I retired this bike from winter duty a few years ago thinking that I did not want to subject what is one of my favourite bikes (ever) to the abuse our winters dish out.

I found another Kuwahara to serve as my winter bike... it is an '88 Shasta which is also a hand built lugged frame on Ishiwata triple butted tubes. Just because I ride in thre winter does not mean I will put up with riding a beater as winter is already hard enough.

The Shasta was a model down from the Cascade which was their top of the line model and as such, not nearly as common.

My Cascade used to look almost identical to the Shasta which inherited some of her old parts.