Oddball Here: Sakae Litage
 

So I couldn't resist my curiosity and picked up this very funky 90's road bike on CL today. I tried to dig a little on google, but nothing really has cropped up. The frame looks to be 'butted' aluminum? Doesn't look like the main tubes actually fit in to the lugs but are reduced, then brazed in to them? The very little info I found on the model mentioned 'suicide forks'. but this one obviously has been swapped with some sort of steel replacement. The frame looks to be in fine shape, the components definitely seem pieced together, but all seem to be late 80'-early 90's era. Hoping some of the fine folks here can answer a few questions for me to shed light on this mystery.

http://s17.postimg.org/yz73zc1jj/20150731_170604.jpg

Firstly, any idea of the year based on the serial number? Given that this is not a popular bike manufacturer and the pretty basic decals, I assume this is something of a contracted frame, or a very brief foray in to frame design by Sakae?

http://s17.postimg.org/ysy09zhsf/20150731_165202.jpg

Any insight on Shimano 'Light Action'? Seems generic, but also seem to work great with the 105 indexed levers.

http://s17.postimg.org/eudjtv7pr/20150731_170616.jpg

Shimano Exage Motion brake calipers, thoughts?

http://s17.postimg.org/61wl66mkv/20150731_170645.jpg

Notice the cobwebbing pattern on the lugs? I assume this is clear coat that is starting to loose luster? Thoughts on how to brighten it back up? Thinking some sort of chemical stripping then mother's polish? I really like the look of raw metal and would like to leave it intact as possible.

http://s17.postimg.org/h2rqb7etr/20150731_170807.jpg

What type of head set is this? Also, nice thru-tube cable routing....

http://s17.postimg.org/ha1l2hln3/20150731_170956.jpg

Not sure if this photo is going to show it well, but the bottom bracket has recessed cups. Anyone have any insight as to what/why these are?

http://s17.postimg.org/vrysahcy7/20150731_171346.jpg


Think that's all for my questions, but just for interest, the seat stays and rear drop outs were really what caught my eye, very cool looking :)

http://s17.postimg.org/5u8y9obm7/20150731_170657.jpg

http://s17.postimg.org/9k3zoty33/20150731_170705.jpg

Really neat bike. I also like the bare metal frame and the interesting seat stays, though the blue fork is a strange touch. Hopefully a replacement for a death fork before it was able to claim a life. I can tell you that the logo on the headset is for Giant, a replacement I'm sure. I have a light action mini-group and, while not being flashy or having much name recognition, its shifts smoothly with a satisfying mechanical "ka-ching". Thats about all I can add, if it were me it would definitely be a keeper.

Pure funk.

Never seen one of these before...

SR Sakae bonded aluminum frame from the late-ish '80's. Japanese analog to the Vitus frames of the time, but never successful.

Shimano Light Action was their basic derailleurs, one step down from 105. They're fine as long as you're not worried about the pedigree.

Wow, that's some groovy Vitus action in all but name. No idea who actually built it, Vitus owners may check in to weigh in on the seat cluster, BB, etc. Not to mention that totally bonkers rear brake bridge cluster! Yowsa!

The Light Action stuff is probably 1985-1987, I've got it on on both my frankenbike 1985 Shogun Prairie Breaker and my bone-stock 1986 Univega Nuovo Sport.

Although I will take exception with @degan, it shifts with more of a satisfyingly solid "ka-chunk." :p

Nice ! Had one of those frames myself a few years ago . Nice rider but too small for me so moved on to another owner . http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=468350
You are right about the lack of information on the net about these .
I always thought it was from about the early 90s but no evidence to back this up really.
Looks like a Japanese version of a French Vitus but with much tidier /prettier execution of the connection of tubes and lugs
I especially liked the top of the seat tube .
Have also seen mountain bike frames .

When going reasonably quick downhill there was a scary amount of deflection to be seen in the front fork ! I wonder if that is where the "death fork " thing comes from .

The spidering on the lugs will come off . You just need to use some elbow grease /wire wool/ polish .

I have seen a couple of these over the years and all were decaled as other brands ( mine had Avanti decals) so presume bought by shops? and built up from frame set .
Bit like vitus / guerciotti etc

That bottom bracket looks like a standard Shimano product ?

Sorry not much insight into the history etc .

HAve fun ! ride it ! post more pictures once cleaned up

Thanks for the input all!

I am about to start digging in to the girl in a few minutes and will certainly post some after pictures once she's all dolled up.

I do have a few Shimano 600 rear ders in the bin, so I may swap out the light action if it doesn't prove up to snuff.

As for cleaning up the frame, will steel wool leave scratches in the metal? Aside from the webbing pattern on the lugs, the metal has a pretty nice polish that I don't want to lose.

I'll try to keep this thread updated as discoveries are made to remedy the apparent dearth of information out there on these bikes

I saw ads for these bikes for years (and probably could pull one out of an old mag), but never got to see an actual frame. I always thought it would be a decent bike. This frame was popular in an era where everybody and their brother was doing a bonded aluminum, steel/aluminum, or carbon/aluminum frame. Who remembers the Mongoose road bike "Mangusta" (looked just like the Univega frame made at the same time.)

One more probably dumb question, but on the older indexed/friction downtube shifters like the 105's on this bike (also have a set of 600's from my '86 Ironman Master), how do you switch the mechanism from indexed to friction and vice versa? Thanks!

That tubing has a greyish annodising so be careful what you scrub it with . try a fine scotch pad . steel not a good idea !
You can go hard on the lugs though. If you do it right they come up like mirrors

The front derailleur is friction only, so no switching it. On the right side (drive side) shifter there's a "D" ring - the silver ring. Flip it out then turn it until it "clicks" into place for index. There's usually a tiny indicator mark of some type showing where to turn it (clockwise vs anti clockwise).

Lovely canvas to work with!

I suspect the fork and headset both came from a CroMo Giant road bike of early 90's vintage. The effort you spend getting the rust off the HS might be better spent with a shiny locknut from your LBS used parts bin. It might cost you a thank you or a beer.

A definite polish of the lugwork and removal of the dorky Shimano decal is in order.

From an aesthetics/safety standpoint, recable it with some nice blue housing to key off the fork, binder, and Litage decal. Add some KoolStop pads to replace those 20+ year old crusty Shimano pads and maybe add some nice blue striped 23 or 25 tires. Find a set of blue anodized dust caps. And keep the tape black, like a Spinal Tap album.

Great advice brandon98! Spent most of the day getting all the cables and bearings replaced and putting everything back together for the test ride tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll take your advice and start on the real beautification (Shimano decals were removed today however....)

Tried my hand at polishing the lugs up to no avail. Mainly focused on the bottom bracket as a test so that any scratches made would be on the underside and out of sight. It seems to be clear coat that has gone bad, and no amount of buffing with scoring pads made any difference. A test with fine grit sandpaper did an ok job of taking it down to metal, but did not leave a great finished product, even with mothers polish to finish. Not sure where to go from here, don't really have any desire to strip it down and respray, but we'll see how well she rides and decide if its worth the effort. Thanks all!

Pretty cool. I've seen a couple of the Liteage MTBs, but never seen the roadie IRL.

Bummer about replacement fork. Headset is a pretty standard headset, with spacer to make the fork fit the frame. I'd just leave that as-is unless you really need your stem a few mms lower than fully slammed with current config, in which case you'd have to cut down the steerer or get a different fork.

I'd guess the BB is a pretty standard cartridge square taper unit.

I not only remember Mangusta, I have a bare aluminum/pink fade 25" frame hanging in the rafters. one of these days i may get around to it - if i ever get the 3 speed bug out of my system.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=468434

Cool bike! Be careful over tightening things that bolt directly into the frame. Steel will squish, the aluminum... when it goes it cracks. Tight and secure is perfect, just don't Hulk out... I learned that the hard way with an integrated seat post collar... derp

My Cannondale Crit has a Sakae Litage Fx alu fork. They were common upgrades back in the '80s.

I like the Shimano "Light Action" derailleur.... came with a 86 Technium I had..... nice looking 6 speed friction/index shifters, expanding band FD and a crisp RD.

Liked it a lot.... smooth and trouble-free.

Here it is after a basic clean/tune up:

http://s27.postimg.org/iv4bcmff7/20150801_160717.jpg

Definitely going to follow some of the style advice listed above. Just took it for a spin and it rides beautifully. I don't have a hanging scale, but it is quite a bit lighter than anything else I have.

Here's a shot of how the bottom bracket 'cleaned' up, still open to any and all advice on dolling it up more
http://s27.postimg.org/wm8seu4cz/20150801_160648.jpg

Been mulling it over a bit, and want to posit a question. I'm thinking about taping off the grey anondized tubing with painters tape where it butts up to the lugs, then doing a full strip on all of them: wire brush/400 grit auto paper to take it down to bare metal, then stepping up by 200 grit up to 1500-1600 and finishing with mothers polish to make them shine, followed by a little car wax for protection. Any reason why the lugs could not go without clearcoat?

I think I would use paint stripper on the lugs first, followed by polishing.

I liked the look of these frames, seems that SR offered them in their catalogs for many years, centered around 1999.
They also offered Litage (thermal bonded) stems as well as the forks.

On my Centurion Ironman Carbon, I polished the lugs, which were not clear-coated. The result was good, though this photo was not.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/...ffca5c00_c.jpg

If I can bring this back from the dead. This one popped up on CL and it looks pretty cool, never seen anything like it.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...Anull%7D%22%7D

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...3b&oe=6117970F

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...07&oe=6118A738

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...08&oe=61179CAC

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...4b&oe=61191390

Cool seat stays.

I saw the thumpism post on this bike over in the craigslist-Ebay thread and contacted the seller Wed night and it now resides on the Island of Misfit Bikes :) It surprisingly looked better up close than in pictures which usually works the other way around. Every component was new or looked brand new except for the 600 tricolor gearing & brakes and they show very little wear. The 48/34 rings will need to be changed and I'm hoping for an easy conversion to 52 or 53. It's also the smallest frame bike I have, so It may turn out to not be a keeper in the long run If I can't adjust it to me or me to it. I took it on a group ride this morning and it was smooth and quiet but I wasn't blown away with the speed of the ride, but I was hoping larger front rings will make a big difference there. In doing research on 4 or 5 forum threads, I saw mostly positive comments but did see Drillium Dude had one of these for a short while and wasn't impressed with the ride.

From comments, I'm glad the dreaded "death fork" doesn't appear to be the Litage fork. Some pics & serial number...is there a date key associated with the Sakae Litage?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d16f53d346.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...61b2f118b1.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3dd8858ab3.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1a35e5b089.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e8591686f2.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...45a3e162b.jpeg
This is from 1990

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ddc4564c9d.jpg
Mine as I bought it.