And here's that cool gold decal, off my '93 RB-1. Still in great shape!

This is from my 87 MTB, nice ride.

These are from my two Fuji's - both Ishiwata. (I hope these attachments work!)

The Ishiwata decal on my '76 Main d'Or says '022' and 'Speed Gallant'. You gotta love those names!

Here is the seat tube decal on my Nishiki Ultimate. Nobody has ever told me with any certainty what brand tubing it is.

I'm not 100% sure. My best guess is that the crack started as the result of a pretty hard crash (front tire blowout at 30mph+). I didn't see anythig wrong with the frame afterwards. A year or two later, I'm riding up a shortish hill with a couple friends when I look down and see my chainrings swaying a lot more than they should have. Checked the chainring bolts - all there. Looked around a little more carefully, and there is was.

Are the two events related? Like I say, I'm not sure, but I can't think of anything else that happend that might have caused that crack to start, and I'm sure not going to blame Ishiwata or Bridgestone - not that it would have done any good at that point, even if I had wanted to.

Time for me to post my pics. The Ishiwata strip is my custom addition - easier than viewing the stamping on the steer tube!
From Fuji sales, the "FUJI VALite BUTTED TUBING" is double-butted tubing.

The stamping on the steer tube looks like the attached image; all three of my Fujis are so marked.

Hey! Thank you very much! The missing lettering on my Nishiki's "leafy decal" is "Double Butted", exactly like on yours.

This is another really cool thread!

George

Thanks! It's rather esoteric - arcane even. I never thought it would take off like this.
Like I said earlier, "those lucky enough to have a Ishiwata-framed bike are fiercely loyal".
They're also very proud!

Esoteric, NOT! We're riding bicycles that represent the end of "classic" bicycle evolution. These bicycles are a match, mechanically, for any "modern" bicycle. If they have 6 cogs instead of 9, what's the difference to an experienced rider? I was on a 65mi ride today with my friend, who has a 27spd LeMond vs my 12spd Nishiki. We ended up neck-to-neck after 5hrs of riding. I rest my case... .

I usually rest my poor knees. I sincerely hope it's not the end; I want to continue to ride my Fujis. They are more than a match for the "modern" stuff.
After 5 hours, I hope you were with your friend! Is not this the stuff we proud owners are made?
I have a very dear friend who pays $500+ for American Classic wheels. Surly, he enjoys his rides as much as I do with hand-me-down Ukai alloy rims.
Pass the epsom salts . . .

Unfortunately, most of the printing on my decal has worn away. That's why I lifted an image off the bikecult site that has photos of the same model, but in black. https://www.bikecult.com/works/archive/fujiACE.html

Here's a link to another site that includes scans of a late '80s Fuji catalogue. The touring bikes use Ishiwata Feather tubing. https://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/fuji/fujipage.htm

Good luck.

Off of a Bianchi Brava.

I known just the guy for you JR, this email address: wandson1@msn.com
Tell him Jim sent you.

dougb and beaverstuff: Thanks very much for your help finding a decal image!!! I'll email your friend ASAP, really appreciate it.

For good measure, here are some photos my Ishiwata pride and joy... it's my 57 cm home-built touring bike, dubbed Steely Dan. An eclectic (read: frugal) mix of Suntour Barcons, Campy brake levers, Shimano LX derailers and canti brakes, Truvativ crank, Shimano 105 hubs, and Mavic MA3 rims. I got the frame off craigslist in Feb 2005 from a guy in Cincinnati, and from the looks of it, it had never been built up. It's a great bike to ride 10-20 miles every day; I'd never experienced a really good quality steel frame before I hopped on this one.

The origin of the frame is a bit of a mystery to me. It's labeled "Backroads Mistaya" on the top + down tubes, while the head tube says "Backroads Adventure Touring". My boss used to live in California and said Backroads was a company that organized guided bike tours out there, but I don't know what this means about the age or original purpose of the frame. The frame has the usual braze-ons, plus a THIRD water bottle holder UNDER the down-tube. The coolest feature is a spare-spoke holder brazeon on the right chainstay, which holds two spare spokes for when you need 'em. Clearly this frame was built with a focus on the details, but by whom?

As you can see, the decal has suffered from frequent snow, rain, mud, and Simple Green.

This is a great thread. I had no idea there was anyone else out there who'd wondered about Ishiwata, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who appreciates it

I'm trying to find out if my Viner track frame is Ishiwata.....What are your Ishiwata seatpost/seattube dimensions?

Mine is 27mm seattube and 26.4 seatpost... leaving .6 thick tubes.

All you have to do is drop your fork out of the head-set and look on the steer tube.
(see image above - same topic)
Have any of you readers done this??

Folks,
I have a small link on Ishiwata, collected from a variety of sources:
https://www.angelfire.com/electronic/.../Ishiwata.html
This is a free site, sooooooo, beware of the ads!