AL NZ

20 yrs ago I had a NZ-assembled bike called a Healing Shogun
It was a lugged steel frame with Shimano 600 gear on it, Arabesque as far as I can tell, but I wasn't familiar with the name "Arabesque" at that time. I foolishly put the bike on the kerb in about 1997 for 'community recycling' - it disappeared in an hour - I hope it went to a good home.

I now have enough bikes. I have Insight. I have Insight. I have Insight
I must not buy any more bikes. I must not buy any more bikes.

But the LBS has an 80s Healing mixte (a NZ brand, now defunct). It is fairly good condition, original decals, etc.
I am 6'3" and 240 lbs, so it wont do for me, but...

It has full 600 Arabesque kit, including the lovely Allen-keyed crankset (but missing the trouser-protector ring on the large chainring, which my bike had), and they only want NZD $150, which seems a good deal to me

How desirable is the old 600 gear?

randyjawa 

Shimano 600 Arabesque is very desirable and works like a charm. My opinion, of course. That said, I have sold an Arabesque crank set for $160.00 and a complete grouppo for $305.00. And I never have a problem flogging the parts.

I have fitted a few bikes with Shimano 600 Arabesque, including my 1975 Sekine SHT 270 and my early eighties ALAN "Super Record".



ALAN_Build_1_Brid .jpg

khatfull

While I don't have any nor ever have I think it's a beautiful group and I sure wouldn't snub a bike with it installed.

milky

I love it, both the way it looks, and functions. I have it on my Kerry Hopkins frame at the moment.

For a 600 group, and a nice mixte frame, that sounds like a done deal.

remotelocal

i'm also in NZ! love the arabesque stuff. i have the FD and RD of it on my carlton raleigh. which brings me to my next question, milky, is that an adaptor kit to get the 600arabesques on the down-tube? my bike has campy levers, but i'd love to get the arabesques onto my braze-ons.

sauze

LOVE those shifters. Very classy.

23skidoo

I've seen a lot of Arabesque and have snagged some of the best that's past through my hands, but never seen braze on DT shifters as pictured on milky's rig--those look really super. +1 on the function, as I've got two bikes in collection with full Arabesque sets and never had the slightest problem.

DRietz

Hey Randy, on that Sekine are the brakes sidepull? I'm running into a predicament with my Mercian and sidepulls, and if your bike has them, I think I found my cable routing solution.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I think they look incredible when the black is in good condition, but I'm not impressed with the performance, its not garbage but its certainly not SunTour.

RobbieTunes

+1

Great looking stuff when it's well cleaned and polished. You can touch up the black with a fine point paint pen.

However, in order for it to stay with Suntour's smoothness, it has to be kept clean and lubed a lot more than the Suntour does.

I had it on a Soma Competition with a Brooks saddle (thanks, roccobike) and when I finally decided to sell it, the first curious browser was all over it, paying $20 more than I asked... It goes very well on classic bikes, especially those with no braze-ons. I added a ramped 600 freewheel, and it worked very well.

bumpalong

+ 1

I have a full Arabesque gruppos on a Univega Gran Rally and an unknown Bianchi (free CL listing - had a bent fork). It looks fabulous and for me has always worked very nicely. You'll love it.

I did once see a post here in BF by someone who stated with conviction that the Arabesque RD had a design defect though. My concern grew when a couple years ago I bought another Univega for my son with full Arabesque, except a modern replacement RD. Has anyone had a bad experience with their Arabesque RD?

Chombi

The Shimano Arabesque group seem to be an attempt to "Europeanize" their product. which is at first strange to think about, being that most Shimano groups were usually deviod of such decoration and almost sterile looking (ie....DA7400) after the Arabesque.
The Japanese culture seems to llike to embrace the Baroque cultures from Europe a lot. From their almost addiction to classical music from Europe to even trying to dress the part (Ever watch the old Iron Chef episodes from Japan?). It looks kinda silly to us in the West, but seems to be quite respectable fashion in Japan. What is interesting is, if you look closely at the decorations on an Arabesque shift levers as pictured in this thread, there is a definite Japanese flavor to the details on it. An almost heavy handedness that differs from what an Italian or French designer trying to maintain a classical look to their components might have done(most likely more restrained). The decidedly modern western fonts of the brand/model name on the levers also to clashes with the heavy almost Chinese looking scrollwork so you get a blend that looks something like "Japaglish". It's all kinda "cute" in a way as it looks like Shimano was dipping their toes back then into the classic Euro pool of components and came up with this mishmash of East/West/modern/classic style for the "Arabesque" line. I'm actually quite glad that the Arabesque line eventually went away and Shimano seems to have gotten the courage after that to just stick to their own new designs and have a more unique, modern Japanese approach to their component lines that they can call their own. and not try to openly emulate someting Euro.
JMOs

Chombi

Grand Bois

I've always thought it was overly embellished and downright tacky. It's a matter of taste and there's no accounting for taste. The only part of the group I've ever owned is the crank and I like it very much. It looks pretty much the same as early Dura Ace to me.

milky

I used this to update the band-on shifters to braze-on.

I keep mine well greased and lubed, and it works very smoothly.
Though, the only suntour I've ridden is on my suntour 7 GT equipped Peugeot. So I can't really comment on it vs. suntour.

granpremioman

I am currently doing a build with this group.

albrt 

I like the Arabesque look and I have a groupset+ waiting for the right bike. I paid a fair amount for it and the values seem to be holding up.

To me the look is more psuedo-victorian steampunk than actual arabesque. It seems perfect for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen resto-mod.

I've heard complaints about performance compared to Suntour, but the same thing is true of most Campy from the same period.

Lascauxcaveman 

IMO, it's functionally equivalent to Nuovo Record. Slightly higher spring tension on the Arabesque derailleurs. I've owned several second hand groups of each and that is my my observation on the two.

Form your own opinions as to appearance.

abdon 

Just to add some info:

1st generation: The original 600 group (6100 series) was introduced in 1976. It was significant as it was the first complete group set for mid level bikes. I think it was also Shimano's first group for Campagnolo dropouts (bye bye Simplex). This was the first group set that Shimano began selling in volume around the world.

2nd generation: The Shimano arabesque group, real name 600 EX or (6200 series). Every time I hear "is 600 EX better than Arabesque?" it bugs me a little because the Arabesque is indeed an EX group, just older.

3rd Generation, Shimano 600 AX. Yes, I know I said it was produced concurrent with the 2nd gen EX but this one was 1981~1984. This is an interesting group; think franken delta brakes and a cable hanger on the derailleur that makes it looks like an alien earpiece.

And finally, 4th generation 600 EX, 1985. The hot second Suntour's slanted parallelogram patent expired everybody redesigned their stuff. The 4th generation finally implemented said slanted parallelogram.

bark_eater 

Well I'm still a few pieces short of collecting a full groupset. Still waiting for a cheap long cage rear derailleur and a crankset to present themselves. My interest them is in the kitchyness.

oneclick 

The rear mechs have a flaw; the upper end of the torsion spring is fixed by that plastic cover bit.

Which breaks.

Fixing Shimano 600 Arabesque spring cover

Jeff Wills

Wow! Revive a zombie thread and no one quotes a post from 2010.

Will wonders never cease?