The First Zunow Catalog: KYGM 1973

Last year I scored an original printing of Zunow’s first catalog from Yahoo JP Auctions. The catalog is for master builder Takeru Kageyama’s line of full-custom bicycles branded “KYGM” (pronounced “Gee-mu”).

It offers a window into the early days of the Zunow brand, when Kageyama-san was producing French-inspired randonneur, road, and touring bicycles. The catalog is in Japanese, which is a challenge for a non-speaker like myself. With the help of some translation tools and my experience with bikes & bike parts filling in the gaps, there are some interesting learnings to be had. Click “Continue Reading” below to learn more and download a free copy of the catalog.

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My First Hand-Made Frame!

simon_1stframe_01

So it’s been literally a year, to the day, since I’ve updated this blog.  But I haven’t been idle on the bike front!  In fact, 2015 was quite a year for me and bicycles, one where I finally achieved a long-held dream of mine: to build my own frames.  Thanks to the help and mentoring of Lance Mercado at Squarebuilt Cycles here in Brooklyn, I built my first frame this past March.

Read on for all of the details! Continue reading