Tag Archives: Nitto

Nagasawa Special NJS Track with Dura Ace 7500

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The Nagasawa marque sits at the apex of Japanese Kierin bicycles, recognized worldwide for impeccably designed and executed frames, each hand made by master builder Yoshiaki Nagasawa. This particular Nagasawa, built in May of 1985, came to me as a frameset by way of Yahoo JP auctions. It has a 53cm seat tube (center-to-top) and a 54cm top tube (center-to-center). It has a beautiful, but hard to photograph deep green / blue paint scheme with rainbow sparkles and yellow highlights. I built it up with a period-appropriate Shimano Dura Ace track group set. Read on to learn more about this bike and the back-story of Nagasawa bicycles.

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Maruishi Emperor RE-C-A Touring Bike

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The Maruishi Emperor has been a popular line of touring bicycles in Japan since at least the 1970s. The Emperor line covers a number of different models, but like the Maruishi brand itself, there is little information on them available in English. After much research, I have identified it as an RE-C-A “Camper” model, released in 1976. It caught my eye as a frame set on Yahoo Japan auctions, as the triple-triangle style of frame design is uncommon, even in Japan. After it arrived in my shop and sat for a few months, I built it up using period-correct parts that came from a Zunow KYGM I am restoring. Read on to learn more about this bike, along with some history of Maruishi.

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Soma Rush 57cm fixed gear

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Along with the Volume Cutter, I built up this Soma Rush over the weekend.  The frame, while used, had only a few paint chips under all the stickers I had to remove from it.  The Soma Rush is an excellent fixed-gear / track frameset made from top quality Tange chro-mo steel, with a few concessions to street riding, like a rear brake bridge and water bottle mounts.  Soma is a well-known and respected manufacturer, and the Rush is a cut above typical “entry-level” fixed frames from IRO, Origin8, Mercier, and Bianchi.  It is a size 57cm, check out the frame geometry and dimensions here.

I paired it with a lovely Soma Hellyer track crankset and chainring, and it’s rolling on hand-laced Miche Pr1mato wheelset.   It’s sporting a brand new saddle, seatpost, chain, pedals, and tires.  The red anodized Nitto track bars look great against the brand new bar tape as well.  This is one classy ride!  More pictures after the jump…

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