Originally Posted by
Chuck M
Don't get me wrong, I love my Takaras. And both of them I have more money in than I could likely ever sell them for but who sells bikes anyway? They are indeed well built bikes, bullet proof as all get out. I have two, a 1980 950 Deluxe 12 and a 1981 970 Grand Touring. In high school, I had a 1981 960 Deluxe Touring. I'm still looking for a 960 and I would love to find a nice Takara Competition or Takara Professional. I've came across a couple of 960s but not in the condition I want to mess with. My Grand Touring would look good with fenders and they certainly would be useful, but I just haven't found what I want.
And in the spirit of gratuitous pictures, here is my 970, pardon the dirty skin wall tires, this is a great rain bike so the tires are a bear to keep clean.
That looks an awful lot like the Takara I restored for the Clunker Challenge last year.
This one didn't originally have the downtube stripes, but I added them, taking inspiration from pictures I found online. It was a nice bike.