On Friday, April 4, 2003, at 10:02 PM, chasds@mindspring.com wrote:
> Anyway, my question is this: how rare is a bike like this, anyway?
I don't think they're all that rare, though their distribution in the US has been on and off over the years. I think most of the bikes that made it over the Pacific were track bikes. In Japan they're quite common. From the little bits and pieces I've picked up they've been around since the mid-to-late 70s and have has anywhere from 2-6 people working at any time. I don't think they've made more than a few hundred frames a year, but that number multiplied by 25 or so years is quite a few bikes.
I've always liked their bikes and find them to be as well built as any
of the best European bikes during the same time. The US high end bike
buyer during the "classic" era was biased against Japanese built bikes
because that is in their eyes where all the "mass-market" bikes are
built. This image keeps with us today, but is slowly breaking down.
enjoy,
Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
SB, CA