bikes from Japan

[thom]

My daughter and son-in-law will be going to Japan soon to live for a while. What bikes should I have them look for there that we might not be able to buy here?

 

[kwoodyh]

Katakura Silk, Kuwahara, Fuji


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[nycet3]

I used to have four or five Porta Silk folding bikes. They're extremely cool if they're in your niche.

 

[vincev]

I am not sure but I dont think there is a large vintage bike market from Japan.I was at a bike show and there was a very old and cool lookin bike from Japan.The seller said I could have it for $25 because he was tired of carting it around.I passed.He even said it was from where the US dropped the big bomb.lo

 

[Jeff54]

The Japanese do collect US bikes but, good luck finding them and if you do, be prepared to pay double, in the least. They also restore em and they're anal about that, pure perfection or trashed!

They're also wasteful. That is, no yard sales and hardly, if at all, buyers of used items. In fact, they pay to haul off seriously good stuff. Junk men run routs daily, U pay.

I guess, some that stuff does land inside of junk shops because, there's a few if you're willing to hunt em down. Most people wouldn't be caught dead inside of one yet, that's probably why those are expensive too, a sale a week pays the rent. Probable the biggest used item market is bulletin boards where U.S. and oher temporary visitors resell their apartment stuff, furniture and household items. where those BB's are, is also the place to discover were other English speaking folks turn up to ask where some might be. They've a very tight immigration policy so, not many can stay beyond their visa. Selling their stuff, leaving, visiting India, Africa or other Asian parts until they can return and buy stuff again. .

regardless, you've got to get out of their cities or well off into side streets, junky looking side streets, if you can find junky their, to find old stuff that wont cost an arm, liver, kidney or leg for any kind of collectible items and I ain't talking bout USA junk but, any. . Antique stores? yeah, for-get-about it, that stuff is cheaper in the USA and or ebay. even new japan made stuff is cheaper in US retail stores than Japanese.
.

 

[SirMike1983]

If you collect bikes with 9/16 pedal axles, look for new MKS 3000-s pedals. The 3000-s is a traditional style pedal with rubber blocks and no reflectors. It's reasonably well-made and will suit your traditional English, French, or Japanese bike. This fall, I had two pairs shipped over from Asia, and was pleasantly surprised at how traditional and nice the 3000-s pedals were. In the US, we almost always see the 3000-r pedals with reflectors, but they look out of place on a pre-1970s bike. The 3000-s is more traditional, but uncommon in the US.

 

[filmonger]

Racycle seemed to indicate they were popular in Japan around the TOC..... They even had a race team.

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/racycle-team-japan.100143/

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/antique-pictures-of-raycycle-racing-bikes.71119/#post-544610

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/japanese-racycle-team.54591/#post-324101

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/1...tics-full-nickeled-racycle.34978/#post-188595

This picture is from 1903

 

[Jeff54]

Racycle seemed to indicate they were popular in Japan around the TOC..... They even had a race team.
]

It seems that popularity wasn't the thing; "Racing champions" . This is in the Cosmopolitan, Volume 36, 1904, indicating, via placement in the advertisement, Japan won a major competition of some type, that year, 1903.

https://books.google.com/books?i.d.=0MVPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA758&lpg=PA758&dq=Racycle+japan&source=bl&ots=bgjiUN-kIg&sig=vVLWsQyCNpC7ZbxXmlzaydcMa0c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNtNaZmozYAhVL4iYKHVZpD3kQ6AEIZjAL#v=onepage&q=Racycle japan&f=false

Yet when it comes to Japan and cycles, Pope was hitting them hard too, 'until some time around 1910, when Japan's own export production threatened the whole world's manufactures of bikes'. Google books
Bicycle: The History
By David V. Herlihy

"Yet now Japanese cycle makers were even threatening to erode the West's bustling export trade throughout the Far East. The American industry, however, continued to struggle. In the spring of 1903, a gallant Albert A. Pope, who four years earlier had sold off his bicycle concern to embark on automobile production, set out" ... search results; ' 1903 japan, cycling' https://books.google.com/books?i.d.=VDlaT0KxJfAC&pg=PA316&lpg=PA316&dq=1903+japan,+cycling&source=bl&ots=SNWUzA_Eig&sig=CYnXfPNlwtCNHkC_TB9hmEksfF4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijm5mdoIzYAhVBSiYKHVzUAqEQ6AEIOzAC#v=onepage&q=1903 japan, cycling&f=false

Congressional Serial Set - Page 433 - Google Books Result
https://books.google.com/books?i.d.=W7VTAAAAIAAJ
1904 - ‎United States
The Singer is the only American company selling direct to the Japanese, and have had landed in Kobe from 500 to 800 machines every sixty days since April, 1903. BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES. The increase in importation of bicycles continues. In 1900 the customs returns indicated imports (mostly of bicycles)

So, except that the Japanese, perhaps for limited storage space, junk their used stuff, anything in old bikes is possible. Not to leave out; It was Japan who put Schwinn to shame, for their failure to keep up with lightweight bikes.

 

[filmonger]

Aug 1st 1896...... the Wheel. Japanese Consul Miyagawa. From the weekly export figures of American bikes, it looks like the majority went to Yokohama and a small portion to Tokyo. Though, the volumes were very low.

Prices in Japan of that same year - Japanese Workshops

Trade with Japan encouraged.... of the same year

For Example the exports for the week ending Oct 27th 1896...

 

[dnc1]

Their track racing bicycles are highly prized over here.
Motor-paced Keirin ('competition ring')events are massively popular in Japan and a very exciting spectator sport.
Events are run under the auspices of NJS
(Nihon Jitensha Shinkôkai), which upholds strict standards for all cycles and components.
If you find a source of reasonably priced frames anywhere please let me know!
We'll keep it our little secret ,lol, no one else need know!