One bike I've been wanting for a long time is a 3 Rensho. Though these aren't hard to find in Japan, most are small, 53cm and smaller. I found this bike recently, in pretty decent shape, in chrome, and in my size. And for $150, who could say no? I'll head out tomorrow and see if I can ride it home, hopefully the tires hold air. It's only 40km or so away, and tomorrow promises to be a nice day.

Good luck on this one. The person selling it might not be well informed since the front skewer is on the wrong side.
I would carry tubeless sealant and a mini pump along.

That's a rip roaring deal at $150. Enjoy.

No offset fork crown, hmm.

Good luck with the sale and the ride home 50PlusCycling . That looks great. Are classic and vintage bike prices dropping in Japan too? I would think so.

Are those folding pedals? They come in handy when you have a bunch of bicycles. +1 on the recommendation to bring some spare tube(s), tire irons and a pump.

We are looking forward to pictures. Maybe a picture on the ride home. That would be neat.

proceed with caution. it might well be worth the asking price but i'm not positive that's a true 3Rensho. hard to tell from the photo but the lug work on the seat cluster / co2 canister holder seem incongruous. i wish you luck on your search !

I had similar reservations but Iʻm curious what the local Rensho expert Catnap thinks.

Heh, tire irons. I remember calling them that. I'm one of the few who still prefer steel tire levers. I loaned a pair to a young friend, and she was impressed with how well they worked.

I haven't yet been able to pick up the bike, the guy who sold it has it at his metal recycling plant (horrible thought), and wasn't in during the week. I'll go out and get it on Tuesday. Hopefully the weather won't be bad. The bike appears to be fitted with tubular tires, they seem to hold air, but if I get a flat on the way bag, I'll have a taxi bring me and the bike the rest of the way home. I'll bring a saddle (not too keen on the one I see on the bike), seat pack with tools and a pump, and maybe some SPD pedals. The plant is in an area not far from the Iruma River, one of my favorite cycling haunts. Unfortunately, the most direct way back is the road under the Chuo Expressway, which is not one of my favorite routes, but if it rains, at least it will help keep me dry.

It looks like it has folding bike pedals. First thing to change.

With the folding pedals, at least you can go with your best running shoes for when/if one of the old tubulars explodes.

Be sure to inspect whether the glue is actually still holding the tires to the rims, else you run the very real risk of a tire literally twisting inside-out with the fragile casing then contacting the pavement and then BOOM.

I myself have no idea, but what makes you think that this is a real Rensho?

3 Rensho bikes are common enough (and cheap enough) in Japan that there seems no point in trying to fake one. The folding pedals are kind of popular in Japan, as many people like to take their bike by train or bus to the countryside. Bikes have to be put in bags to be brought onto trains and buses, and folding pedals make the process easier.

After more research, the bike appears to be a 3 Rensho Cyclone ST, with the lugs, fork, and seat stays consistent with this model. Serial number is OSR 33,

the lug work doesnt look like typical 3rensho, also as previously stated the forks dont have the forward offset.

Not all 3Rensho had the fork offset.

Of course not but they were prevalent, it especially seemed with chrome and....... lugs.

I’m also not convinced it’s an authentic 3Rensho. I can’t make a definitive judgement but here’s my thinking:

why it’s possibly not a 3Rensho: missing the engraved seatstay caps, offset fork, and engraved “SuperEnds”. Lugs aren’t the “katana” or “modeulo “ styles common on 3Renshos. Most 3Renshos in the USA came through Ariel Trading aka Yellowjersey, and those typically have the engraved seatstay caps.

why it might be a 3Rensho: they did make more “generic” frames that didn’t carry the features listed above. Also, very early examples from the Cyclone era pre-date the details we associate with 3Renshos. I have seen Cyclones with the same fork crown design as this bike, but it’s not unique to Cyclones.

verdict: for $150 that is a gorgeous bike and. Great deal, regardless of provenance. Once you buy it, share a photo of the serial number or other identifying stamps on the BB shell and maybe we can definitively identify it.

Thanks for the info. I'll post more photos when I get the bike, which will be Tuesday. The engraved seat stays aren't so common on these bikes in Japan, some have fluted stays, about half have fastback stays, and some are just flat. I found some info on a Cyclone with the same stays, lugs, and fork, plus the identical Cinelli stem and bar, but the cable routing was different. I'll have a better idea when I actually have my hands on the bike. It will be added to my other Japanese bikes, the Nishiki Pro and Pegasus. I'm running out of space.

I got the bike home, thankfully the tires, bad as they looked, were reasonably fresh, and were able to hold pressure. The metal recycling plant had a few thousand bikes, compressed onto pallets, to be shipped to China to be made into who knows what. Thankfully, some who works there who pulls out any bike he thinks might be of value, and attempts to sell it online.



A Tange Levin headset, pretty common for good Japanese bikes,




Serial number is OSR 33, there are no other numbers on the bike.




The frame and fork both have Suntour Superbe Pro dropouts,



Beautifully made fork,





The same lugs can be seen in the 3 Rensho catalog on the Cyclone Standard model bike, the Super got different lugs.




Seat stays are unadorned. Thankfully none of the hardware was frozen, and I was able to raise up the seat. There is no paint inside the tubes, so it looks like it was originally chrome.

The bike rides well, the index shifting is new to me, but works well. The brakes worked surprisingly well, but the bar tape is dry rotten, and got white powder on my gloves, fingers, and on some of my clothes.

I don't think the 600 Biopace driveline looks very well on this bike, though I have to admit, it works very well. The rear wheel was upgraded at some point, my first thought was that the shop put on one of the many wheels that were sitting around, except that both wheels have matching tubular tires.

If it's not a 3 Rensho, whatever it may be, it seems to be at least as good.

An added bonus was while I was passing through the neighborhood, I saw a 1970 Dodge Charger sitting behind one of the shops with a lot of other old and unique cars. You don't often see such cars in Japan. I formerly owned a '70 Charger R/T, back when you could get one for cheap. I'll have to ride back out and have another look at that car.

I'm not a 3Rensho expert, but the serial number placement and format doesn't correspond to other examples:



Google tells me the A prefix denoted frames exported to the US, where a C prefix is for the domestic product.

Whatever that is, I'm glad you got it!
I agree, the TriColor/600 stuff looks dull on a chrome frame.

The serial number is for a custom order or prototype bike. These are fairly common here in Japan, I've had a couple from other makers. I'll take it down to the Blue Lug at Yoyogi Park, the paint guy there is pretty knowledgable about these bikes.

Lovely acquisition! I shudder to think that this bike was headed to the scrapper, 3rensho or not. You can't save them all but you saved this one!

=) at $150 asking price, thank heavens the person selling it is "not well informed".

50PlusCycling Good-looking classic racer at a very fair price.

It’s probably nothing, and/or just the photo, but personally I’d have a good look at the left hand fork blade to crown to reinforcing tang junction. Just in case…

Thanks, I checked it out, there is a shallow seam were the fork tubes are attached to the crown, the plating makes it look worse than it is.