I have an Ompax, in my case an early 80's aero frame with aero shaped tubing, Tange or maybe Ishiwata. It takes a Dura Ace AX aero seatpost, one with the aero shape for the full length, including the section inside the seattube. This was a bit of a challenge to source, as I found there were at least two different size full aero AX posts in addition to ones with a normal round section inside the seattube.
I'm 99.9% sure it is Japanese, but oherwise I don't know much about it. Mine doesn't have a maple leaf or any reference to Kuwahara. But I certainly wouldn't be upset if this turned out to be Kuwahara-made. I bought it as a frameset from the Omnipotent Listmeister, so maybe he can remember more details, although it's been a few years ago.
Do you have any photos of the one you saw? I'd love to see some, as I've never seen a non-aero Ompax, or any Ompax besides mine for that matter. I thought maybe this was a shortlived brand just produced during the early 80's aero fad, but I doubt an aero-tubed frame would be earlier than 1981, and if the non-aero one you saw is 1975, these must have been around longer than I thought. Perhaps this was a private brand produced by Kuwahara for some US importer? Or given the maple leaf for a Canadian importer? If the latter, that may explain why these seem to be very rare in the US. Any Canadian members familiar with the Ompax brand?
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: dtshifter@aol.com <dtshifter@aol.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Info Sought: OMPAX Bicycles
\r?\n> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 9:56 AM
\r?\n> Morning Folks,
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Over the weekend I saw an interesting bicycle, with a nice
\r?\n> headbadge which said OMPAX with a Canadian Maple Leaf.
\r?\n> It had a Champion 1 frame with Shimano rear drop outs and
\r?\n> Tange front drop outs. Chrome headlugs, a sloping fork
\r?\n> crown which looked a lot like early 70s Raleighs (the top of
\r?\n> the crown was chromed) and chrome seat stay caps. It
\r?\n> had two smallish stickers, one was made in Japan and the
\r?\n> other was Kuwahara - Osaka. The components were mostly
\r?\n> all early Dura Ace (Crane RD), with SR custom seat post,
\r?\n> bars & stem, a Fujita leather saddle and KKT
\r?\n> pedals. 27" Arraya rims (small flange DA hubs) and
\r?\n> Avocet tires.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The only braze on was for a rear derailleur stop and
\r?\n> the serial number seems to indicate an August 1975 build
\r?\n> date. Anyone know what this bike was all about back in
\r?\n> the day? The current owner has had it for about 15
\r?\n> years and bought it at an estate sale in Maine.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I 'Googled' Ompax and found a little information but
\r?\n> nothing tracing the history (there were a few Ompax bicycles
\r?\n> for sale on various Craigslists) except a small entry about
\r?\n> OMPAX Trading Co., but they do not have a website (maybe
\r?\n> they are not even in business?). Was there a Kuwahara
\r?\n> "connection"? If so, when did Kuwahara stop building
\r?\n> road frames (maybe they still do in Japan?) for the North
\r?\n> American market?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> It was a very nice looking bicycle and part of a fairly
\r?\n> extensive collection (mostly Japanese), so it was not for
\r?\n> sale.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chuck Brooks.....Just Curious in
\r?\n> Malta, NY NEUSA