Re: [CR]Sanshin/SunShine

(Example: Racing)

From: "Paul C. Brodek" <pcb@skyweb.net>
To: Dennis Young <mail@woodworkingboy.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Sanshin/SunShine
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 20:08:30 -0500
References: <01a801c3ae02$2b30ec60$98ccf7a5@pavilion> <BBDF6D95.2FC1%mail@woodworkingboy.com>
In-Reply-To:
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Hey Dennis,

Sanshin made Sunshine hubs. My understanding is they picked "Sunshine" as a brand name since it sounded close to Sanshin, non-Japanese had trouble pronouncing Sanshin, and Sunshine has nice English-language connotations. Later on they seemed to have dropped Sunshine and labelled their product Sanshin.

In addition to producing product under their own label, Sanshin also acted as a subcontractor for SunTour; all SunTour-labelled hubs came from Sanshin. I don't know if there was any corporate cross-ownership, but Sanshin's president (Mamoru Kawai) was the younger son of Junzo Kawai, Maeda/SunTour's chairman. Mamoru always struck me as a thoughtful, intelligent and reasonable young man, much more detail-oriented and less impetuous than his father.

Sanshin's factory was in Shiga-ken, maybe an hour and change from Maeda's offices in Sakai-shi. In the mid-'80s they were diversifying a bit into forging auto parts. I don't know what happened to them when Maeda was purchased then went under. I always wanted to visit the plant, but never did.

Sanshin made a beautiful ProAm model high-flange hub in the late '70s. The flanges only had 5 cut-outs, leaving a distinctive star-shaped center section. Very nice bearing quality, lots of polish and pretty anodizing. Those track Professional hubs look pretty nice, too!

Cheers,

Paul Brodek Hillsdale, NJ

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 06:32:53 +0900, Dennis Young <mail@woodworkingboy.com> wrote:
>Thanks Hugh,
>
>Did you take a look at the auction page? Can you please verify that the
>Sanshin company is the same as the SunShine one (it's not a misspelling by
>me). I see Sanshin goods as well. In other words, you are saying that
>Sanshin produced SunShine?
>
>http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g10343291
>
>Dennis Young
>Hotaka, Japan
>
>>
>> Subject: [CR]unfamiliar parts
>>
>> Dennis wrote:
>>
>>
>>> " Pardon me if these might be off topic, but is anyone familiar with
>> SunShine
>>> bicycle components? I see these on occasion at the Japanese auctions, and
>>> they don't look wihout some merit. Probably it is a former Japanese
>>> company?"
>>
>> You are referring to Sanshin or Sanshin Matsumoto, a very well respected
>> Japanese firm that unfortunately is no longer in business. Their quality was
>> better than Suzue or Sakae Ringyo, and they were the producers of Suntour
>> hubs for many years (also the Specialized hubs). The quality level on their
>> best hubs was like the quality level of the best Nitto handlebars and stems.
>>
>> Sanshin developed a unique technology ( for the time) that allowed them to
>> produce short runs of high flange, low flange, or combinations of high and
>> low flanges with a variety of spoke hole drillings. I don't know how they
>> did this, and have always wondered if it may have been by a very early
>> implementation of CNC programmed lathes.
>>
>> Unfortunately I never got to visit the factory but I did meet the company
>> officials on several occasions. I'm sure I've got some of their catalogs
>> kicking around here somewhere and I wish they were still in business.
>>
>> Hugh Enox
>> La Honda

Paul C. Brodek
Hillsdale, N.J. U.S.A.
E-mail: pcb@skyweb.net