SR - School Me.
 

I've never really thought much about it until recently but I seem to run across 'SR' parts on many of my vintage bikes. I've got an SR stem on my Super Course and recently got an Austro-Daimler with SR cranks stem, and seatpost

Whats their history? Where are they from and did they make anything especially interesting or notable?

Japanese. Sakae. Most mid level 80s bikes (US and Japanese made) had SR stems, bars and posts. The higher end US bikes got the Cinelli stuff.

Think of them as SunTour, but for cranks, seatposts, bars and stems.

I believe that SR stood for "Sakae Ringyo", or close. They manufactured stems, bars, seat posts, pedals, cranks, possibly some hubs too. Very good quality stuff.

They were high volume and low end but they did make some pretty high end stuff as well that could compete, problem is their good stuff isnt too common as far as coming across goes. Check out their page at Velo Base.

http://www.velobase.com/ViewSingleBr...f3928ec&From=T

You also see a lot of their stuff branded 'Custom' and 'Sakae' as well as the ubiquitous SR. I like their seatposts.

SR was a "sister" Co. of SunTour, there were other associated Co.s too. Sakae and Araya were often spec'd with SR. For instance Miyata, Centurion and others would have a SunTour crank, Sakae bar, SR stem, Araya rims and dif. hubs ie. SunShine or have Suzy on the tourers. Other models and to a greater extent Fugi could have a Sugino crank, Ukai rims , Shimano hubs, Ukai bar and a Nitto stem. SunTour with its sister Co.s would be on alternating models; lowest could be the lesser Shimano with steel rims, cheap Sugino crank, steel bar & often stem. Next 1 to 3 levels would have the SR/ST group. perhaps the highest had full Shimano, the second a lesser Shimano with a Sugino crank.. on and on. It wasn't written in stone but there WAS a pattern.
SR stuff rarely gave a problem; the bars didn't creak or break, the cranks were stiff and durable enough and Araya rims were VG. Ukai was more Tourish, sometimes.
SR cranks replicated famous European brands, in some cases I maintain that they beat 'em at their own game. SR made parts for Co.s which were SR but wore the name of these Co.s; Miyata, Schwinn etc. Fuji used marginally more Sugino. Nishiki used a real mix. Diacompe also worked with SR. Everything they made was good as far as I've seen and known, TOO good, taken for granted. Like SunTour, their parts were too low priced. Eventually, even the French got wise and used them, the English and US as well. Read "Sunset for Suntour', it gives a great account.

Those sister companies may not have had a common owner, but they were collaborators against their big competition, Shimano.

Let me see if I can remember the names of the sisters:

SunTour (derailleurs)
SR (stems and seatposts)
Sugino (cranks)
Sunshine aka Sanshin (hubs)
Dia Compe (brakes)

Sometimes, they would use each other's names to make a so-called gruppo. Some people think a bike is more cohesive that way. An example is the SunTour Superbe group. Brakes were by Diacompe, cranks by Sugino, etc.

Did I leave anyone out?

I like SR seatposts.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...a/Parts021.jpg

Shin.

I had 2 1983 bikes, a Centurion (Tange) with Sugino cranks, Suzue hubs, Suntour gearing, Sakae bars/bb, and SR stem and seat post vs. a Soma (Kuwahara) with 600 arabesque full on.

The non-Shimano stuff was equal to or better, by a yard, on the two bikes.

err, don't mean to high jack the thread, but what about SR frames? I've tried looking it up but I didn't find a whole lot.

Love it. I've got a Sugino Mighty (non-fluted) that's identical to that. Mine isn't NOS though.

I find those seatposts adjuster bolts strip easily. I had to replace the hardware in one with campy. I do like the SR royal stems though, very nice. I have one on my fixed gear for about 4 years now.

My Miyata 1000 has a Forged SR Royal stem. Every bit as nice as Cinelli in appearance IMHO.,,,,BD


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...r/CIMG0132.jpg

It's a nice seatpost. It's the one that eventually made it onto the Univega sans the little rainbow sticker.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...Univega015.jpg

HUH! I can't believe you removed the sticker!

i've got the same stem but it's far from pretty. anyone have suggestions on cleaning these and getting a nice polish out of em?

It's my understanding that SR frames are unrelated to Sakae Ringyo, and rather were built by a builder in California. Unrelated. I think.

Yes, first you have to remove the anodizing. There are a lot of topics about removing anodizing with oven cleaner. After that, you can sand the stem. Start with a lower grit paper to even out the low spots then work your way up to very fine grits. After that, buff it with some aluminum polish and admire the shine.

You can use a buffer and jewelers rouge if you have the equipment. Check out Ray Dobbins site for great tips. raydobbins.com

I don't know about that, I had an SR bike that had components from all the names mentioned above.

The logo on the sr frames looks suspiciously like the sr components logo. I'd guess they contracted a large Japanese frame manufacturer to make bikes for them for a period of time. Probably Panasonic, judging by the way they were equipped.

They made great cranks too, including the Super Custom, and this very competent 144bcd campy record copy (less likely to break imho), which I put on a Super course and never did learn the model name of.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...space_2081.jpg

Edit: looks like the Royal-5, http://www.velobase.com/ViewSingleCo...m=115&AbsPos=5

Or you can beadblast, then sand. After you get it to a high chromelike shine though, knock
it back down a bit with some lighter steel wool. It will give it that Nitto-like pearly finish:D.


I also had a REALLY nice SR Maxima. Ultimately though I found it was too big, and sold it. Tange Champion #2
frame AND fork, with Suntour pro drops and a chromed right chain stay. I wil likely never find another one
as nice in my "perfect" size of 60cm. I bought it as a bare frame, and built it with 600 EX. Original it had Suntour Superbe
If I'm not mistaken. To say the build quality was nice, is an understatement! After the final "done" pic, I changed
the saddle, and put on some blue wrap. As it sat in the last pic, without pedals, it was 22.0 pounds. With the
cheapie Nashbar pedals, 22.8. A prety surprising number, given the frame size.,,,,BD

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...suntourpro.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...eatcluster.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n.../headbadge.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...rkandbrake.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n.../fullframe.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...Maximadone.jpg

I have a Sakae triple and Sugino BB on my daily rider. Awesome, smooth, bulletproof stuff. :thumb:

Also have a really nice SR half step + granny that's going on a touring bike build this winter. Assuming the jerk who sold me the frame ever manages to actually ship it to me...:mad:

Always surprised when people pass up really good stuff at a super price for more expensive parts that carry a brand name they recognize. But then, more for us!

Just a little research is worth the time. :D

SR bicycle have nothing to do with Sakae Ringyo

13 year old thread my friend. Try to avoid Zombies whenever possible. ;)