I just finsished canabalizing a later 1970's vintage Takara touring bike.

I feel kind of guilty about doing it now that it is done because it seems to have been a pretty nice machine. ALL (every single component) components were made in Japan. The peak of Japanese bicycles only lasted for about ten years - sandwiched between the junk years of the 1960's and the shift to Taiwan in the 1980's.

I wanted the wheels for my Peugeot PX-10LE which I tacoed. No more room for bikes at my house, so it had to go. Still, I think a neat piece of bicycle history was lost and a nice machine at that.

Here is a pic I mooched off of e-bay of the exact same bike - bar-end shifters and all.