At first I thought, maybe Japanese(?) (after all, it was fitted with a Sakae Apex crank which was date-stamped 1977) …
… but that date and the more modern Shimano bottom bracket just didn’t seem to add up. And I got a bit more curious, as it seemed to have some unusual, “older†features …
… such as these unusual curved rear dropouts …
… weird braze-ons on the rear stays (and there was only 3 of them, 2 on one stay and a single on the other …
… the way the seat stays terminated into the seat-tube lug …
… the quality finishing of the sculpted lugs … but the Tange headset was confusing …
… rear brake-mount and looped cable guides … just didn’t seem to add up. So thought it was time for some acetone (and not just down at the park with the other guys) … the first thing found on the seat-tube was these bands and some highlighting (nice enough, but didn’t tell you anything):
… then this colour blob:
… that seemed to sharpen the old focus (or was the acetone kicking in?), as I noticed some faint white spots on the top-tube, which revealed:
… getting better … and finally:
Lightning struck twice – time to buy that Lotto ticket! The moral is if only we all used a lot more acetone, the world would be a happier place …
