Japanische Fahrräder und Komponenten: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

* [[Bianchi#Japanische Modelle|Bianchi]]

* [[Bridgestone]]

* [[Bridgestone#C.Itoh|C.Itoh]]

* [[Bridgestone#Kabuki|Kabuki]]

* [[Nishiki]]

     Forks

     Japan's leading rim manufacturer. Araya rims are very well made, but can't compete at current exchange rates.

     Drum brake: larhge one was the preferred drag brake for tandems for many years, until disk brakes becoem common.

     Major spoke manufacturer. Asahi makes Wheelsmith spokes.

     Tires. Avocet pioneered in making "slicks" and in demosntrating that they had as good or better traction on pavement as treaded tires.

     Leather saddles supplied on early Fuji bikes. They were known for being nearly indestructible, but taking longer than average to break in.

     Originally, Cateye was best known for its reflectors, which came on virtually all Japanese bicycles, and many from other countries as well. Cateye is still a major player in this market.

     Cateye also makes lighting equipment of various sorts. Like everything else Caeye makes, it is of very high quality.

     Long the leading brake manufacturer. Dia Compe invented the "safety lever", and reached an agreement with the Swiss Weinmann company, permitting Dia Compe to make knockoffs of the very popular Weinmann brakes, in return for letting Weinmann use Dia Compe's "safety levers."

     Dia Compe is the leading proponent of threadless headsets, under the trade names "Aheadset" and Diatech."

     Formerly a leading maker of chains. The DID "Lanner" chain was highly regarded in the early '80s, before it was eclipsed by the advent of the superior French "Sedisport" (now "Sachs") chains.

     A major spoke manufacturer. In the early '90s, Hoshi introduced a bladed spoke with a special head that could be inserted into a standard hub. These were briefly very popular, until they started breaking.

     Tires (Inoue Rubber Company)

     From a rec.bicycles.tech posting by Andrew Muzi:

     Trek in the late '70s built three racing frames, one with Ishiwata, one Reynolds 531 and one Columbus. Geometry and weight were identical. The prices were unreasonably different because of the cachet of Italian tubing, making the Ishiwata frame the best value. Marketing took over later as the Ishiwata was dropped completely. With the advent of aluminum, the currency crash and the Japanese depression, Ishiwata closed the doors in the early '90s.

     Saddles  

     Kyokuto  

     One of the leading makers of pedals.  

     Parent company of SunTour  

     One of the leading makers of pedals. Still in business  

     Tires: Comp III, Comp Pool, Cruiser Mits. Silver Star.  

     Schwinn Super Record, Le Tour, Cycle Pro  

     Maker of very fine handlebars, seatposts. The Nitto "Technomic" stem is a conventional "road-type" stem with an extra tall column, and solves difficult fitting problems for many riders.  

     Nitto bars, stems; tires, Sugino cranks, Dia Compe brakes. Rims, Logic prestige tubing, headsets.

     Formerly the #2 Japanese crank manufacture behind Sugino; currently #2 behind Shimano. Also a major maker of handlebars and stems. Laprade seatpost.  

     Pedals  

     Sanshin made Sunshine hubs. My understanding is that the company picked "Sunshine" as a brand name since it sounded close to Sanshin, non-Japanese had trouble pronouncing Sanshin, and Sunshine has nice English-language connotations. Around 1985 the company seems to have dropped Sunshine and labeled its product Sanshin.

     --Paul Brodek

     Tires

     Saddles on early Royce Union 10 speeds. [I own a leather Speedic saddle, which I pulled off a Royce Union which a neighbor left in the trash. The saddle looks like a Brooks Pro, with large rivets, except that it has bag loops. The leather is of very high quality and very thick. I have ridden this saddle for thousands of miles and have yet to break it in! -- John Allen]

   

     Formerly the leading Japanese crank manufacturer, currently #2 behind Shimano. The Sugino "Maxy" crank was the first cotterless crankset marketed in large numbers on mid-price bicycles in the mid-late 1970s.

     The Sugino AT was the first to use the 110 mm/74 mm bolt circle, and was possibly the finest triple crank ever.

   

     Cartridge hubs, VGT derailer

     Quite good hubs. Never got into cassette hubs, but still makes very nice track hubs.

     The major Japanese tubing manufacturer.

     Tange is also the leading Japanese producer of Headsets (Levin) and rigid forks, as well as a major producer of Bottom brackets.

     Tires (Mitsuboshi), Suspension forks, wheel disc, headsets, stems. "Tioga" also is the name of a county in north central Pennsylvania.

     Japan's number two rim manufacturer.

     Not actually a brand nor a model number, the Japan Vehicle Inspection Association is a quasi-official agency that promotes standardization and minimum quality standards for Japanese vehicles.

     In the post WW2 era, most Japanese industries acquired similar governing bodies under the J.I.S.C. (Japanese Industrial Standards Committee). These agencies helped to turn around the international reputation of Japanese products from the former stereotype of cheap copies of western designs to their present high reputation for quality and reliability.

     Currently #2 supplier of high quality spokes (after DT). These are made by Asahi.