Re: [CR]Hirose (was: something else)

(Example: Framebuilders)

In-Reply-To: <E198WVg-0007zR-00@mclean.mail.mindspring.net>
References:
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 19:55:19 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "joel metz, ifbma/sfbma" <magpie@messengers.org>
Subject: Re: [CR]Hirose (was: something else)


the japanese market is just more obsessed with vintage french bike stuff than the american market is- virtually all the custom parts shown on the hirose pages are either close copies or obviously inspired by stuff you can find on a run through the data book's compilation of rebour drawings. this doesnt, of course, take away from the fact that the workmanship appears to be impeccable!

the japanese link to french cycletouring i think likely goes back even farther than the 60s - there are irregular contributions in "le cycliste" from japan from the late 30s and mid 40s...

but thanks to whoever it was (i forget now) who originally posted the hirose link - cause it looks like ive finally found someone who makes a bottle cage for my beloved 1 liter sigg bottle! of course, i probably cant *afford* it... :)

i think it might also be hirose who first made the bottle cages that nitto subsequently manufactured - those fancy delicate steel ones that rivendell sells... i remember a friend coming home from japan with one of those, and just marvelling at it, and then about a year later the nitto ones started popping up... the originals definitely came out of one of the japanese boutique shops...

theres some really fantastic stuff over there that never makes it here - the toei, nagasawa, zunow, 3rensho etc stuff is just the tip of the iceberg...

-joel
>Now THAT is something! I want those parts! How about the through the
>seat tube front derailleur! Or the internally routed cable/chainstay
>rear derailleur! Holy samoly!
>
>Has any of this stuff ever reached the USA? Is the Japanese market
>that much more sophisticated than the American that it can support
>these things? (I'll bet the answer is yes).
>
>This stuff is truly neat.
>
>Louis Schulman
>Tampa, Florida (where I am putting the finishing touches on the
>restoration of my 1973 Ron Cooper frame and fork)
>
>_______________________________________________

--
joel metz : magpie@messengers.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
po box 191443 san francisco ca 94119-1443 usa
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...