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Kabuki with Nissan Cr-Mo tubing?

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Kabuki with Nissan Cr-Mo tubing?

Old 03-19-17, 05:18 AM
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Kabuki with Nissan Cr-Mo tubing?

Saw this bike for sale on a local Facebook page. I kinda dig Kabukis, so I was checking out the pics and I had never heard of this model. Then I saw the Nissan tubing sticker and became really interested! (I'm a big Nissan vehicle fan) I've seen a few other bikes with Nissan tubing, but after searching the internet I haven't been able to find any info on it... I'm not even sure if it's the same Nissan as the car manufacturer.

Unfortunately I can't afford another bike right now, but I would love to learn more about Nissan tubing if anyone has any info. Thanks in advance!






Last edited by AustinFitz; 07-08-17 at 08:05 AM.
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Old 03-19-17, 05:46 AM
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That looks like an early 1980s bike, before they dropped the Kabuki brand and reverted back to Bridgestone. I think that happened in 1984. During the 1970s bike boom, once Fuji established Japanese bikes as equal or better than the European brands, Japanese bikes were hot sellers. Bridgestone decided their name sounded more American than Japanese, thus Kabuki was created to cash in on the frenzy.
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Old 03-19-17, 07:07 AM
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Contrary to popular belief (I used to believe it too), the Kabuki brand name was not owned by Bridgestone, but by their trading partner, C. Itoh. During the bicycle boom of the early 1970s, standard Japanese practice was for the manufacturers to import and distribute bicycle thought trading partners. For instance, Fuji used Toshuku and Miyata used Toyoda.

When the boom crashed in 1975, manufacturers started looking for ways to increase profits. They soon realized that this could be achieved by eliminating the middle man, thieir trading partners. Consequently, in the late 1970s most of the bigger Japanese bicycle manufacturers set up eponymous sales and distribution divisions in the USA market. Bridgestone appears to have been a little slower, but did eventually severe ties with C. Itoh and set up Bridgestone Bicycles USA.

C. Itoh had a large presence in the USA, as they handled many diverse product lines and not just bicycles. However, after the severing of ties, they were forced to contract with other manufacturers.Their prime source appears to have been Nissan, as a number of these have surfaced. Nissan was also a known manufacturer of Matsuri bicycles. C. Itoh continued to market Kabuki bicycles in the USA into at least the mid-1980s from a Kabuki Bicycle division.

I'm not familair with Nissan tubing. The simple CrMo designation implies that it is a plain gauge tubeset, and when you see "tubes" it often means only the main tubes, with the stays and forks being a lesser grade material. There's a good possibility that it is simply rebranded Tange or Ishiwata tubing. The seat post diameter may provide a clue. Also, if you remove the fork, the steerer tube may be stamped with the manufacturer, alloy and a date code.

The components appear to be Shimano 600EX, which would place the bicycle 1978-1983. The serial number may help to narrow that down. Regardless, I'd appreciate it for my database. Also, you could check the component date codes against the information on the components page of the Vintage-Trek website. The only obvious aftermarket addition is the saddle.

Last edited by T-Mar; 03-19-17 at 07:12 AM.
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Old 03-19-17, 10:56 AM
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Interesting! Never heard of Nissan (the auto manufacturer) associated with bicycle making or cycle tubing making.
2 tiny comments to make to T-Mar's very useful info above: the sticker says "butted tubes" below the Cr-Mo designation so that could be a lie but if not then this Kabuki has something slightly better than plain gauge tubes.
There were MANY frames that came with Tange-built forks yet did not necessarily use Tange tubing (and certainly many more that did) so the presense of the Tange logo on the fork's steerer MAY be a clue to the brand of tubing in the frame, but maybe not. If you find an Ishiwata stamp on the steerer I would take that as a much stronger clue that the frame tubing was that brand since AFAIK Ishiwata was NOT the big fork-seller that Tange was. I bet T-mar has more info on that subject, too!
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Old 03-19-17, 11:24 AM
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Originally Posted by unworthy1
Interesting! Never heard of Nissan (the auto manufacturer) associated with bicycle making or cycle tubing making.
2 tiny comments to make to T-Mar's very useful info above: the sticker says "butted tubes" below the Cr-Mo designation so that could be a lie but if not then this Kabuki has something slightly better than plain gauge tubes.
There were MANY frames that came with Tange-built forks yet did not necessarily use Tange tubing (and certainly many more that did) so the presense of the Tange logo on the fork's steerer MAY be a clue to the brand of tubing in the frame, but maybe not. If you find an Ishiwata stamp on the steerer I would take that as a much stronger clue that the frame tubing was that brand since AFAIK Ishiwata was NOT the big fork-seller that Tange was. I bet T-mar has more info on that subject, too!
I simply missed the "butted" on the tubing sticker. So, there's no reason the main tubes shouldn't be butted. This will make it easier to discern whether the tubeset is Tange or Ishiwata, via the seat post diameter.

Yes, we have seen Tange forks on Ishiwata frames and vice-versa but there are some clues that can be used to increase confidence levels. If the manufacturer of the frame also manufactured the fork, the dropouts and end treatments of the stays and blades typically match. Conversely, Tange or Ishiowata droputs on the fork and mismatched end trreatments are generally a good indicator of a Tange or Ishiwata supplied fork.

I just noticed that it appears to have SunTour Power Shifters, so maybe it's not Shimano 600EX.
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