Kuwahara aluminium road bike?

[dv]

I think this bike's old enough to belong in the retro thread. I picked it up today. (The high seat post and stem I just put on it to suit me. It did look normal before this.)
Does anyone know anything about these bikes? I have several nice steel Kuwahara road and track bikes from the 80s but I did not know that aluminium Kuwahara bikes were ever made?
It has nice Shimano 105 (8 speed) gears and brakes, a reasonable selle italia seat and weighs in at just over 10Kg and it rides really nicely but I cannot find reference to an aluminium Kuwahara road bike anywhere on the internet.
Cheers
dv
Sorry there is a bit of glare on the pictures.

[Velo13]

Hmm, Is that Kuwahara sticker under clearcoat, or over the top?

[thecaptn]

Early 90's?

[dv]

The sticker seems to be under clear coat. There were other stickers on the bike that have been peeled off that feel like they have left a slight ridge and I think these would too. I have now found a couple of other Kuwahara aluminium road bikes made in the late 80s, but they look nothing like this. The Shimano 105 seems to fit though?

[morini]

My wife rides a Nishiki which looks very similar. She likes it apart from it running 9 speed 105.

[Kermit TF]

Maybe take a pic of the serial no. and post it up...might give us a clue.
I'll say 97-98...

[dv]

Only serial number I can see is 71200023 on the bottom bracket. Interesting that there's a similar looking Nishiki. I have only seen steel ones of that brand - though that doesn't mean much.

[funnybike]

Velo13's memory is sadly failing him this time?

Mate, you don't remember these? We were selling them like hot cakes around 92-95.

I think the frames were produced by Kinesis for Kuwahara. Fairly light weight for the time, in a real budget bike. There were also models equipped with RX100, and RSX (or whatever it was called back then). The matt black was very popular at the time.

Great bike for the price. They were several hundred dollars cheaper than the equivalent in a Trek or Giant at the time.

Only downside was that the headset had a very low stack height resulting in a shorted than average steerer tube. So, if you need to replace the HS, then you'll be looking for something ultra slim like and old Shimano 105SC. All the cartridge bearing sets will be too tall. So, look after that headset.

[dv]

Hi Funnybike
Thanks a lot for the great information. Apart from being a little small it rides great. It doesn't look like it has done a huge amount of miles - and I will look after that head set. It seems fine at the moment. My only concern is that the small chain wheel is too close to the frame so i will have a closer look at that tonight ......or perhaps a bit later if it is as cold in the shed as it was last night. I could not feel my fingertips. That's only supposed to happen when you ride them!
Unusual that I have not seen another of these if you sold quite a few in the early 90s......hope that does not imply impending doom for this one.
Cheers
dv

[dv]

Why did i have to open my big mouth......this is perhaps why there aren't a heap of these around. Frame is cracked under the frame lugs where the downtube shifters would go. Aaaaaagh. Oh well, it's not a complete loss - the shimano 105 bits are all good.
Thanks for the feedback.
dv