Dave and Issac,
I'll take the opposite view. I think it's real.
The bottom bracket shell is identical to the one on my 3R Katana, except for the little hole for under-BB cable routing.
The lugs look like those on a 1981-ish 3Rensho-built Specialized Allez that I used to own, and that bike also had Shimano EF dropouts.
The seat cluster looks right for an SRA to me, as does the fork crown, but I don't own one and you do... so I can't speak to the 2 vs. 3 TT guides either. Does this look like your fork crown?
I do agree that it's odd that it doesn't have top-mount DT shifters, but it has been repainted, and the standard DT mounts could have been added then. It does have top-of-BB-shell cable routing, required for the top-mount shifters.
I think the superends came in around 1985 or 1986, after the SRA. Wasn't the aero craze over by then anyway? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on the SRA dates. Also, has anyone ever seen an SRA with a chrome fork?
Maybe an email to Andrew Muzi would clear all this up.
What worries me is, why is the paint gone from the bottom of the BB? Is this a stolen bike that someone has tried to remove the SN from?
Cheers, Randy Dugan VN CA USA
From: David Ross <dlr94306(AT)yahoo.com> Subject: [CR]san rensho on ebay?
Isaac asked for opinions on this 3Rensho (ebay item no. 320225441769).
Some crucial details are not visible in the photos. For example, I imagine that all of the "aerodynamics" models were late enough to have "superends," the socketed attachment for the rear dropouts. I can't tell from the photos whether this frame has them (note: this isn't much more than speculation on my part, but I do have a circa-1984 3Rensho brochure that doesn't show either the aerodynamics model or superends). Also, my "aerodynamics" model has a top-of-the-downtube shifter boss, which isn't visible (to me, anyway) in any of the auction photos. Without these distinguishing details I would doubt the frame is the model claimed.
The lugs are very similar to mine, except that the headtube ring portion of the head lugs (on the auction frame) have an interesting taper, decreasing in height at the front of the headtube. Mine is more conventional. The fastback seatstay attachment on the ebay frame looks about right, but perhaps a little crude.
My frame (a 56cm c-t-c) has three cable guides on the top tube. This one appears to have two. It is a little hard to tell whether the full-frame photo is for the same frame as the detailed photos. Does it look to anyone else as if someone has tried to file off the serial number on the bottom? The serial numbers on my two 3Renshos are very distinct and deep, easily visible through the paint.
Even with these differences, the ebay frame has the "feel" of a 3Rensho to me. But I'm easily misled by my own vivid imagination at times!
Dave Ross
Portola Valley, CA USA