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I believe that it may have been part of Tange's marketing plan with Infinity, to downplay the fact that it was also seamed tubing. However, I found many other references to Infinity as also being a seamed tubing - numerous posts on forums, as well as this article from Sheldon Brown's site: You are correct that the catalog specifically lists the 900/1000 tubing as seamed, but doesn't mention "seamed" in its description of Infinity. I did see that Tange catalog you refer to, as well as others. Maybe it's because in a world of carbon fiber and welded aluminum bicycle madness, anyone buying a new steel frame is already bucking "fashion" enough that the brand or nationality on a little tubing sticker (assuming there even is one) just doesn't matter.
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And the marketplace for new steel frames today doesn't really seem to discriminate the way it once did. But in today's vintage bike market, those bikes represent a real value - super bargains. The Trek example mentioned above is a pretty good illustration of that. Even though Japanese-built bikes, especially by the early to mid 80s, were (and still are) considered to be exceptionally well-crafted, especially for their price, for a while many fashion-conscious buyers of high-end, top-level bikes still looked for Reynolds or Columbus in their frames. It has a well-earned reputation for quality.Īlthough it took time for Tange and Ishiwata to fully gain acceptance outside of Japan, especially for top-level bikes, there is no doubt that their quality was the equal of the European standards. Ishiwata ended up going bankrupt in 1993, but some of their employees went on to found Kaisei which is being used by a number of steel-frame bicycle builders today. Look closely at that unique little tubing In the 1980s, they were apparently even producing carbon-fiber tubing (in their catalog they were calling it CFRP - or carbon fiber reinforced plastic) and aluminum lugs to join the tubes.
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It is not unusual to find decent-quality Japanese-built bikes with those tube sets. Ishiwata also produced triple-butted and quad-butted chrome-moly tubing, known as EX and EXO respectively.
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The "017" was 0.7/0.4/0.7 mm, while the "015" was 0.6/0.4/0.6 - with the down tube even thinner (0.35 mm!) in the center section! Needless to say, these were only used for track or time trial bikes, and likely only for very lightweight riders. Despite not being heat-treated, these tubes were drawn down to super-thin dimensions.
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Less well-known (and much rarer) are the "017" and "015" tube sets. I found a quote that I couldn't verify, but Kellogg reportedly said of Ishiwata tubing, "It's like little men polished the inside."Įarly 80s catalog scan from the E quus Bicycle Info Project Kellogg specified Ishiwata in those bikes. For instance, in the early 80s, Tom Kellogg, probably best known today for his Spectrum Cycles, was working for Ross Bicycles developing their "Signature" line of hand-built bikes (something like their answer to Schwinn's Paramount line). In fact, many people claim that the Ishiwata tubes were, at least in their surface finish quality, even nicer than the much more expensive Columbus tubes.
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In material composition and in specification, Ishiwata 019 and 022 were (like Tange #1 and #2) very comparable to Columbus SL and SP. He then went to Tange, who had recently started making their heat-treated Prestige, and they were able to make it work and manufacture it. Apparently, they were unable to manufacture it. When Ritchey was looking for someone who could put into production some new ideas he had for butted tubing - with specially tapered and directional-designed butted sections - he first approached Columbus. (Pictured on the left)Īnother interesting note about Tange tubing is their relationship with Tom Ritchey. I read an article by builder Dave Moulton about a bike he built with Prestige - a one-of-a-kind bike because at that point in his career, Moulton's bikes were almost all built with Columbus. Versions of Prestige are still used today. A "Super Lite" version of Prestige was only 0.3 mm in the center section! Another advantage was that, unlike 753, no special certification was needed to use it, so Prestige gained much more acceptance among frame builders. Like Reynolds 753, but made from chrome-moly as opposed to manganese alloy, Prestige had the tensile strength to be drawn to super thin-walled dimensions - only 0.4 mm in the center section with the regular version. In 1985, Tange hit the big time when they came up with their heat-treated Prestige tubing.