Originally Posted by sivat
Does anyone know anything about the Araya frames? I know they built nice rims, and I'm assuming their frames are just rebranded. The bike i'm looking at says prestige tubing. Tange Prestige? Did anyone else make a prestige tubing?
While I have not seen a definitve statement, the evidence supports Araya having made their own frames rather rebranding them. Vista and Concord frames have been spootted with Araya tubing decals and serial numbers beginning with ARY. The few Araya frames we've seen have also started with ARY and the assumption is that this is ARY = Araya.
Araya was a extrusion manufacturer, so manufacturing bicycle tubes would be a logical fit. Araya frames have been seen with both their own tubing and Tange tubing. Is there any specific mention of Tange or Araya on the tubing decal? Tange Prestige came in 3 different seat tube gauges and post sizes can run from 26.8 to 27.2 mm. If it's smaller than this you could eliminate Tange Prestige. Also, if there is anything to indicate that the frame is older than 1983, that should also eliminate Tange Prestige tubing.