Extremely entertaining read...
http://ebay.com/
Item number: 130081631263 Seller: terrydavenporter (2010) This is the third Nagasawa I've auctioned on eBay in the past year and by far the most special. Believe me, it pains me no end to have to do this, but my loss is your gain.First, size: this bike is real close to being 55cm center-to-center in both the seat and top tube. I'm sure I'll get a million questions (please, if you can hold the vitriole to a bare minimum) and I'll post additional geometry specs as added info. Most parts are NJS approved including the headset, Nitto stem,Suntour Superbe Pro rear hub and Dura-Ace crankset and seatpost. The biggest exception is the front wheel which is a Campagnolo high-flange hub mated to a brand-new Fiamme Speedy track rim. There is no front tire and the rear tire needs to be replaced. Other than that the bike is complete and excellent, straight as an arrow and works perfectly...although there are many scratches (some poorly touched up) which attest to the fact that this was a working bike from the stable of one of the greatest bike racers of all time.
Which brings me to the year of manufacture: I'm taking a wild guess, so PLEASE don't chop my head off. Perhaps the serial number will help here. This is an earlier example of Nagasawa's work and the workmanship is as flawless as any bike you'll see. Note the very unusual "N" on the crown.
Sometimes you just get lucky, and this was certainly the case for me in the late 80's when I was hanging out at my uncle's house in the suburbs of Kyoto, Japan. He told me his next-door neighbor was a famous keirin racer and would like to meet me. For those of you who don't know (which I'm sure is few if you're reading this) keirin is paramutual betting on bicycle racing in Japan. It was started after WWII as a way of raising revenue, much as we use the lotto here for the benefit of senior citizens. The upshot of this (the fact that large amounts of money are at stake) is that keirin racers, the really good ones, make a huge amount of money. Another upshot is that keirin racers must be far more than great athletes, they must be of the highest moral character (just like our jockeys, ha ha). In order to be a keirin racer you must first be a Japanese native, and then you have to go a fairly rigorous screening. If you have had a run-in with the law or if your family is known to be a bunch of swindlers, you can't join. Many are called, few are chosen. If you are chosen you go to school to learn your craft, just as Sumo wrestlers do. The good news is that if you pass you can earn a really good living for the rest of your life.
Such is the case with my uncle's neighbor Mr. Minami (which as you probably know means "South" in Japanese). He is a really terrific, funny guy who also happens to be hell on wheels. He looks like he could be a golf pro or a college professor (until you see him in shorts) and keirin racing has enabled him to own a multimillion dollar home in Kyoto.
When I met him in the late 80's he was already well into his 40's and his son was beginning his training to be a keirin racer. I went over to his house and ate lunch which his wife prepared (a typical bento box full of tasty things that I really didn't want to know the origin of) and watched videos of his son's training. Mr. Minami, I would learn was full of speed and normally secured victory by leading out sprints, figuring, rightly, that if you could come around him more power to you. His son however embraced a more cerebral style that I myself have employed through much of my life (some call it wheelsucking). "Mr. Tactician" Minami would say as we watched a miss- and-out. When his son "missed" in the video Minami smacked him in the back of the head with a newspaper.
The next day to my surprise and delight I was invited to join them for training. This was sort of unusual in that most bonafide keirin racers don't do much actual training...they're racing all the time, constantly traveling and racing. These were budding students though and Minami was coaching them. When I got there I was relieved to find that everything they were doing was completely familiar to me and they were relieved to find, I'm sure, that I knew what I was doing and didn't take anyone out.
These were local youths, for the most part, with a couple of seasoned stars. Almost everyone was riding a Ganwell Pro, which is the local brand. These bikes are absolutely gorgeous, and the guy who builds them is a really nice fellow (you'll get sick of me saying this, because to a man everyone I met there was a really great guy) and his shop is as clean as an operating room. Anyway, it was one of these that I rode in Kyoto and I have to say, it was about the very nicest riding track bike I've ever been on.
So far, it seems pretty nice, right? Well it gets better. A lot better. Minami asked me if I'd like to go to a large race in a couple of days. A friend of his would be there, and would I like to meet him? Who is this guy? Just Koichi Nakano, who won ten consecutive World Championships in the match sprint. Sure, I said. That sounded neat. So I rode the bullet train with Mr. Minami and my cousin Futoshi towards Tokyo.
I won't lie to you. I was pretty nervous the first time I met Nakano. I'd seem him race before, but never got close to him. I remembered the controversy between he and Gordon Singleton at the '86 World's and Nakano had always seemed pretty classy to me. Plus, I'd been seeing him on billboards and on TV since I'd arrived in Japan the following week. So it was weird to have him walk over and introduce himself.
The guy has real star quality, that's the only way I can put it. That, and a trait that Mr. Minami has, which I can't think of a word for. A friend of mine is probably close to their age and size and he has this trait also, and he's a Japanese guy. His name is Hachiro Oishi and he was one of the better wrestlers in the world. It's a compactness of a sort, with economy of motion; they are very cordial men whose veneer of friendliness barely hides an incredible ferocity beneath the surface. The classic iron fist in a velvet glove.
During the next couple of days I learned a lot more about keirin racing (by the way, it's pronounced more like "kay-ring" than like the beer). The big thing is, once you're in, you're in. Thus, you can keep doing it well into middle age. I believe it has something to do with the Japanese culture, but they don't discard their bike racers as soon as they start to slow. Imagine being able to see LeMond and Fignon again as middle-aged men in a masters race. It might be interesting. The other thing I learned is that keirin racers must be self-sufficient. They have to buy and maintain their own equipment. This way nobody can claim that he was sabotaged. If you roll a tire or something breaks, it's on you. I learned some helpful tips on track racing and some less helpful tips, such as "if you crash, pretend you're unconscious. Don't ever let the spectators see that you're okay...they'll think you crashed on purpose and they're liable to come after you." In the bullpens they have these massive rollers that are actually motorized, like the mechanical bulls from the 70's. You really feel like Gene Wilder in "Stir Crazy" when riding them (at least I did). Odd fact: many keirin racers smoke. I asked Nakano if he ever smoked and he said "only the smooth and satisfying Mild Seven brand" or something to that effect...it's a brand he endorsed.
Later when the talk turned to bikes they all wanted to know what I rode. I told them, a perfectly respectable Italian marque (my Dad's family is from Naples, by the way) and they started ribbing me. Words were exchanged and before I knew it Nakano said something and someone fetched this old track bike. I was told to race it when I got back to the states to see what a "real" track bike is like. I was guaranteed I'd win on it.
Surprisingly, I did crush everyone the first time out on this bike. What was especially satisfying was that my Grandmother was there with my aunt and mother to see it happen. Someone even took a picture. I just saw it recently, and I hope I can remember where I put it. I also have pictures of me and my cousin with Mr. Minami and Nakano. The next year I would return to Japan and I was lucky enough to be introduced to Nagasawa himself. He learned his craft in Italy (from Ugo DeRosa no less, though I've never seen a lugged DeRosa that exhibited the level of finish of a Nagasawa, but you can see the influence in the short lugs, in the seat stay conjunction, the flat crowns, the tricolore flag on the decal, etc.) and speaks Italian quite well. That year when I saw Nakano he was driving a white Testarossa (oddly, almost all the cars in Japan are white) and Minami was wearing a t-shirt that said "Gamelone" in classic Campagnolo script-Gamelone is a common cheer in Japanese team sports and I don't know how to translate it. Something like "all for one" maybe. The Japanese love American and Italian things, which usually works out pretty well for me.
Like I said, sometimes you just get lucky. And sometimes you get really unlucky several times in a row. I hate to auction this bike, so please don't tell me how stupid I am for doing so. Believe me, nobody in the world is more aware than I of my stupidity-well,nobody except perhaps my wife. Most of you will never ride a Nagasawa (a real pity) so I'll tell you my impressions of this bike: it's solid. That might be the overwhelming impression. It oozes quality and solidity. I'd make references to bank vaults and German automobiles, but who am I kidding, I've had scant experience with either lately. It's also wicked quick-too quick for my tastes if you want to know the truth. If you've ever seen keirin racing on large tracks (real keirin racing isn't contested on Olympic size tracks but on much bigger tracks which ebable higher speeds) or seen Gibby Hatton race a match sprint you know what it's like to see a guy on one side of someone at forty miles an hour and then, like a camera trick, on the other side of the guy. That's the sort of thing this bike is capable of. The bike is, but I certainly am not. Despite what referees may have said about my sprinting, I tend to go pretty straight and have never felt the need for a faster handling track bike. This isn't a bike that lends itself to casually taking your hands off the bars and sitting up for a stretch as you go round the banking. It can be done, mind you, but it doesn't lend itself to such acts. No, it's better at going really really fast and darting into spaces that seem too small to fit a bicycle. It's really springy, super solid, and fast handling. If you win this auction I hope you ride this bike and treasure it. It's a bit of rolling history that is bound to appreciate monetarily, but it's real worth can't be measured in dollars or yen.
Please check my feedback and bid with confidence. Check my other auctions as well and please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of any help with any of your cycling needs. If you've made it this far thanks for reading and have fun bidding.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)