Garth's frame is neither an Athlete nor a Katana, nor a Katana/S.
Athlete frames had seatstay caps that said "3Rensho", and the forward-offset 3Rensho fork crown.
Katana frames have nice thin 3-pointed lugs, an unusual fork crown unlike the one in Garth's photos, and the "SRA" type fastback seatstay treatment.
Per an email exchange I had with Andrew Muzi, Katana/S frames were made by Makino between 1988 and 1992 to meet a price point. In fact, if you took the paint and stickers off a Katana/S, you'd have a hard time knowing it was a 3Rensho; there are none of the traditional 3Rensho cues (at least as I think of them). Garth's is the right color (I think, hard to tell if there's a white fade from the photos but the blue looks like it matches those imported by Yellow Jersey), but the seatstay treatment is different, as is the fork crown.
The Katana/S head lugs, however, look like Garth's, which could be a clue to its provenance.
Garth, can you post a complete picture of this bike so we can see where it might fit in the 3Rensho pantheon?
Thanks, Randy Dugan Van Nuys, CA USA
Dave Ross wrote:
Garth:
The bad news: this is not one of 3Rensho's works of art. Could it be an Athlete or Katana frame? Good news: no worries about messing with one of Konno's works of art. He probably never touched it.