But who was Mr. H. Hagiwara, and what is an “Erba”? I am still working on the former, but on the latter I think the better question is: Where is Erba?

There were many clues on the frame/fork.The components were either Campagnolo Record or Super Record, due to the shadow of a Campagnolo derailleur clamp on the down tube, the “Erba” pantographed Campagnolo down tube shifters and Cenilli R1 stem. Then there was the use of Italian on all the decals. When I worked through the online translations I came up with:

Cicli corsa erba giappone – Erba racing cycles Japan
Cicli corsa - racing cycles
Erba corsa – Erba race
Eloaborated da erba Hagiwara Giappone – Erba made by Hagiwara Japan

But then there was one clue that had always been staring me in the face, the word “Erba”.

One day when I had run out of leads and sources I did a final thing, I Googled “Erba” and got a hit.

Erba exists, it is a town in the foothills of the Lombardy Alps, in the Lake Cuomo region, and there is a bike race held near Erba, the Giro di Lombardia or Il Lombardi the “Classic of the Falling Leaves”. This bike race originated in 1905 and has the fewest interruptions of any bike race. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycling, and one of the last events on the UCI World Tour calendar. Fausto Coppi won this race 5 times and its race winners reads like a list of the legends of cycle racing. Leaving Erba you can ride to the spiritual center of bike racing the Chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo, dedicated to Bike Racers and then climb to the summit where there is a new Museum dedicated to Bike Racing. To me there are too many co-incidences, Mr. H. Hagiwara built a race bike styled after the great Italian race bikes, with Italian components, Italian language decals whose name is a city in the foothills of the Lombardy Alps roadway to the Chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo. Mr. H. Hagiwara would have known all this when he built this race bike.

So here is my final homage to this bike, the double lucky number 13, for all the enjoyment of this journey, and after spinal surgery in the next two weeks, a grail ride on this bike awaits in three years when I turn 70. To climb to the summit past the Chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo as the Giro di Lombardia does each year, perhaps with a grandchild or two.