Mr. Nagasawa told me that he's no longer building custom frames for customers he can't meet and properly measure and fit. As for road frames, I didn't see any in progress or in his shop at the time, so I'm not sure. He did mention that he really doesn't like the complexity of building road frames, but I wouldn't take that as a final answer to the question if he would or wouldn't build more.
If any of you are seriously interested and willing to travel to Osaka to place the order I can contact him and find out for you; drop me an email.
Tim
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 07:47:35 -0800
From: "Charles Andrews" <chasds@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [CR] nagasawa love
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Message-ID: <7F6F77CF9E0044A7AD1851CBAF97D1C0@DELL>
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If you think about where Nagasawa came from, it's no wonder he builds frames with plug-and-play parts that require little finish. I'd do the same were I him. He worked for Pogliaghi and De Rosa at a time when both those makers used pressed lugs and very crudely cast crowns. The amount of filing and sanding required to make those frames even minimally presentable would have taken hours of work, and work that's very hard on the finger-tips and hands and wrists. If Nagasawa still had to do that...he wouldn't be building frames anymore, and probably would not have been for quite some time by now. He would have retired with repetitive motion injuries.
I have a lot of admiration for the way Nagasawa thought through the problem of how to minimize unnecessary work, and still produce a high-quality product. His frames might not be quite as characterful as a 1972 short-point De Rosa, or a 1968 Pogliaghi road, but they're still recognizably his, and very tidy looking. And he's still making them!
I'd love to have one. They're hard to get though. And not cheap when they are available on the used market. Too bad he doesn't take orders for road-frames..or so I've heard..is that true?
Charles Andrews
Los Angeles
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