Gang, cycles de ORO sold a reasonable number of 3Rensho in-the-day, and all were purchased as frame sets alone (In the USA, I don't think you could get a complete bike from them if you wanted it.) Many/most were built like all the other "pro bikes" with a full ensemble of Campag or Dura Ace with the top saddles of the day. Unfortunately Japanese saddles were never considered up to the level of the Euro saddles. Those Fujitas and Kashimax saddles came stock on bikes but were most often immediately removed and replaced with Cinelli Unica or Selle Italia or San Marco etc. Sad but true...
Dale
Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina USA
-----Original Message----- From: donald gillies <gillies@ece.ubc.ca> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Cc: francopedia@yahoo.com Sent: Fri, Oct 23, 2009 1:02 am Subject: Re: [CR] 3rensho Saddles
Concerning 3Rensho, Have you talked to Andrew Muzi who probably imported more of these bikes than anyone (am@yellowjersey.org) ??
If you want a suggestion for "The Most Appropriate" saddle on a 1983 3Rensho, I'd suggest an Elina Pro (an almost-identical twin of a Cinelli Unicanitor) Elina was one of the top plastic saddle makers in Japan. The Elina Pro was sometimes produced with bike manufacturer branding, such as "SEKAI Deluxe". The nicest ones were suede-covered. Elina made different models for BMX bikes.
Fujita is also good. They made a "Professional" plastic suede saddle (often labeled Fujita YFC) in cool colors, such as burgundy on the top-2 high-end 1982 Fuji models, and black slick vinyl on the Finest model.
http://classicfuji.com/
Another choice is Kashimax, but I don't know the model names in that era.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA