it's a little easier when you don't have to pay for gas or car insurance or anything...

mmm... fair enough, insurance and gas quickly get expensive.

$1000+ for a frame and fork seem pretty expensive even with a job, but then maybe that says more
about my penchant for crappy jobs than anything else. I kept thinking I'd wait til I get my JD and start making money, but I have a feeling other expenses will creep up...

At least I can live vicariously through you folks.

Thanks, 'simple' and 'functional' were what I was aiming for with the build.

I bought the frame from one of those regular Japanese Ebay-sellers and expected it to be at least a little beat up and scratched but when it arrived it was like it was never ridden. Obviously it had been built up sometime but the condition was immaculate. Now the problem is that the bike came out a bit too nice... :rolleyes:

Does the fork on that 3rensho look off to anyone else?

don't you mean, offset?

off topic, but does anyone know the differences between Araya GOLD 16B rims and Araya GOLD 16B world champion?

I'm guessing the world champions are gen.1 because they're actually njs stamped and less common, and with the normal Araya GOLD 16B the stamp is laser etched. any technical differences?
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...30777ARAYA.jpg

Stek, what you've got there is a picture of the Araya 16B Gold - just with and sans World Champion sticker. Araya also did a 16B Red. Both are NJS approved, both are 20.6mm wide and 11.9mm high. Both are eyeletted. The difference is the gold has slightly thinner sidewalls, so it weighs 310g, while the Red weighs 360g. Also, you can get the Red in an unpolished 32-hole (non-NJS) version.

A lot of keirin guys train on the Red rim and race on the Gold. Nakano used 16B Golds to win a world championship, but swapped to the Araya ADX-1 (non NJS) for his later wins. Maybe they've taken the world champion sticker off because it's been 25 years since such a rim has won a world championship. (Perhaps someone knows the UCI rules - is there a 25-year time limit for saying your product has won a world championship?)

Araya also made the Tita-Ace rim. Nakano used this rim for his 10th world championship win. It is a titanium rim, available in 36-hole and 32 hole (only the 36 hole is NJS-approved). It is the same height, width and weight as the 16B Gold - but costs more and it's a bit weaker.

u gotta pay to play!

i deal drugs. njs aint no thang

thanks for the info, oldsprinter!

stolen levant in philly :(

i know the owner is in this thread
http://i30.tinypic.com/29lh30k.jpg

:(

what a shame.... I ride that bike at night when im dreaming :(:cry:

Don't know if anyone has asked this yet... but what are these hubs, both front and rear? The rear ones are especially crazy!

iirc they were the prototypes for what are now cane creek volos..

I am most definitely fixated on the bullhorned 3 Rensho.

I give it an extra Rensho

Oh god, that was my Levant. Stolen within 3 minutes off the back of my friends car. I really hope someone is out there using that frame. I wasn't as upset about the parts as the frame, that thing was so ****in nice.

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/2171/p1000086jw1.jpg

Stolen in this condition. I still have my track drops and stem.

was it on a bikerack?

Yep. They must have had a knife because the straps were cut off and were laying on the ground.

http://static.flickr.com/59/220811753_ce3f7bd061_b.jpg

This is a beautiful bicycle.