and regreased of the crank bearings and wheels.
I ride with a buddy and he is amazed at how well this bike rolls very little effort and coasts forever.

Might change the handle bars .. already replaced the seat.
Don't have a current photo but it is burgundy color.

suteki tire specs:
 

Hi! Does anyone who owns this bike know what sizing it says on the tires. i recently took it into a rei for a tune up and the new tires i got are a bit bulkier and i miss the way my old ones felt :(

Generally speaking, older Japanese bikes will come with 27" wheels. 27" tires generally come in 1", 1 1/8", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8". those generally work out to 25cm, 28cm, 32cm and 35cm.

My guess is you were used to 1 1/8" tires and you got 1 1/4" tires.

Don't forget, if you had 40 year old tires, they may have hardened and rode quite differently from the way they did 20, 30, 40 years ago. On top of that, less expensive tires will have a tendency to be heavier and less "plush" and there has been movement towards more supple tires in recent years.