Stunning! All of them (chrome ones :-))

Very nice. When I rode my Custom to the site of the old Silk factory (about 60 miles there and back) I found it very comfortable indeed. It and my Peugeot are the most comfortable bikes I have.

Oh, and thanks for the date codes!

I suppose I'll resurrect this thread, as I'm now a member of the Katakura Silk cult. I bought this frame in early May, from a local New Yorker, off the iBOB list. I wanted to bring some Japanese bikes to Cirque, so I gussied this up quick along with a couple of Cherubim-built Echelons. S/N: TS514751, former owner guessed '84-'85, I'm guessing maybe a bit earlier. Decent chrome, decals are fading and peeling, but chrome is chrome...

Just finished Dawes-man's 10pg opus, and I think his period-correct restoration with narrowish road tires is really very lovely. Being able to have Sugiyama-san check and prep the frame 30yrs after it was built was a lovely twist.

I decided to go a different route, looking at the gobs of tire clearance I immediately thought 650b, and I don't do much in the way of period-correct any more. It's got 38mm Col-de-la-Vies now, former owner says Hetres won't fit, prolly won't stop me from trying.

So apologies to those who might find it out-of-synch or garish, but this is how the first build turned out:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5554/...c0a31298_b.jpg

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2922/...df374ae3_b.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3902/...e6a21db5_b.jpg

She's back in drydock waiting for some slight component rejiggering, I'll shoot some more pix once she's done. Might actually get to ride 'er then, too, didn't manage to get 'er out on the asphalt after Cirque.

Kinda weird, in a way, but after all my years with bicycles this is the first all-chrome frame I've had.

Oh, and hey! Shout out to TimmyT, who sold me the frame, forgot he's here on bikeforums, too. You're sure Hetres won't fit, huh?

Welcome to the cult, pcb! Funny thing: Although I didn't do anything about it, one of my first inclinations was also to think about the possibility of converting to 650B. So it's interesting to know that you can make that conversion work with this frame. You're finding adequate clearance at the bridge and under the fork, it appears? (Probably too much to ask for enough room for fenders too, huh?)

These are (to me anyway) endearing bikes. I like the way mine looks and rides, and it always draws a lot of comments from other cyclists. (Typically non-competitive women riders who say something like, "Oooo - I like your bike... it's cute!") Maybe it's the chrome, but I feel fast riding it. (That feeling is promptly put to bed if I happen to get caught up in a group of weekend warriors on carbon fibre machines though.)

I'm looking forward to seeing more pix once you get the rest of the build ironed out. Keep 'em comin'!

Welcome to the club, pcb!

I think that works very well. Great job!

I'm amazed how many of these chrome silks there are...

Thanks! I was going through some of my Suntour stuff and found a stash of Japanese-language Pro Shop News issues, from '79-'85 or so. They were an educational/marketing piece put together for dealers and employees, with discussions of market trends, lots of stats, product & racing team news, and, early on, profiles of framebuilders. Lacking a decent scanner I did a quick-&-dirty photo shoot of the stuff I thought interesting. For the C&V crowd here, profiles on Katakura Silk, Toei, Nagasawa, SanRensho, Ravanello, Fuji and Bridgestone. I'm attaching the Katakura Silk article, feel free to share it with Sugiyama-san. I uploaded everything I shot to my flickr page.

Being that these are jpgs and not text, I'm kinda doubtful any cut-and-pasting can be done with babelfish or google translate. The pictures are kinda cool!

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2918/...5fd461e3_b.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3836/...5d232da0_b.jpg

That's really cool, pcb. Thanks for posting it. I'll print them out and give them to Mr Sugiyama. FWIW, he isn't in the pic of the six. He might be in the lower pic, of riders, but no names are given.

Can you post a link to your Flickr?

I love that classy biplane fork!!!

I'm really glad this thread popped up again- these chrome Silks are incredible. Graceful and refined.

Thanks!

Yeah, I didn't see his name in the staff photo. This issue was published in '79, FWIW.

Sorry about not positing a link, thought I had done that. Short/long url links to the flickr album are:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZsziBW
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26383479@N04/sets/72157645545127792/

With the recent flurry of activity on this thread, I am reminded that I've made a few subtle - but notable - changes to the build I originally posted.

Here she is as I currently ride her.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3875/...a6f51713_c.jpg

Early Superbe calipers...although these were NOS, the original pads were simply too hard and I replaced with KoolStop.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/...4a54ca04_c.jpg

Nice, long 3ttt stem, courtesy of a trade with a fellow BF member.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3852/...aff58694_c.jpg

Cinelli bars and Salsa wrap. I've gone back and forth between this wrap and cloth. I usually prefer cloth, but in this instance I'm staying with the Salsa.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3894/...08634334_c.jpg

Shimano M324 pedals. And by the way...what is the freakin' deal with Shimano - my LBS tells me that they can hardly order anything from them at all due to changes in their minimum requirements...something like $800 minimum???? Are they TRYING to get folks to buy other product lines?
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3921/...94f9a2b7_c.jpg

A NOS Sugino AT triple. LOVE this crank!
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5506/...40112dd4_c.jpg

An Acorn bag that I lucked into (love these bags) and the second-to-last of my NOS vintage Brooks Professional saddles.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3865/...0fb6c381_c.jpg

She rides great and looks pretty sharp to my eye. I feel like each of the changes I've made were for the better and increase my enjoyment substantially.

All the beautiful bikes pictured in this thread are for men more than 6 ft tall. I resent that! Some of the height disadvantaged readers should respond with a series of pictures of lovely bikes with 54 cm or less seat tubes.

Y'know, I'm certain they exist but I've never seen one of these chrome Katakura Silk frames in anything smaller than, maybe a 58-ish size. Anyone?

I'll find out the next time I visit Mr Sugiyama (one of the guys at Katakura who built these frames) but I think if they were they would have stayed in Japan, where they will likely have rusted away with the high humidity here. Mine is protected inside and out with RustOyl, a UK anti-rust product.

AFAIK, all the ones you see on BF were ordered by US servicemen and taken back to the US as Katakura never exported directly. I guess there must have been some sub-6 foot US servicemen who ordered them and returned to the US with them, though...

I know this is a very old thread - i tried anyway.I have a SILK katakura bike possibly from 1964. I can't find any information on the net. Does anyone know this model? I think it was made for the olympic summer games in Japan 1964.
The japanese olympic bike team use these ones.

Friendly greetings from Switzerland

R. Niklaus

I don't have any information on the pre-boom models. However, I was able to de-code their serial number format based on the upper end Nishiki models that they manufactured during the boom. Consequently, the serial number, in conjunction with some pictures, may allow me to determine the year of manufacture.

[MENTION=490390]Badhabits[/MENTION], I made some a fairly extensive research into these bikes a few years ago after I acquired a very nice ca. 1984 Katakura Silk (detailed in other posts on this forum.) Along the way I stumbled across some rather obscure websites with catalogs, history, and images dating back to the fifties, if I recall correctly. Because I've updated operating systems several times since then, my bookmarks from a few years ago are archived on a backup drive and not readily at hand. I'll see if I can dig up those links when I'm at the office tomorrow. In fact as I type this message I'm wondering if I might have created a post to share those links - don't recall with any degree of certainty, but definitely worth a quick search. While you're waiting on me, here's a link to one of the posts I created for The Early Morning Cyclist, a blog I used to write. A little information there, plus a link to some catalogs that might be relevant. Meanwhile, I'll do a search on my hard drive for you. Please do post photos.

Thanks for youre swift reply. unfortunatly i d'ont see your picutres.

Sorry no pictures at this time. I geht this message: You are not allowed to post URLs until you have at least 10 posts

Greets

I fill up my ten posts - sorry.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

The model is Sports Tour, based on the top tube decal. I'd place it mid-1970s. That version of the SunTour VGT rear derailleur was manufactured circa 1974-1977. I can't positively identify the crankset from the non-drive side photo but it appears to be a Super Maxy, which was introduced in the mid-1970s. I'm pretty sure the Power Shifters weren't available until the 1970s. Regardless, both the rear derailleur and crankarms will have manufacturing date codes stamped on the back. The frame serial number should also allow us to determine the year. Picture assist...

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b16b0aea80.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7493411771.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7add3f67cf.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...27a7ddcc77.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a991499736.jpg

You can burn a retina with the shine off that frame. Sharp!

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2255/1...c5e6b78a_c.jpg