Just finished up my Sekai 2500 project. I found this bike on CL a couple of months ago with a bad pic and bad description. It was fairly close, so I went looking and was pleasantly surprised with the condition and an anxious seller. I was able to keep the bar wrap and hoods original. I found a suede saddle at the Chicago bike swap a couple weeks ago that I think matches up well. I used gumwalls because thats what I had available and they are similar to the stock tires. I also re-used the cable housings. I sprayed in some cleaner and rodded them out a bit. [IMG][IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

Nice work! Great looking saddle to tie it all together. What make is it?
Also, how do you like that triple gearing setup? My wife's Specialissima has, what looks to be, about the same setup although I'm still in the middle of putting it back together after cleaning so she hasn't had a chance to test out the effectiveness.

Some good info on Sekai here.... https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/Sekai_main.htm
and here.... https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...sekai+database

I had a bit of trouble getting the chain to move on to the large ring after re-installing the crankset but I think I have resolved that. I have not had it out for a shakedown yet.

that's very nice and classy. great job.

Looks great! Well, other than the routing of the rear brake cable in front of the handlebar.

Just back the limit screw out about a turn and a half, that should do the trick.


WHat you have there is known as "Half-step Plus Bailout" and it's very effective. Basically the two big rings are spaced to fill the gaps between the rear cogs. Its really useful when you're chugging up a long steady grade or driving into a headwind, you can find exactly the gear ratio to match the resistance at that time. For running around town just keep it on the middle ring. And of course the tiny front ring will prove itself useful the first time you see a hill that looks like a mean angry grey wall.

looks great!

i have a 1985 Sekai 2500 grandtour built up as my touring bike. mine has double eyelets front and rear, as well as mounts mid-way up the fork and on the seat stays. fully loaded touring must not have been as popular in the 70's.

First I have to that is a wonderful restore Rock! That saddle is very close to stock looking even, I just put my stock brown suede onto my 2700 yesterday so I was able to compare fairly well. I dig it.
The 70's 2500's were considered light touring bikes, there's a BF member on here though that did a full country tour on his in the 70's.

So the rear cable should be to the right of the head tube? Originally it ran over the top of the bars and on the right. It just seems to have less stress on the cable taking the long way around.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying it would look much better if the housing did not run under (or in front of) the top of the handlebar.

That's the first Sekai I've seen with canti's or with that style decal.......very nice

So it should run over the bars like it was originally?

I don't suppose should is the appropriate word. It'll work either way. But, yes, I think it looks best running over the bars.

I appreciate the comments and the aesthetics are important to me. However, looking at some of the other bikes I've yet to fumble with, there seems to be a variety of preferences with cable routing. Is there an actual rule/rules of thumb or does it simply boil down to personal preference.

Was your headtube stock painted red? And that drivetrain doesn't look anywhere close to stock to me

Yes, this bike was pretty clean when I picked it up, though it did have a light film of dried grease on it. The cloth bar wrap was in very nice shape, housings were in nice shape with good color still in them, the freewheel looked like NOS with no grime at all. Aside from servicing all the bearings the only things I replaced were the saddle, tires, tubes and cables.

I like to get the cable to leave the brake lever following the lever profile, and left and right cables to rise to the same level.

Hmm, you have any idea what year yours is? I'm wondering when they switched from the the top brake cable stops to the bottom ones...

I just acquired a 2500 Sekai grand tour today. The serial number is 2M3240 and it is in great shape. Can anyone tell me what year it is? Thanks and have a great day!

Try this thread Steve.............. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...cycle-Database ..............I have had two 2500's and while they both had nice components, the frame quality was considerably different.

List as much information about your bike as possible, tubing decal, color/s, components and pictures will be a huge plus

Very nice bike and perfect saddle choice

Thanks ROckhOund, The bike has several stickers and the aluminum hadlebars are stamped with "Sake Custom" & "Road Champion". The bike has Deacompe shifters, Sugino Gt pedals, Suntour ARX Derailer, rims araya, brakes side pull Dia-compe, and has a sticker that says Yamaguchi Sport Frame. Also another says "Champion #2 chrome - Moly Boyden Steel- Tange Industries. The bike weighs 27 lbs. I will attempt to uploade a pictue later.

I know this is old.

Steve, the serial number on your Sekai should start with the letter "Y", for Yamaguchi. I think the serial number should be Y2M3240.