Arrow bikes of Japan
 

I've been looking around at various options for a new ride and having gotten caught up in this fixed gear madness, ended up bidding on a nearly new Panasonic track bike on Yahoo Japan Auctions. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I lost by a mere $10 (final price was $530), since what i really want is one of these:

http://arrow-yokohama.no-blog.jp/pho.../cimg28502.jpg

http://www.arrow.ecnet.jp/

Does anyone know anything about these Arrow bikes? They were mentioned in a Monocle magazine article a while back and I think there was post on the Velo Orange blog too. From what I can tell from their website you get a road-ready complete bike with leather saddle in your choice of colour and handlebar option with brakes for 63,000 yen, which is about $650, which seems like a bargain for a handmade (in Japan) lugged frame.

If they sold these online I would have already ordered one. Why doesn't anyone sell something like this here (at this price point)? I'm sure they'd sell just as well as factory-made welded Taiwanese bikes.

Looks like garbage to me.