Yoshi Konno, the visionary founder of 3Rensho, designed several bicycle lug sets over the twenty-year history of his company. His magnum opus was the Modeulo series, which incorporated traditional flourishes with a distinctly modern “aero” design sensibility to create a shape that still turns heads over thirty years after their introduction. Click “Continue Reading” below to learn more about the history and development of the Modeulo lug!

Bicycle lugs have been a distinctive component of frame construction since the early days of cycling. A lug is a socket or sleeve which the tubes that make up most frames fit into, strengthening the joints and distributing the stress over a large area. Initially created to join steel tubes, they can also be found on aluminum and carbon frames as well. 

In the late 1980s, tig welding took over as the dominant method of joining steel tubes for mass-produced bicycle frames. However, due to their beauty and practicality, the use of lugs continues to the present day.

Lugs also serve a secondary purpose: decoration. They come in many designs, sometimes with intricate cut-outs of shapes or logos. Custom frame builders often hand-carve generic lugs into fantastically complex designs (or create them entirely from scratch). Larger companies could afford to mass-produce their own unique designs, in order to set their brand apart from their competitors.

In the earliest days of 3Rensho (late 1970s – early 80s), hand-customized Tange Champion lugs were used. By the time the first 3Rensho Cyclone catalog was published, Tange was producing customized lugs for them. Bottom bracket shells were first Tange Champion, followed later by Ohtsuya.

Branding was important to Konno, and the fork crown included the 3Rensho logo cast into it. Later, the seat stay caps would also carry the 3Rensho logo. The lugs themselves have a relatively standard shape but feature a circular cut-out.

By 1987, Konno had moved to a design all of his own: the Katana lugs. These lugs are a clear predecessor of the Modeulo lug, in that they have the same three-pointed shape, with no cut-outs.

The spiky shape of these lugs emphasized the martial image of the Katana line of road and track bikes, which remain a collector favorite among 3Rensho aficionados. Few other Japanese words have both the cool factor of the chosen weapon of the samurai warrior and are well-known to non-Japanese speakers. A contemporary catalog from Ariel Trading, the USA importer for 3Rensho, notes:

Handcut lugs are carefully shaped and thinned from special blanks before brazing to our distinctively accurate curves. This graceful interior curve allows no cleanup or filing after brazing so you can see the exact meniscus the torch has formed.

Along with the Katana lugs came at least six different types of fork crowns, the Ishiwata “Super Strong” tubing, and the famous “Superends”.

The Superends were Konno’s solution to the immense forces that the front and rear drop-outs of a bicycle are subjected to when a powerful rider is sprinting.

Whereas traditional steel drop outs are flat pieces of metal that are brazed into slots cut into the chain stays, the Superends provide an extended socket that fits entirely over the end of the chain stay. The socket helps to stiffen and reinforce the chain stay, preventing breakage at this critical point. Quoting again from the Ariel Trading catalog:

Unique among joining methods, the Superends smoothly transfer stress from the axle to the tube without slotting or milling away the piece for clearance. The resulting joint is brazed at lower temperature and uses a shorter stay or blade than older designs.

Speculating as a hobbyist frame builder, the Super Ends also allowed 3Rensho’s frame builders to skip the laborious process of shaping the joint between the chain stay and the dropout by making it part of the overall pre-cast piece. Having worked with both the “old school” method and socket-type dropouts, I can attest to it being much easier to get beautiful results with the socketed type. Superends are generally found on 3Rensho’s premium models such as the Katana, as well as their later NJS track bikes. The standard Super Record Export and Super Record Aero frames imported into the USA did not feature Superends.

Around 1989, Yoshi Konno launched his masterpiece, the Modeulo lugs. Based on the earlier Katana design, the Modeulos added a webbed fin on each of the head lugs, seat lug, and bottom bracket shell. The head lugs also added a small point at the center, and the bottom bracket shell received an aero chain stay bridge similar to the one already being used on the Ohtsuya BB shells found on Super Record Aero frames. They were created using a lost-wax casting method that results in a high quality product with clean, crisp lines.

The Modeulo lugs replaced the Katana lugs on the Katana bicycles, and received the following label on the top tube:

Today, Modeulo Katanas are among the most desirable of all 3Rensho bicycles, immediately recognizable thanks to their distinctive lugs. The Modeulo lugs were manufactured for 3Rensho by Everest, and it seems they were not exclusive to 3Rensho bicycles. Also referred to as “Batman” or “Bat Wing” lugs, they have been spotted on contemporary frames from MBK (a.k.a. Motobecane), Centurion, and the Daccordi Griffe. All of these bikes were manufactured before the tragic car accident in 1995 that left Yoshi Konno paralyzed and ended the 3Rensho story, so one could assume he was aware of and permitted these manufacturers to use the Modeulo lugs.

Modeulo lugs live on today as the Long Shen 300, albeit with a few extra pointy bits and a different seat stay joint. Long Shen carries other Everest designs, so they may have inherited / purchased them at some point. Or perhaps it’s something a bit less above-board and these extraneous details were added to avoid licensing issues. Regardless, crafty frame builders can alter these lugs back to their original shape with some minor grinding and filing. Custom frame builder Chris Bishop’s “Baltimore Butterfly” blew everyone’s minds back in 2015, and is perhaps the most “internet famous” example of a non-3Rensho with Modeulo lugs.

3Rensho’s master frame builder Koichi Yamaguchi has also had an enduring fascination with the Modeulo lugs, and his Flickr page includes a series of photos showing how he reproduced one of the original bottom bracket shells entirely from scratch, using hand-carved tubing and precise brazing techniques.

A few years ago, I got my hands on two sets of original Modeulo lugs, and built my own 3Rensho tribute bike. The build process is covered here on Bikeforums, and I plan to reproduce the article here, with additional info, in the near future. A big thank-you to Andy Muzi of Yellowjersey.com, who helped me confirm the origins of the Moduelo lug and the original manufacturer. Please visit his site to learn more about 3Rensho and see his amazing collection of catalogs and other ephemera. If you enjoyed this article, please leave me a comment below.