Help indentify my Panasonic
09-03-17, 11:26 AM
#2
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Can you post a pic of the derailleurs, shifters, brakes? Also, please post the serial number. It is likely under the bottom bracket.
09-03-17, 12:26 PM
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Does not look like a model we got in the States and the company pulled out of this market in the early '90s anyway.
09-03-17, 12:36 PM
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One of the easiest ways to date a bike is to look at the inside of the cranks. You will find a manufacture date stamped there. Most are open dated with the month and year like 07 over 79 which would mean July 1979. I wouldn't be surprised if this bike doesn't date back that far with the downtube shifters which were common in the 1970s. Once you know a date you can go to other sites and get information on Panasonic bikes made about that year. Also try the Classic and Vintage subforum here at Bikeforums.
09-03-17, 02:38 PM
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I didn't know Panasonic made bikes. I thought they only made radios.
09-03-17, 05:39 PM
#7
Banned.
Panasonic
Panasonic never made one thing. It was a marketing company. One of the original Branders. Did sell some fine electronics, built to spec, from many Japanese/ Chinese/Korean companies.
09-03-17, 05:43 PM
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It looks kind of like a PR-6000 with rack mounts.
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
09-03-17, 06:36 PM
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It looks kind of like a PR-6000 with rack mounts.
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
But it's an odd bike. Clamp on DT shifter mount and the braze on derailleur cable guides would say it's an early 80's model. But it has a bottle mount on the ST and doesn't have the three looped cable guides on the top tube of the earlier models, or the paint. But it has non-aero brakes. But there should be a law against posting only non-drive side pics.
09-03-17, 07:14 PM
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Only the paint and decals are similar. It has a different seat tube cluster, different rear brake cable routing, it has no braze on for the number plate, ect.
But it's an odd bike. Clamp on DT shifter mount and the braze on derailleur cable guides would say it's an early 80's model. But it has a bottle mount on the ST and doesn't have the three looped cable guides on the top tube of the earlier models, or the paint. But it has non-aero brakes. But there should be a law against posting only non-drive side pics.
But it's an odd bike. Clamp on DT shifter mount and the braze on derailleur cable guides would say it's an early 80's model. But it has a bottle mount on the ST and doesn't have the three looped cable guides on the top tube of the earlier models, or the paint. But it has non-aero brakes. But there should be a law against posting only non-drive side pics.
Yeah, driveside photos and more component info would be nice.
09-03-17, 09:25 PM
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As posted in a different thread.
09-03-17, 10:24 PM
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What am i seeing on the fork?, carbon fiber applique? the pic with cateye attached.
Certainly not an original 1" carbon fork on a 70s touring.
Certainly not an original 1" carbon fork on a 70s touring.
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09-04-17, 06:24 AM
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Bikes are okay, I guess.
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09-04-17, 11:58 AM
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It is NOT true that Panasonic (National in Japan) is and was simply a marketing company. The confusion may come because they could not trademark the National brand name in the US so sold products under the Panasonic name. You can read the part about the founder of National/Panasonic growing up in a family who owned a bike shop. Panasonic Bicycles at Yellow Jersey
09-04-17, 05:18 PM
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National Panasonic was a company that Schwinn contracted to build bikes in the 70s and 80s. In that relationship, Schwinn was the marketing company.
I have a Panasonic road bike and a Panasonic built Schwinn in my garage right now- both built by National Panasonic.
Centurion, Raleigh, Schwinn, and others had Panasonic make bikes for them.
09-04-17, 06:48 PM
#17
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Panasonic
[QUOTE=mstateglfr;19840426Look deeper. You will see that what Panasonic did was outsource and spec all manufacturing to the many factories they did business with. They even had "Panasonic" label right on them. In the film it says the team takes an order from the Sales dept. That was "Panasonic". It was genius and it was 1988 when this was going on. Now they seem to be in the phone business. My information came via UCI business course in 1979 solely focused on Panasonic and the German company Braun. Successful as hell. Perhaps later, they actually tried to build something in house. Didn't seem to be long lasting though. Doesn't mean they aren't nice bikes. Just hard to track down.
09-04-17, 08:40 PM
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It looks kind of like a PR-6000 with rack mounts.
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
The PBVM 1991 Panasonic PR-6000 | Panasonic Bicycles Virtual Museum
Although, did Panasonic make a frame one level down from the PR-6000?
Last edited by WizardOfBoz; 09-04-17 at 08:50 PM.
09-05-17, 10:40 AM
#19
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Look deeper. You will see that what Panasonic did was outsource and spec all manufacturing to the many factories they did business with. They even had "Panasonic" label right on them. In the film it says the team takes an order from the Sales dept. That was "Panasonic". It was genius and it was 1988 when this was going on. Now they seem to be in the phone business. My information came via UCI business course in 1979 solely focused on Panasonic and the German company Braun. Successful as hell. Perhaps later, they actually tried to build something in house. Didn't seem to be long lasting though. Doesn't mean they aren't nice bikes. Just hard to track down.
But companies like Centurion were already contracting with multiple builders thru the years- they had relationships and the ability to negotiate direct with the factories- why go thru Panasonic when that just adds another layer?
Ok...so then what companies made bikes for Panasonic who then contracted and sold the bikes to other companies?
In all the reading about Panasonic, I havent heard they never made bikes so this is interesting.
10-11-17, 05:10 AM
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