In the mid 80's I visited Proteus while shopping for a new frameset. They had several Yamaguchi built Proteus' there including a curly stay show bike. I test rode one of his regular frames and was not impressed. There was nothing wrong with the frame it was just a little slow (in the front end) for my tastes probably from all those years making kerin frames in Japan. I had the impression from the sales guy that Yamaguchi had just left Proteus probably sometime in 1983/4. I often wonder what became of the curly stay bike. BTW I ended up with a custom paint Davidson Impulse with a more traditional road front end (74, 4.0) that I still have.
Andy Hosterman
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of Wdgadd@aol.com Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 5:48 PM To: monkey37@bluemarble.net; Doland.Cheung@sce.com Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Where would I find a Japanese vintage lightweight?
I heard that Yamaguchi worked with Proteus in Maryland in the 70's. Is this true? Both he and Yoshi Konno have made some unusual and neat bikes.
Regards,
Wes Gadd