A visit to Kawaguchi city

if you can call it a city because it pretty much seamlessly
luglessly?
connects to the rest of Tokyo
but it is home to one very special place that I know of

this is the Toei Bike Factory
as you can see they are churning out frames at the rate of about
one per week
which means there is a two year wait
which is not outrageous
for a custom-made frame
from what I gather

the place is not big
this is it
all you can see. one room.
three guys working today
and two guys not in
sick? passed away? not sure

this one is one of the Bluebird series

reproduced recently for their 50th anniversary

that's not a Cyclo rear derailleur but

a lighter-weight version of that design made by Toei

Wish I Could Be There

I's Bicycle visit report but not because JH went there, just because I'm a bit lazy and, well, because.

my boy approaching all hallows
be warned these are the BIGGEST pics I've uploaded yet
so click away

ive had his blog pinged to the sidebar for a while now
realised there are some good pics from visiting his shop last year
Mr I of Grand Bois fame
pic of Ernest Csuka of Alex Singer fame on the wall behind
Mr I is the one we have to thank for the lovely tyres

 

and now

in no particular order

some highlights

 

Barra's integrated lever front derailleur

the brazing is flawless

and despite my dislike of aluminium as a frame material

probably the single, sexiest bike I've ever seen

sexy in exactly the same way my blue, woolly socks in the mandatory shop slippers

aren't

 

Lefol Le Martele mudguards

they are not fenders

Cyclo rear derailleur

you can see the massive step between the big and small rings

 

the cover star of my blog

not spoke-wire instead of cable for the cantis

 

the cute little streetcar/tram/train/light-rail from Hanazono station 

which is the way to get there

 

this frameset was lying around

dunno if it was newly-made

or more likely

something old 

stripped bare

like the bride by her bachelors, even

 

as soon as I saw it 

I knew

it fitted my inner template for a new bike

brake bosses at centrepull

not canti

height

twin plate fork crown

fillet-brazed

 

bit fuzzy 

sorry

 

internal brake cable

love to know what it was

unfortunately there was some tool in there

who was monopolising Mr I's time with dumb questions 

and I had to dash

 

 

house upstairs

shop below full of steamy bikes

living the dream certainly

 

the ceiling

a Herse with my favourite mudguards:

Lefol Le Paon

and various bits of Italian shit

 

more Italian rubbish in the FG

although there may be some English lightweights down the back

I think I spied a vintage Mercian when I was there

noticeboard with participation medals from the Poly Japon
which I suppose is a randonee
as well as their custom catalogue
and a whole swag of medals from TOMs over the years
TOM = Toei Owners' Meeting

 

the packages by the door are

I would guess

their main business now

 the meilleur of fillet brazing

 

another massive step between small and big ring

proprietary Routens front mech

cable operated from below

 

Barra frame has ovalised top and down tubes

but they start as circular section where they join the head tube

that's some virtuosity in metal-forming

considering where talking 1940s or 50s

 

the whole sexy beast

with price tag visible

10 grand is reasonable I reckon

people pay more for shit like this

 

Jo through the window in the winter light
I's Bicycle is called
Cycles Grand Bois
in the online
go there and buy stuff
not a sponsor of this blog

Pacenti Pari-Moto 650 x 38B white gumwalls by Panaracer

just got these from Canada of all places.

Cycles Toussaint get them made

and I suppose Kirk Pacenti gets them made as well

since they've got his name on them

but then they've also got Panaracer's name on them

because they actually made them

pretty much just like they make a slightly wider, white 650B tyre

and another tyre the same width but black

for a different company based in Japan.

So they say 38mm wide but Vern Gauge says they're really 36mm wide.

Nevertheless they fit really well inside Gilles Berthoud's rather dumbly-sized
mudguards, being as they are 40mm wide.

So loving that really.

Dubbin fetish

almost as much as I love leather saddles

I love Joseph Lyddy's Dubbin

it took this gorgeous Lamplugh spring leather saddle from this

to this 

in a matter of minutes

the top pic is how she arrived

about 10min after the second pic was taken

she looked like the first pic again

probably used about 10 separate applications before she kept

the lustre you see above.

a hairdryer on low is excellent for melting the Dubbin into the leather

Saddle from my favourite French charity

for my niece's beautiful Shogun commuter

(must take some up to date pics)

At the jeweller's

I call him that because he's not really a frame-builder

yet

and he's not just a mechanic

he makes stuff to fix or enhance bikes 

and has the tolerances of a jeweller or horologist

+/- 0.01mm is his definition of

close enough for rock and roll

he's also got a bit of a tool fetish

which I can totally understand

there's nothing better

than having the right tool for the job.

Accumulation of pedals

or pedales, if vous préférez

experiments in speed

a beautiful little hymn to steel
and localness

Frame geometry - Routens and Aerospace Sport

getting curious about things like frame geometry

and in particular head and seat tube angles

next stop is working out fork offset

Finally. A semi-decent, mudguard-mounted taillight for bikes

the Spanninga Pixeo is an excellent, inexpensive solution to the problem 

of how to keep your seatpost

and/or packrack clear of taillight attachments.

being Dutch they do not flash, which is, sensibly, against the law in several European countries due to the distraction

and just general fucking annoyance 

of sitting behind a flashing LED in traffic.

runs on two AAA batteries, which means you can use rechargeables.

three thumbs up.

which makes it a bloody mystery why no-one in Aus stocks them.

I got them from here.

Herse book arrives!

it arrived yesterday

complete with a dent in the side of the box

!

after all JH's palaver about his custom-made foam corners

and box testing

I was a bit concerned

corners were fine

ah, those famous corners...

but what about the edges?

phew!

and a lovely book it is too.

Aussie Viscount ad

courtesty of one of the guys here.

the lovely tubes

saw this in Brunny and had to stop
a really nice, unusual Dutch mixte
with lovely curves

the thing that really gets me though is the integrated rear rack

patina looks
accelerated
by human hand
but still somehow aesthetically appealing
not sure how much rust protection it's giving
but obviously the owner's not precious
which is an attitude I'm kind of jealous of

divine chain guard

never seen a twin top tube follow that kind of curve.

just lovely.

wish the other bike wasn't chained to it.