Geoffrey Butler - Ishiwata 017

Mr Weirdo

Retro Guru
Hello

Haven't posted for a while and have been avoiding the temptation of buying another bicycle until .....today lol

The gentleman who had it from new had sadly passed away and his son wanted to sell it.

He thought it maybe a 1960s frame but I believe it to be 1970s? I can't find a serial number as of yet. It has an EO bottom bracket shell which I believe is a Japanese brand and the rear drop outs appear to be Suntour(?). I haven't checked the front.

The front hub is a RINO. A brand I had never heard of until today. Wolber rims, Modolo brake levers and calipers,etc

All comments welcome 😁
 

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Nice, under bb cables and top tube guides are after the 60”s late 70”s maybe ?
It's funny how your memory can play tricks on you as his son was convinced it was 1960s. If the Shimano 600 Series 1 RD was original to the frame as he claimed I think that would make it mid to late 70s? The frame colour is original and is very much a late 70s colour as my father had a Renault 18 in the very same colour.
 
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the EO marking on shell is likely to be for EISHO, a Japanese maker of lugs and shells

suspect date not prior to '76 nor later than '78

lots of spots there likely to exhibit date markings:

backside of Sakae Ringyo crank arms

portion of stem down inside steerer

right end of bar

portion of saddle pillar down inside seat tube

gear mechs

steerer

there is a helpful guide here to reading the markings:

http://www.vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htm

fork appears it might be an off-the-peg item; do fork ends match dropouts?


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the EO marking on shell is likely to be for EISHO, a Japanese maker of lugs and shells

suspect date not prior to '76 nor later than '78

lots of spots there likely to exhibit date markings:

backside of Sakae Ringyo crank arms

portion of stem down inside steerer

right end of bar

portion of saddle pillar down inside seat tube

gear mechs

steerer

there is a helpful guide here to reading the markings:

http://www.vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htm

fork appears it might be an off-the-peg item; do fork ends match dropouts?


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Thank you very much for the information and link. I have yet to check the front drop outs. So I will have a look today. I bought it mainly because it is made of Ishiwata steel and to see for myself how light 017 actually is. This is difficult to gauge at the moment as the saddle is quite heavy and the seat post and crankset appear to be SR Laprade and SR Silstar so not exactly earth shatteringly heavy but enough to make a difference imo. Thank you again 😀
 
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