Help identifying bike

[sawspud]

Can anyone help me with identifying this bike? Other than the Dura-Ace AX components there are no other clues that I'm aware of. The downtube seems to have an interesting profile for an old frame.

I've not seen the bike other than in the pictures, but if you need any more information I can try and get hold of it.

Thank you in advance!

 

[jim haseltine]

It's from the aero revolution period at the beginning of the 1980s. I've seen the down tube and bb on a number of Japanese bikes from the period - Koga/Araya etc, I'm fairly certain the tubing was Tange although something is telling me that Ishiwata made a similar section tubing set. Think that one company set had an aero section seat tube while the other didn't.

 

[sawspud]

It's from the aero revolution period at the beginning of the 1980s. I've seen the down tube and bb on a number of Japanese bikes from the period - Koga/Araya etc, I'm fairly certain the tubing was Tange although something is telling me that Ishiwata made a similar section tubing set. Think that one company set had an aero section seat tube while the other didn't.

Thank you Jim. The owner is looking to sell - I'm going to try and talk him into not selling the parts individually! With a little TLC I would imagine it could look like new. I'll make sure he takes the bottle cage off though!

 

[jim haseltine]

The correct bottle and cage is here on VeloBase
as a unit they're usually quite expensive though there is a cage currently on Ebay for £8

 

[sawspud]

This bike is now in my custody! It's currently being stripped ready for re-coating. I've stripped off all the components and they are getting a deep clean ready for reassembly.

Unfortunately, I'm still at a complete loss as to who made the frame! It has a serial number on the bottom bracket '810011' and the same is stamped on the steering tube (about half way up). I'm guessing that this could be the 11th bike made by the frame builder in 1981 as this would fit in with the year of the groupset.

The bottom bracket is a Shimano 38x24T Italian thread.
The Front wheel hub is a SACHS V3 - with Rigida rims.
Dropouts are all Shimano.
Everything else is also Shimano Dura-Ace ax

Any ideas!? I would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction as I'm at a complete loss!

French hubs and rims + Italian threaded BB + Japanese group set + ???????? frame!

Oh and for what it's worth - I weighed the frame and forks today with some naff luggage scales and it came out at 2.5kg. Not sure if this is good or bad, or indeed accurate!!!

 

[Canuk]

That's pretty light for frame and forks, probably setting the frame below 1800gr. My money would be on Ishiwata Aero or Columbus Air. Italian threading does cue Italy though. I'm sure De Rosa had a few Aero bikes on the go in the 80s, if it's one of them, you've won a watch.

De Rosa "Linea Aerodinamica" Colombus Air profiled tubing

 

[Canuk]

There was another one sold on RB

 

[sawspud]

What I think is weird is that I don't think it's ever been resprayed - and it has no decals or badges on the frame and was sprayed semi-gloss black all over. I stripped the frame yesterday and it had one (thick) coat of paint on it. Making me think it probably came from a small frame builder. As far as I know, the previous owner had it from new and he probably "paid a lot of money for it" (a quote from his relative).

 

[jim haseltine]

I assume you mis-typed the BB thread size as Italian is 36x24T. An Italian BB combined with the Shimano dropouts is curious - it could be that the only aero-socket BB available in Japan at the time was Italian or that the dropouts were supplied along with the AX group set to an Italian company to build an aero 'show' bike. I would expect to see some roll-stamping on the fork steerer, usually low down towards the fork crown - if the tubing happens to be Columbus the dove symbol is usually visible especially if the lighting angle is correct.

 

[non-fixie]

Interesting! Most frames that used AX components BITD were made to Shimano specs by Japanese suppliers, such as Araya and Miki.

In each country a local distributor was apparently given the rights to sell them: Jan Janssen in Holland, Norta in Belgium, Standish in Australia, etc.

It would be interesting to know if anyone had the distribution rights for Italy, which could explain the Italian BB. I have seen a period Benotto pop up with aero tubing.

Have a look here.