.....Well, it's pretty obvious by now that no one in the universe knows (and/or can remember) who manufactured the SR series of road bikes. I do recall in this forum a message by who knows who stating that they had engineered the SR road bike in the 80's down in San Diego......someone else is saying that possibly they were made in Mexico at the old Windsor facility.....Grief!.....someone has to know!

Japanese brand; I remember them marketing complete bikes around late '70s-early '80s. They used, of course, some SR components. I have one around here somewhere that I picked up for $10 at a yard sale (not a high-end model). I think the SR stands for something like "Sakae-Ringyo", though I'm probably spelling it wrong.

Sakae Ringyo was the parent company of SR Suntour. Their current website is https://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/. I had emailed them recently about and old pair of SR Doutrack forks and was amazed at the response. I wouldn't hesitate to email them, be sure to let us know the outcome.

E-Mailed them the moment I saw your reply. Thanks for the link and will post their reply immediately upon receipt. Can't wait to put this Sakae Ringyo (pronounced Sockeye Ring-yo) heritage to rest.

I agree with THEOTHERGUY regarding the manufacturer of SR bicycles. The ads introducing the line, first starting appearing in 1979.

In the early 1990s, SR manufactured another bicycle brand called Prism, which had a bonded aluminum frame.

The source for the Mexican manufacture rumour probably lies with the name of the SR's US distributor, Windsor Enterprises Inc. To the best of my knowledge, this company had nothing to do with the Windsor bicycles, which were distributed through West Coast Cycle or Alpha Cycle and Supply, depending on the year.

However, there is some evidence to support the story of some design work for SR bicycles being performed in San Diego. The offices for Windsor Enterprises Inc. were at one time located in Chula Vista, just outside San Diego.

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I have a SR Semipro bike that I purchased in 1983. This bike is in mint condition. Does any one have any idea of the worth of this bike. I certainly do not want to sell it for $10.00 at a garage sale.

jakeryh,

If the frame is anywhere between 54-56 cm CTC, I would be interested in buying from you. Can you post pix?

I have a twelve speed SR Gran Course that was purchased new at The Magic Mushroom bicycle shop in Glendale CA back in March or April of 1980. It is outfitted with Shimano 600 derailers, brakes and hubs, Araya 27 inch rims, and SR crank set, seat post, handle bar and stem. I have always understood that these bikes were made by the same SR that made components at the time because that is what the owner of the bike shop told us when we purchased it. Hopefully he knew what he was talking about and wasn't under the influence of magic mushrooms.

Yes, Sakae Ringyo (Sockeye Ring-Yoh)




The SR Prism is also known as the Suntour Litage.

It is constructed similarly to a Vitus but is lighter and stiffer, thanks to the shape of the stays and some novel bracing in the lugs.


I have one in like new condition.

I saw one of these in a beautiful royal blue paint. It was a nice lugged steel frame.

I've heard that other frame makers, who were the main buyers of SR components, weren't pleased with SRs attempt to make complete bikes.

The paint on my SR is actually the first thing that caught my attention. Most of the bike is a sort of medium blue gray with fine metalic flake and tan pin stripes. The head tube is red except for the luggs at the top and bottom. They match the rest of the bike. When this bike was new it drew a lot of comments from people for the extensive use of alloy in it's components. Now twenty seven years later alloys seem to be standard.

Mizutani Seraphs also say Sakae-Ringyo(or however it's spelled, the bike is downstairs) on the headbadge, if anyone cares to know.

At one time SR and Sun Tour were individual companies and their product lines did not overlap very much. In the late '80's both were bought by another Japanese company, Mori Industries, who combined them into SR-SunTour in an attempt to compete more effectively with Shimano. Obviously, it didn't work.

Frank Berto has published a very interesting article called "Sunset For Sun Tour" that details the SR/Sun Tour relationship.

I guess this thread isn't so old that I can't add some confusion to the mix. I found some discussion of the SR bikes in the archived threads at oldroads. com. According to the old posts there, some of which came from a poster offering scans of the SR catalog, there was no known connection between the SR bikes and the company that supplied SR-Sakae components.

I keep trying to get into "oldroads.com" with no luck. Can you give the the actual link?

Thanks

Looks like Old Roads is in process of changing servers right now, you can get the home page with an announcement to that effect but I can't get anything else to load.

Hey everyone. I just bought an SR "semi-pro" twelve speed. Googling around for information I see lots and lots of people saying, "Hey, I've got this SR bike, does anyone know anything about it?"

Since this is the last SR bike thread here to have some recent activity I thought I'd post an aggregation of the information (most of it other people's guesses) plus some details about my bike. I apologize if this information is repeated up thread or is flat out wrong.

- Indeed the "SR" in the name seems to imply some connection with Sakae Ringyo. However as mentioned in several places there is some sizable doubt that SR ever manufactured complete bicycles... or at the least had anything to do with these late 70s or early 80s road bikes.

- There is some rumor that these bikes were manufactured in Mexico with some connection to Windsor? But I haven't seen any specific information that advances this tip.

- San Diego keeps popping up either as a place where these bikes were manufactured, sold or imported.

And that's all I've got so far, if anyone has new info please share...

About my bike:

Its mostly second generation Shimano 600 aka 600EX aka "Arabesque" (although these components are only stamped "600".) This is the six speed group that has all the fancy details. Parts include the shifters (friction, of course), brakes, brake levers, cranks, and freewheel.

Other parts include a SR "laprade" style seatpost, and SR quill style pedals. This bike originally came with SR "custom" bars and stem, but the previous owner swapped them out for Cenilli parts.

The wheels are odd-ball. They are fancy alloy Araya rims laced to Shimano hubs (not sure of the model hubs, but they have the black bands over a tiny hole in the center of the hub. They don't appear too special.) Whats odd are that the rims are double walled, eyeleted, 27 x 1" (NOT 27 x 1 & 1/4, mind you) rims drilled for presta valves. I've only come across one other pair of 27 x 1" rims and never ones this nice nor drilled for presta. Tires are 27" x 1" 100psi Specialized, although I don't think they are original. The headset appears nice, but is unmarked.

The frame is notable in several areas. Its Tange Champion No. 2 butted tubes with forged dropouts stamped Shimano with adjuster screws. (I don't think I've seen Shimano dropouts before.) The fork is a lovely Tange chrome fork with a very pretty drooping fork crown. The dropouts are stamped Tange, go figure. The serial number M3E36487 is stamped on the bottom bracket shell.

Other than the Tange label, there is a "JAPAN" sticker on the very bottom of the seat tube. The SR and "semi-pro" stickers (to be removed very soon) are applied above the paint. The badge on the head tube is a raised metal "SR" riveted to the tube. There are no other markings on the frame from what I've found and all in all it appears very plain, but attractive. Its not a flashy frame, but seems well built and reasonably lightweight. Its one of the nicer Japanese frames I've come across, although you wouldn't mistake it for a high end Lotus or other top shelf Nipponese frame.

To my the eye the frame most closely resembles several mid-range Centurion frames I've come across which have seemed generic as well.

I've torn the bike apart and I'm currently cleaning everything and replacing the consumables. I don't know if I'll keep it - it was sort of an impulse buy, so if anyone is interested send me a private message. (I'm in Chicago.)

Bike-Ninja, it is not a Centurion. I've got a database with dozens of Centurion serial numbers and that format does bot show up. However, does match the format for Merida, the company that built the Japanese Raleigh frames. BTW, it is a 1983 model. Original price about $400 US.

The Windsor association is via the distributor who's name was Windsor Enterprises. There is no association with the Windsor bicycle brand. Windsor was in National City, CA. Not sure if this is close to San Diego or not.

Shimano "SF" dropouts were used on some higher-end Trek bikes in the early 80's(710's for instance). With Shimano dropouts in the rear and Tange drops in the fork, it is highly likely the fork is a replacement. These chrome Tange forks are fairly common replacement items.

I wasn't claiming it was a relabeled Centurion. Rather I was suggesting that it was comparable to many Centurions I've come across.

Thanks for the extra details.

I've seen plenty of bikes with SunTour or other stamped dropouts in the rear and painted tange forks (with tange fork dropouts) in the front. (Specifically I've come across several Nishikis and Miaytas setup from the factory like this.)

Generally, sure, chrome forks are replacements, however I've seen several pictures of these "semi-pro" bikes and each has had a chrome fork.