Ed, I was an early Specialized employee, in just behind Jim Merz. In the early days Mike, Jim & I did all the products. Most are familiar with Kono built Allez, which were the bikes he built the most of, but it is little known that he built the first few shipments of Sequoias as well. These bikes can all be identified by fastback stays and 1st generation graphics. The bikes were moved to Toyo by the time Jim & I arrived and no one really talked about the Kono connect until recently. I still work on the Specialized archives and it was in this work that I found out about the Kono connection which was later confirmed by both Mike Sinyard and Tim Neenan, who designed the original model.
BB Bainbridge
Portland, Orygun
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"1981 Specialized Sequoia on local Craigslist. Looks very nice. May be
a one
off? 47cm.
Willing to help someone out if interested.
http://portland.craigslist.org/
John Siemsen Portland, Oregon" _________________________________________________________
I'd want some more info or better photos before believing 3Rensho built that Specialized. I've seen some variation in the Allez frames from 3rensho (dropout brand for instance), but have never seen or heard of a 3Rensho touring Allez. Not saying it's not possible, but this is news to me - and we've had some ex-Specialized listmembers fill us in on the 3Rensho/Tesch Specialized bikes in the past. Anyone have more info?
Ed Granger
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA