Winter Project: Katakura Silk
 

This was my winter project, a Katakura Silk I acquired at the end of last summer. Not a whole lot of changes to a bike that was in pretty darned good shape to begin with, so I sort of relished the opportunity to play around with subtle options and revisions to the build, one piece at a time over the crappier months.

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

I'm pleased with the overall look, although I'll probably swap out the stem for something in the 130 range when I come across one. I'll also be adding black mud flaps for practicality.

Sharp looking bike.

very classy, nice bike.

Beautiful.....maybe a shiny stainless waterbottle....

Wow Azorch - Those are really nice bikes.
- It would be nice to hear a little more about how you may have acquired that one, as well as S/N info or any other detail.
I'm sure [MENTION=213280]dawesman[/MENTION] and [MENTION=109949]wrk101[/MENTION] especially would be interested.

Really nice. is that the on that was on the Seattle CL last summer? Same size anyway. I was really tempted to go check that one out.

that's a sweet ride right there.

Love the look!

Auchencrow, the story itself is somewhat anticlimactic. The bike popped up on the local Craigs List. I drove out to see the guy - he's got a couple of sheds filled with some very nice bikes (along with a few other bikes that are just "meh.") I have no idea where he gets his stuff, but he is retired on disability, doesn't ride at all, and spends his free time (which appears to be substantial) tooling around with vintage road bikes, and re-selling them. Along with a bunch of high end Raleighs and Peugeots, a mixture of other nice bikes, he had this Katakura Silk. He named a price, I named a lower price, he hemmed and hawed and then we shook hands. When I call it a "winter project," it's really a misnomer: the bike came to me in good condition and needed very little cleaning even. The usual new lube took place. I swapped out the stem for a longer one (for some reason the original was the one kind of scratched up part…go figure.) Due to the geometry, I may try to find a 130-ish stem to give myself a touch more reach in the saddle and riding the tops, but everything feels really riding in the drops. I did swap notes with both dawesman and wrk101 after I first got the bike, either on here or over on Flickr.

So with the bike already in good condition, I really did have the luxury to experiment with small cosmetic things. Originally, I wrapped the bars in black cotton and paired it with a black Brooks Pro. Looked quite elegant, but I simply couldn't get my Brooksie to sit far enough back for my comfort. I tried a Brooks Colt and another Brooks Pro - I don't have a B-17, or I would've tried it too. In the end, I swapped it out for this brown Regal and changed over to brown Salsa wrap to see how I liked the look… in my mind, I wasn't sure I'd like the brown with the chrome. But once I also changed the tires, it all kind of came together for me. The addition of SKS chromoplastic fenders was a nice touch. Here's the bike with black touches - very classy, but as I said before, not able to meet my fit needs.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7318/9...710a524e_z.jpg

No, this one came to me locally (see above.) I was pretty surprised to see it pop up on Craig's List - as you probably know, they are few and far between (especially, coming as it did, from a guy's shed in rural Kansas!)

Those are such marvelous looking bikes. Majestic even.

Chrome bikes dominate, for starters. Everything I've read about the Katakura Silk has been that they were so very well designed, in terms of geometry and speccing. Kind of like (but to a much lesser degree) how I've read of Herse bikes being designed, specced and built in a very "holistic" approach.

Would you mind doing a series of close up shots?

+1 Mine popped up on Charlotts's C/L. I hadn't checked it in a while, so it had been up for a couple of days as just a frame set. Guy was a flipper who had bought the bike and parted it out. So all I got was the frame. I have no idea why someone in Charlotte didn't grab it. But I was camped out at the guy's front door before he got home from work.


Mine started with a light coating of rust on the entire frame, but cleaned up nicely. Since I didn't have the original parts, I used mainly my stash of late 1980s Superbe Pro bits to build it up. I need to take another pic without cross chaining….

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/...b9a976bb_b.jpg

Well, you might have to twist my arm a little… :)

Here you go:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3755/9...4378d1cb_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/9...cd090402_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/9...03eecfe0_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3694/9...3d1ac428_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3690/9...1a47f8f0_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3756/9...f0e7c2e4_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2878/9...585cff9b_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5331/9...0ae2a9ff_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5335/9...0c034d4f_z.jpg

One more...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7389/9...362f929c_z.jpg

oh, and by the by, wrk101 - I've always admired both your Katakura Silk and the one that dawesman rides.

If you're all going to stand around and call me 'chicken...'

:D


I can't think of a good enough descriptive word that conveys how sweet that thing looks. "Magical" maybe? "Smashing?" "Adorable?" "Stunning?"


I guess it's been a really long time since I've checked out your blog.

Congratulations- it is an exceptional bicycle!

Very nice to see your Silk, AZORCH! And yours, on the same page, wrk101! They both look great!

I reckon it'd be good to see them all in the same post, so here goes...

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/...b9a976bb_b.jpg
[/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2105/5...3164790419.jpg Untitled by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

Now I really, really regret letting mine go .. That's a beauty, wow.

Scott

Nice Silks, gentlemen.
Here's mine:
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...2&d=1394288556

AZORCH, yours looks bone stock to my eye.



http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=367752

This is turning into my favorite kind of thread!

http://visianinfo.com/wp-content/upl...nglasses-1.jpg

Worthwhile with pics!

One popped up on my ebay search earlier this week. It's from an earlier production, but it's still interesting to look at.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTYwWDE2MD...TE5aV/$_12.JPG

There was also this little red frame that came up just now:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODUwWDEyOD...S9xSf/$_12.JPG

I'm pretty sure the owner of that green bike contacted me through my blog not long ago. I wasn't able to provide much information as I recall, because I'd never seen a model like his before.

what a strange series of coincidences... this thread; the fact that I had just visited a Japanese site with a fair number of Katakura catalog pages- that was actually just mentioned in the 'Matsuri' thread... all in conjunction with basic reading and research I've been doing with regard to my Panasonic restoration...

Lately I've really become quite enamored of these frames, the '70s & '80s Cherubims, and the Bridgestone Diamond, Eurasia, and Atlantis framesets.

Thanks, guys-- I think I'll try to find one for my next summer's project. :)

Revisiting... I like the look a lot, AZORCH. I wouldn't have thought brown would work but it does and I think it's because of the tyres and the way they are connected by the brick-red in the down tube decals.

Did you ever get to have a look at the dates on the SunTour derailleurs?

With all the time I've had on my hands during the snowy months (and me kvetching about it the entire time), you'd certainly have thought I'd have done, wouldn't you? But no, I never did. It's a nice enough day, so I think I'll wheel her out to the sunny driveway and see if I can't do precisely that.

And then, of course, head out to ride.

The front and rear derailleurs are date coded, respectively, "BD" and "BE". Thus, April and May of 1985 - which definitely supports the conjecture of a ca. 1984 frame date that we discussed last year. I may pull the rear wheel and check the FW for further scrutiny, but I feel confident in calling this one.

So, I've made a few final "final" adjustments and changes.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7343/1...63fb67c5_z.jpg
The original Sugino GT crankset came to me as a 52/46/36. I have a couple of NOS Sugino AT cranksets with 52/40/28 chainrings. I like this better for climbing.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/1...42f27c7b_z.jpg
The original Dia-Compe calipers were dicey at best. I replaced them with these SunTour Superbe calipers.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/1...661493bc_z.jpg
I desperately needed the extra reach of a 130 length stem. I traded rrcardr a nice 85mm 3ttt stem that was not being used for anything for his long one. After raising the saddle a touch, now things fit just about perfectly.

This has been a fun project, and I'm very happy with the results.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7397/1...c1eef803_z.jpg