Early 80’s Suteki Mixte

[Tobias Rodriguez]

I bought this for the wife yesterday, for short rides and a bit of fun. Japanese made with decent enough components. To be collected next Tuesday. I doubt if she’ll need that Megarange style set up, I get the benefit but it looks odd to me, so I might swap that out for a standard freewheel and 600 mech. Let’s wait and see. New grips ordered and I don’t like the black seat post! That will most likely get swapped out for a cheap period SR post.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

That looks nice, always good to involve our wives in the hobby. Jo rides with me all the time now. See how your wife gets on with it before changing anything, she may really like it

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

Baby steps here, I thought it would be nice to try though

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Never heard of the brand, most Japanese frames are nicely made though.

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

Never heard of the brand, most Japanese frames are nicely made though.

Apparently Suteki frames were Panasonic made, complete bikes were sold at Sears. This is a lower end for sure. Nice enough but looks well built like you said.

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

That looks nice, always good to involve our wives in the hobby. Jo rides with me all the time now. See how your wife gets on with it before changing anything, she may really like it

Good point about letting the wife decide

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

The Suteki was collected yesterday. So today, a quick wipe over after removing the mudguards (I know the wife will be a dry weather only cyclist, they can always go back on!), new grips fitted, pumped up the tyres and lowered the saddle. The self righting pedals were not doing what they should, so a quick strip down, clean and fresh grease and they are now working nicely. It’s a really nice riding bike, stable and smooth, perfect for the wife!

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

Oh yes, once I’ve free’d up the stem I’ll lower that a tad too

 

[bikeworkshop]

Going up a coupe of tyre sizes might make it look and feel more assured - and people rarely complain about gears being too easy, so although Megarange might look ugly and tie you in to a cheap tourney mech, the alternative is to find a more "compact" chainset, with all the attendant chain f. Mech and bb complications
Looking nice

 

[Tobias Rodriguez]

Going up a coupe of tyre sizes might make it look and feel more assured - and people rarely complain about gears being too easy, so although Megarange might look ugly and tie you in to a cheap tourney mech, the alternative is to find a more "compact" chainset, with all the attendant chain f. Mech and bb complications
Looking nice

There is plenty of clearance to go up a few sizes, so that is definitely an option. As for the gearing, I could do without the headache so will leave well alone I reckon