[CR]Takahashi (was: Ebay: Tesch 101)

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Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:04:13 -0500
From: "John Thompson" <JohnThompson@new.rr.com>
Organization: The Crimson Permanent Assurance
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <9327C3B25BD3C34A8DBC26145D88A90702CFED@hippy.home.here>
In-Reply-To: <9327C3B25BD3C34A8DBC26145D88A90702CFED@hippy.home.here>
Subject: [CR]Takahashi (was: Ebay: Tesch 101)

Mark Bulgier wrote:
> I don't think the lugs in John's picture are Takahashi however (maybe
> John wasn't saying they were?) - I'm 98% sure those are Eisho, which are
> actually nicer than any lugs Takahashi sold. I used to work for the
> main US importer of Takahashi framebuilding parts (late 80s - early
> 90s), and I always wished we could get the Eisho lugs instead...
> Takahashi stuff was very good quality, just not as cool as the Eisho
> IMHO (mostly based on aesthetic appeal)

Interesting. Those are actually some vendor samples from when I worked at Trek, so they date back to mid-80's at the latest. I always thought they were Takahashi lugs -- they were in the same sample box IIRC -- but perhaps they are Eisho.
> The BB shell in the pic is definitely Takahashi, and is a very nice
> piece, one of the best BB shells ever.

Yes; very sweet shell.
> Fun fact about Tesch forks - they all had the same fork rake regardless
> of head angle, and he said this was by design, that the important thing
> for handling was the rake (or offset), not the trail as most other
> builders believe. He made the forks in relatively large batches, with
> long unthreaded steerers, then cut them down and threaded them as needed
> for the bike the fork was destined for. He had a cool steerer threading
> machine with some sort of split die (from his description - I never saw
> it) that allowed the die to come right off the fork after it had gone
> down far enough - never had to back up.

We had a machine like that at Trek. Works a treat when you have a lot of forks to thread.

--

-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA