Two things here:
Most collectible Japanese bicycles:
I am far from an expert on Japanese frames (or any frame for that matter) but in conferring with some contacts I have sold mountains of parts to in Japan, here is the general consensus:
1. Toei. Master frame-builder Mr. Hoshino has worked there for more than 30 years (so I am told by my friends "across the pond.")
2. Nagasawa. Awesome craftsmanship. Saw some at a shop in San Francisco. Wicked cable routing and all around construction.
3. Iribe. (Never heard of him/them, but am told is an awesome builder.)
The next two would be 3Rensho or Zunow in either order.
Remember this is not what Ted thinks, but what Ted has gathered.
On to topic #2
As for the "C. Itoh," maybe he/they did make a quality bike somewhere along the line. But I remember my Dad having one of these back in the mid 70's. It had a disc brake on it. I remember that bike falling apart all the time--and the components were junk.
My Redline got stolen, so I was allowed to use the C. Itoh to go to "Diving Lessons" at Rinconada Park here in Palo Alto. I kept hitting my head on the diving board whenever I would attempt back-flips. I started eating tons of candy and got pudgy. That made things worse. One day I hid my swimming trunks between my mattress and box spring in hopes that my Mom would not find them. Well, she eventually found the trunks and ordered me to go to my "diving lesson." I pedaled the C. Itoh down to the pool when I was approached by two guys from the ghetto. They said, "Hey man, I give you .35 cent you let me ride yo bike for a minute?" (I thought "This is great! Now I can get a cherry slush and a Tootsie-Roll!") I told them OK. One guy jumped on the handlebars and away they went........for good!
Lastly, I am very sorry to hear C.Itoh may be related to Bridgestone. I could never figure out what people saw in Bridgestone. I have worked at jobs where I have had to assemble Bridgestone road bikes all day long (and later their disastrous OT mtn bicycles) and can tell you straight up that they are junk!
Ted Baer Palo Alto, CA
--- Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> A friend's wife had a C. Itoh back In The Day. It
> had the large clunky cast lugs. I'm thinking maybe
> C. Itoh/Brigestone/Kabuki were all one corporate
> entity. I remember Kabuki had a very strange model
> called the Submariner, with stainless steel tubes,
> maybe the whole thing was stainless. Seem to recall
> magazine ads of it submerged in water, suggesting
> that it was "waterproof". The stylized Kabuki mask
> logo on the headtube was cool, though. Can't
> necessarily say C. Itoh/Bridgestone/Kabuki made the
> best bikes from Japan, but they were definitely
> "interesting".
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
>
>
> Louis Schulman <louiss@gate.net> wrote:
> Interesting this topic comes up now. I saw the
> strangest bike boom
> Japanese bike on Saturday.
>
> It was a C. Itoh, the predecessor I believe, to
> Bridgestone. The
> strange thing about this bike is that it had huge
> casts lugs (I don't
> know if they were steel or aluminum) and the 4 main
> tubes were stainless
> steel! There was a label that identified the tubes
> as stainless. They
> were polished to a mirror finish.
>
> I guess the tubes were glued into the lugs, which
> had the design of lug
> points cast into them (looked really clunky).
> Otherwise, the bike
> appeared to be a bike boom el cheapo.
>
> Ever see one of these? It was too small for me
> (maybe 54 cm), but if
> someone wants it, it is for sale at a local dealer.
>
> Louis Schulman
> Tampa, Florida (where it is extremely cold, it went
> down to 36 degrees
> last night!)
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