tanks

Hi all,

Just looking for some info here. I've been living in Japan for a while and am about to move back to America. The other day my friend got some really cool keirin bikes from a retired racer. All Bridgestone, all the same color and frame size. I fell in love immediately. I don't know a whole lot about these bikes. He offered to sell me one completely set up with all the original parts the keirin racer used for about $820 (100,000 yen) or just the frame for about $325 (40,000 yen). They look really cool. I was planning on buying the one in the best shape for myself. It looks like the original owner used it only in his last race, because it's in pristine condition and even has some stickers certifying its use in the race (I think that's what they say, anyway. My kanji reading isn't so hot.)

Anyway, my bike shop-owner friend seems to think they're worth a mint back in the States and is telling me I should buy the full bike and another frame to take back with me and sell. He's an honest guy, so I don't think he's trying to rip me off, but is he just trying to pad the sale? I don't have a whole lot of info on the bikes other than they're 52cm and all the accompanying parts are NJS-certified. Here's a picture of the one I liked. You can see one of the other frames on the side:



Is there any other information I should try and determine about them? I think I'm going to buy the one pictured for myself, but I don't want to end up with two bikes if they're not really as popular as he thinks they are.

johnprolly

They are, sell them on ebay - you could get as much as $800 for the frameset...

mugatu

$820 for that complete bike is a steal

trons

get the frame alone.. the entire bike as is would not be entirely practical for everyday riding with the kashimax and tubies and what not.

Igneous Faction

I'd do what he recommended if you have the cash. As stated above, one frameset would probably fetch between $500 on the very low end and $800-850 on the very high end. I have a feeling that color would be pretty popular, too.

oktokrewl

I would totally buy the frame from you if it were smaller.. a bright green keirin bike is the best! especially if it has sparkles goddamn japan is SO rad...

tanks

you're probably right about the full bike as-is being not-so-practical. but is it possible the parts are worth anything?

also, anybody know about transporting these things? i think i might be able to get one full bike, or possibly two frames on the plane home if i say they're sports equipment.

andypants

Buy a full bike. If you want to ride it on the street, sell that NJS stuff for mad moneeeezzzz.

EMT

I don't see why you couldn't take the whole bike and also a frame. Why not?

And I'm sure you could sell at least some of the parts on ebay as well ...

Pfutz

Buy a complete and the frame, the frame will get you a grip of money and if you didnt want the parts on the other one, they too would sell fairly well. I would wager you would come out well on top.

tanks

because i think i'm going to have to carry them with me in a cardboard bike box as i don't have a carrying case or anything. he told me he'd consider packing the full bike and another frame, but he's really worried about the frames getting bent or scratching against each other if they're packed too tightly.

oktokrewl

the parts are worth anything...

and just take it all apart and put the frames in bike boxes, you can get them from the airlines... I spent way too much on a bike bag and would have felt MUCH safer just having my bike in the cardboard box, and the hard cases are huge, heavy, cost a grip, and make you pay like at least $100 per bike per airline cuz of the overweight/oversize fee...

I say try to keep as many of the small parts in your luggage, like the handlebars, seat/post, pedals etc... and get the cardboard boxes for the wheels and frames... and get the little plastic things (i forgot what they are called) to put in your fork and dropouts so that they dont get bent... You will have to pay extra for the extra bag allowance, but it's not too much and you should easily be able to make back the $$ when you sell the stuff..

orbThorn

Can I call dibs on the frame...

abeabe

i just bought a very much (80%) njs bridgestone setup for just a bit more than that. go for it

also that frame looks a little fresher than mine

tanks

good advice. thanks.

i'd feel bad turning around and selling this stuff at a large profit (if i'm able), but i told him i was considering doing just that and he looked at me and said very sincerely, "yes. please. go make money."

blickblocks

The wheels might not be too sought after (not too many fixie kids like tubies) but the rest of the components would definately be worth keeping. Buy the bike sans wheels.

Here's kind of an out there idea...

I bet if you got some cheap mags while you're there you could sell the thing for even more...I saw some inexpensive mags comparable to Aerospokes that are only available in Japan. Ask your friend if he knows of any.

tanks

bit early yet! i won't be back in the states until the end of the month, and probably won't be settled enough to start thinking about selling them until the middle of august. once i've got things figured out i'm sure i'll post about it in this thread to see if anyone's interested before i ebay them.

thanks for all the help and information, everyone! i think i have a good idea of what to do. i'm going to buy two of the three frames with their parts (minus the wheels/kashimax). not carrying the wheels should save me a bunch of space, and maybe i can even fit both frames in a single bike box if i pack it well enough and carry some of the parts in my luggage.

drewcifer

wow you're really lucky.

youll get an amazing bike and big profits out of this deal

akatsuki

Take the whole bike. immediately. Some people want NJS everything, and they will pay for it. You can switch the wheels to clinchers and even the saddle if you want to something else. I bought an Anchor my last trip and they were out of complete bikes so I had to make do with the frame alone and I didn't have time to source everything else. So buying the stuff here was expensive and I did want to start off mostly NJS. The only thing I didn't do NJS were the wheels/hubs.

Fixxxie

that stuff will sell in a Nano-Second

br995

You can also ship the bike via EMS (from most any post office). Not cheap (it was about $130 for me to ship a complete bike), but only takes about 4 days and you won't have to lug it on the plane. The box should arrive in pretty good condition (at least compared to an airline's handling).


As everyone said, get both. That price for the full bike is pretty good (not amazing, considering you probably can't resell the tubular wheelset for much) but good. And as people have said, that color will sell real well. I don't know about a Bridgestone going for $800, especially in such a common (and small) size, but I guess it's possible. You'll definitely make a good chunk on it though.

andre nickatina

sweet color.

Nekura

Buy all three.

tanks

ok. now for a VERY noob question. i was talking to another friend about
this keirin bike -- knowledgable guy. works at a shop. loves fixies -- and he warned me to stay away from it. keirin bikes, he said, are pretty much not designed in any way, shape, or form to be ridden on the street and there's not much i can do to change that. doesn't matter what kind of parts i put on it. there's not enough clearance for fatter tires, the geometry is too steep, possible toe clearance problem with the front wheel, no way to add a brake if i want to, stiff, twitchy, uncomfortable, etc. overall, not an optimal street ride.

is he right? is this pretty much the case with keirin bikes, or are there things you can do/parts you can swap to counterbalance the fact that, yes, they were pretty much designed to go around a big circle in a minute or less. what, if anything, could one do to make this a street bike?

Tadashi

You can drill the fork and install the front brake. You can swap the bars. But that's it, you won't change the geometry, so it may be uncomfortable on the street for you. There's also a high chance of hitting a front tire with your foot because of the short wheelbase.

BTW, how many frames are there? I may be interested in buying one for 40k yen. I live in Tokyo, are you and your friend in Tokyo as well?