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The Yama looks very like a Kuwahara frame from mid-1980s - dropouts and the under-chainstay brake, and some other details match up with a Kuwahara I have (well, its out on loan but its somewhere!). Whatever it is it looks tall.
The Almega was a lust object for me in the 1990's. It would...
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"Extremely squirrley riding on difficult terrain, "
I have the 1988 version in a larger frame size. They are squirreley on any terrain! A fun ride though, and a great platform for a lightweight singlespeed build.
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patina. Use it. Mine is VERY similar except I destroyed the PACE fork in a huge endo a couple of years back... Love maggies on old skool rides too!
Ross - thanks so much for the post! Really cool to be able to close the loop so to speak.
The frame became a really fun singlespeed (I'm not hip enough to run fixed...) and its a bike I love. It has that steel "zing" and just enough flex to feel it wind up as you power it. I commute it from...