When this bike came to me it was a sad sight. It had not been heavily used over its previous life and does not appear to have been stored outside, but it was incomplete and had been treated callously by previous owners. Regardless of that it seemed to be sound mechanically and the blemishes to paint and other metal surfaces could be softened with a little effort. The logos and other original graphics were still relatively intact so I chose to preserve the frame “as is.” Once altered “originality” can never be regained, and having a few imperfections on a 35 year old frame is not unreasonable.

The frame was prepped (in a previous post) and the other components were cleaned and readied for reassembly. Most of the original equipment could be re-used if I wanted to but I decided to make a few changes to the parts spec. My overall goal was to keep the build mostly in Japanese components so I narrowed my selection to parts from that region. I was somewhat limited not only by the old parts that I had on hand but with current supply chain issues many items are currently unavailable.

With a few exceptions I usually do not see the need to bring a bike back to it’s original condition, or equipped as it was when sold as new. In this case when the machine is not particularly collectible there is no reason to do so at all. I do like to keep things in character and try to achieve a result that is both functional and pleasing to the eye. Functional for me usually means a compact crank-set which allows for lower gearing, a comfy seat and a more upright riding position. These attributes becoming more necessary each year due to the march of time.

As for the wheels, I know what came on the bike originally, but I had other choices of what to use as well. I like the look of high flange hubs but there really aren’t that many good options in that style for 126 mm spacing, especially if you don’t want to go with a European label. Velo Orange offered a nice set that I picked up on liquidation last year for a great price. I actually paid more for the spokes than I did for the set of hubs! Paired with some Weinmann rims that were lying around I had a wheel-set ready to build.

Over the years I have grown to appreciate the ride quality of fatter tires. On this bike it seems that 28 mm is the largest that I can use, the major limitation being brake clearance. I have a pair of Continental Gatorskins which were a take-off from another project. These are still in good shape, and paired with the 22 mm wide AS23X rim they look right on this bike.

The list of components from top to bottom.

  • Modolo anatomic bars
  • Nitto stem
  • Selle Italia retro leather saddle
  • SR seat post
  • Suntour Accushift index shifting
  • Suntour Cyclone front & rear
  • Dia Compe brakes and levers
  • Velo Orange high flange hubs
  • Weinmann AS23X rims
  • Sapim straight gauge spokes
  • Sugino VP crank-set with 46/34 rings
  • Sunrace 13/28 freewheel
  • Shimano cartridge BB unit
  • Shimano A520 SPD pedals
  • Gatorskin 28c tires

Here is the link to this project when it arrived.