How did Nitto start. and wherc did "Nitto"

M6, Noriko Yaba.hi. än .mploy... and M.. Akka Yoshitawa. Nino s prBident and m2in designer.
How did Nitto start. and wherc did "Nitto"
come ftom?
This company was lounded by my grandfalherrn 1923
in Aral.awa lokyo ft startedoli as a chrome plate facrory for handlebars,which then becamesolely a manulac(rrer of handlebars by my grandmother'stime It
will be 80 yearsof producingbicycle pans in Seprember
2003 (ln 1992.Nirro HandlebarManufacruringbecame
Nirto Co L(d ) I donl know why we are "Nitto iI happened before my ome here lt was the former presidenas
What were Nitto's first products?Do vou still
have samples of them? Have you alwäls and
exclusivelvmade bicvcleparts?
I don r (hrndwe haveanithing trom rhFfrrsrproduc
rion-that would be 80 y€arsago.But we hav€ some
parts that are 60 yeaß old. and if anybodywants it. we ll
send ir ro (hem As for other parrs,abour 10 yearsago we
slarled making automobileparts.bul n didn t last long
becauseour bike buslnesssranedpjcking up againiand
we havenr gone back to car parts.We preler bicycles.so
now we make only bike pa(s
How big is Nitto?
\ e have-48employees forry men and erghtwomen
About 20 perceni women Our factory is 5000 rsubo.and
I believeone tsubo is aboul 35 or 16 squarefee( So. rf
lt s 36 squarefeet,that would make the facto.y about
180.000squarefeet
What's the averageage of the women?
It s hard to say, and I dont ask. But I know rhree are
about 21, and rwo are about 40 Our be$ fill€t brazer
and lug brazeris a woman of about 40. Her name is Mrs.
Noriko Yabashi.she is good wirh lhe filler.
In general,mos! employeesare ln their 40s.but we have
four or five young ones, around 20 In the past two,
three years.one or rwo havejoined each year
About five yearsago.a fellow of 72 yearsreriredafrer
fifty-s€ven yeals with us-he shrted when he was fifte€n. and was a lathe and milling rnachinespecialist. He
received an äward from the city of Tokyo for his dedication and continued woik oler the years. lr really was
quite remarLable- About 80* of ou. €mployees have
been with rrs for over l0 yeaß- The tumover lale is
pfe[y row.
You u,orkedfor Shimanoonc€,didn't !rou?
Yes,but I stanedmy biclrle careerit Nitto b6fore I ac!uallygraduated
from college.Then,whenI gradua@d
collegein 1971, I went ro Shimanoand studiedengineerqualirycontrol.andcos!managemenr.
ing,cold'forgin8,
After7 years,in 1978.I rejoinedNitto.
We havea goodrelationship
with Shimano.of couise.
quhe
We knowthem
well,and havebeenfriendEfor
many. many years.
You'vemade Dartsfor Shimano.too. And who
elsehaverou'made oafis fo(?
Well. rt is su-Doosed
to be'confidenrial,but of course
everyone kn;;rs we made parts for Specialized, fufchey,
Cannondale.and mayb€ some others
Thes€yearsmost supplieF go to Taiwanor
China for much lessexpensi\reparts,When was
Nttto busiest,and how did tl|e bike boom of
the '70s.and the mountain bike boom of the
'8os affect prcduction?
Our biggestg?owthpemodoccurredbeNeen 1965and
1975.Thosewere the be$ years.After fte bike boom.
businessstabiftzedundl the mountain bikes became
poplrlar.That s when Gary (Fisher)and Tom (turchey)
paid us a visit. and we started to ma.kebars, slems, änd
seat postsfor them.
l've seen a photo of Tom Ritahevt€achin{ a
Nitto emDldvee to fillet braze. l,lihen wasihat?
I rhink Toir m-u€hrus ro frllet brazein 1987or 1988.He
wanted us to m;ke the Bullmoosehandlebar,which was
popular üen. He is particularabout the shapeof the fillet. and we videotapedhim teachingour best welder at
the lirne, Mr. Fukushima.We were making about 10,000
Bullmoosehandlebarsa day then. In the US,you cant
competewith the pricesfrom Taiwan,they are lessthan
half price-of course,the personnelexpens€sare drasricaily different.Then he went back to the U.S.,and
returneda month later to check up on us to seeif it
really was coming out as he had said.At about lhe same
time, Tom also taughrIshiSaki-san,at Toyo. Tom's braz'
ing lorch was very easyto useand I lhink his brazing
rod was somerhingwe didnt have inJapan at the time,
somethingespeciallyfor fillet. So now we fillet-braze
slems, racks.cages.and some faames,too.
After the stem. the Bullmoosewas done. we
M6. [email protected] k one of .l!lh. wome! wto sork at Nltto. and
rh. b6r b.@r of th. bunch. Ev.ry lugg.d sl.m you 8.r fom s, shebd.d, Sh. ll b. b@ind morcthis fall. .nd q.'ll harc then in
stnk in D.cemb.r or J.nurt,
we.e getting bored ofthe Bullmoose when Mr. Fisher
approach€d us to make rhe single extension stem. and
after that we phas€d out the Bullnoose.
You supplyaUtlle Japanpostalworkerswlah handlebatsand stems.How did that come about, and
how long has it beengoin9_
Thereweieoriginally
thieeor fourcompanres
manufacturinghandlebars
for thelvlinisrry
of Posts
and
Telecommunication.Nitto becamefhe only company as
our handlebaß weae very sturdy, easy to use and the
leasrlikely ro rust. we've been doing it for more than 40
years.Sincethe parts are for the government,rhe government suppliesall ofthe specificadons.
fue those bats and stems exclüsir€ for the govem.
ment, or can anybody buy them? And how come
thev have rod bräkes, ladler than some nomal kind
of ö.ble brake?
No.anybodycanbuy the barsandsrems.but lhey a.ent
the fashionmostriderswant,of course.Theyre goodfor
the mailman,who rides50kmro 4okmeverydaygathering mail ftom eachbo)(and deliveringir. andusingrhe
brakesareverysrop.wirh rhiskind of use,rhe rod brake
is more durablethan the cable brakes.
even if rhey re well-maintainedand lübricaaeo.
Durlng the '70s,what perc€ntof lDur
businesswasexpoate4and how
much wasfor Japan.And, what's it
llke today?
In the 7Os,30% was expon, 70% for the
domestic market.Now, it hardly reaches
20% for export. It was high in the 80s as
well, around 30%. In the 90s it dropped
to 20% and now it is still around 20*-
Nitto's t aditiona.l stems and handlebars-the Fearl and some of the
Technomlcs-are a lot ltke cinelll's
older models. whlch came nrst,
cinelli or Nitto? And talk about ltallan
design, in general, and any inlluence
they've had on Nitto's style.
Nltto m.t...
f.* h.m...1r.4 days,t@. H.i. 3 . t n.y on. th.y rc öuild ror Shim.no 3
tuturlstlc bllics (iuto 3hlftlnC, .ompu&nr.d üi5.nd that). lt's .lqminum. susFnd.d. .nd
unde*o.r rl&rcu. lh.Llnc wlth lort of wlllht on lt. slfrul.tin!|, p.rhsps, a suno w.riof
ridinC lt down . bumpy rcad for lc.ß and y.aB.
Wellbasically.mostof theJäpanese
han'
dlebarsin the old days were the Praleighrype, made
wirh a buik-in rod brake lever.But in the 70s, Nitto's
president traveled around rhe world and saw many
types ofbicycles, which influencedhim. He bought
Campagnoloparts and wanted to sell rhem injapan, and
decided he wanted to make parts for road bikes. The
Pearlstem.with a flush (allen)nut for the handleba.
clamp, was somethinghe came up wi(h after he studied
the Europeanstems.Ar the time, it seemedquite odd to
rheJapanese.But Mr. cinelli encouragedhim ro go
about his design The Cinelli stem was tightenedin rhe
rear. We showed him what we had made,a stem that
tighaenedfrom the front. Cinelli said rhat he had come
up with a designthat was very similar but üat we
should go aheadwilh ours and that he would withdraw
his idea. Th€ old man Cinelli us€d to think about handlebarsevery waking minute. and it turned out that his
idea was similar to ours. In the end, he withdrew his,
and Nino producedthe Pearlmodel, which we still
make. It looks like a Cinelli 1/A-l think thafs the
As for ltalian designin general.I think ir is wonderful. Only a country with such rich culrure could create such amazingdesign.
After the "yen shock" of 19E5,Nitto lost many customersto Täiwan.How did this 'txodus" (mas9
migration) affect Nitro as a buslne$s,and you per.
sonallv?WerEwu sad,an{t., disapDolnrcd?
we srill had Am-eflcancuaroh6rswhdd ir wrs 80 yen to
a dollar. The producrslike the long neck stem
(Technomic).thar we consialerour specialty,sold even
when the yen was srrongbecausethey were alreädy
fairly developed,establishedproducts. lt was härder
with the newerproduc6,
ln 1972, l\.e heard, thet€ were mäny handlebar
and $em make6 ln TokJo done, but now Jbu'r€
the only one left, That seems odd, slnce your focus
ls so high.end, and lt seems that the hlgh-end bike
mafket tn Japan ls rsladv€ly small, with all the
commute. blkes and all.
Yes.well, thereusedto be 37 manufacturers
in just this
pan ofJapan.andwe arethe only onesremaining
Maybe10percentof our barsand stemsgo to the government,but the rnajorityo[ our productionis roädand
specialtyshapes,includingbikesfor commuteror everydäybikes.I think our attentionto detailandqualiryhas
rnadethe differencefor us.Evenfor non-sponsuse,for
instance,
the qualitymattershere.Forinstance,if a
womanis buyinga bicyclejustfor herselfandfor doing
errands,a bicycleunder10,000yen (S80)is sufficient
Butwhenit comesto carryingher child.not only does
shewäntthe safestbicycle.shewantsa benerbicycle
Whetherit be on Bridgestone
or
thanher neighbors.
lvlaruishi,
shewill want ir to fulfill a wholeotherränge
ofcriteria:Is it sturdy?Doesit rusd will it lasta long
theyre so
time?Sure,Chinesepartsare populalbecause
inexpensive,
but whenyou ligurequality.the aesthetic
beauty,how comfo(ableit is to usefor the rider,our
handlebars
standout,
Thehighqualiryhashelpedus survive.I rhinkrhatif
you focusroo muchon the numbersand cost,it is
inevitablethat the quality will suffer. we makesurethat
eachhandlebaris carefullycheckedaflerit is made.We
quality?
You meanrhedirecrionof *re
companjAWell being a
Japanesecompany,we have
the hiShestpersonnel
expense
in the world. so I thinft we are
interestedin accortmodating
the bicycleenthusiasts
who
are lookng for high-end,qualiry products.Insteadof trying
to pleasethe masses.we aie
happyto p.ovidequalityprod.
ucts for the varying needsand
wanls of the enrhusiassand
taceß,
Asfor rhe sizeof the
company,I rhinkt is fine as it
is. Ifyou havebeenin this
b{rsinesslike we havefor quite
someaime,it is hard ro make
changes.lt seemsimpossible
D.ining rh. rr.m qdu, Nitro hol& th. d.lll bit .t tlonary .nd lpiß .h. qlill, whlch yo! ön r.r sdcldnt
to be adventurousand take
@i or this ch.frb.r. ßy k .pintlth. bh .t tton.ty. th.rc's no t n.trn.. io. it to .ldft üd nn4 freyb., lt
risks when you havesucha
orn w.y .hourhth. qsill, Thii s.y.$sEs a @nc..rric ddlllng.
tradidon,a way of doing
thingF,and havebeen mahing
also make sure to continue providing produc6 for the
parts
years.
for
60-70
It
is
easierto say, "Well. ir's
enthusiasts,and high end market.Evenwhen therc were
worked well this way thus far, why changeit?" Althoügh
far more saleswith the handlebarsfor the utility bicynow,thereis so muchactivityin rhemarketin oneyear.
cles,we continued to make the more high-endhandleaboul
as much aclivity as five yearsbackrhen, rhat we bars. Now we aaes€eing growth in this aJea With
have
ro
try new üings or elseour heodlebarswill
'mini-cycles" (ulility bicyclewilh small wheels)it is all
becorne
really old and outdated.But anyway.we arent
about the cost,
as concernedaboutgrowth in sales,we just want to continue to provide qüality products.
Nittol qrattty is legendary,but morc so in Japan
than ouBtdeJapan.Of couße,knowledgeableblke
peoplein the U.S.kno$, about Nltio, but 'Nltto" is
not lenerallv a hmiliar brand.
Yeah:we doril adveniseverymuch Fortraditional
people,it is thoughttharif onemakesgood
Japanese
products,that the peoplewill buy.rha!the p.oducrswill
soeakfor themselves.Evenif one doesnot advertiseas
longasir is of the highesrquality,it will s€ll.Qualftyis
everlthing.I rhinkthingsarc changingnow wherewe
haveto let peoplewho arebuyinghandlebars
for rhe
first time know äbout the advan6gesto buying our
produc6,or simplyto providemoreinformation.There
will alwaysbe first dme buyersand we do needro
advertise
in orderto establishourselves
to themasa
brandthey can trust.
Yes,we do n€edto advenisemoae.We,includingfte
chairman,werevery happyandgrarefulwhenyou intro.
ducedNitto in your catalogue.Il gaveour cuslorneßa
fullerpictureofwho we wereasa company.
thlk about yorrr size, about grcqrth, wherc you'r€
headed. Could Jou get bigger and sdll ftalntaln
Ntttob teedng hclttty is $ell-knor rn among lndüstry
insldeß and cl.rstomers-Wtthout namlng names,
does Nttto test handlebaE and stems fior other
manufactu€rs? Do thev alrrä\,s Dasi wur tesrs?
Yes.Specializldhasask€fuus toiei rheii pans many
times.Wetes!productsftom otheacompanies
to give
our opinionon whetheroi not it is OK.We havenor
beenaskedby Taiwanor the USthough-except for
Specialized,
as I said.
I've heard that Nltto delEloped st€m and handlebar
t stsforJts0apanese
Indusry Sandad).Is dris
true?At€ Nitto'ssandatdshigherthanJIS?
Le!s see,how shouldI pur this?: TheJlS,Jäpanese
Indu$ry Standard,was originally establishedby comp6'
nentcompanies
so it is preFylenient.Jus!because
a
product passesthe JISstandad doesnt assureanythin8.
It is easyto pass,Mountainbike standardsare differenr.
They are regulatedby the industrialassociation.But anyway,a top manufacturer
mu$ setils own srandards.
How tough the standardis another question-Basically,a
thousandhandlebaas
sold meansthere are ä thousand
A rinished lu!8pd s|em. since w. show phorosof ir b.ing made, it
seemsonly dSht lo show this one ofrhe finished nem. we.re rak,
ing ofde6 for these now. Deliery $m€tlme thii win.€r. 5200...
Handlebarte$ing. The stem quall is fix.d in a heavy-duryctamp t
elimlnar. flex, so all the srres eill b€ plac.d on th. ba6. wetghts
aß added and rhe oicillarion rällo€dto rhe panicutar rest.
peopleusingour handlebars.
evenif onebrakesor
bends,it is only onerenrhof one percent,but it means
that a personmaybe in an accidentbecause
ofus. So,
we areinternallyexrrasrrict,because
we wantto make
surethaneveryrhingis safe.
You'rE ulffa-conservative when it comes to weight
and st€ngth. Have you ever been asked (by a custorner) to "rclax J|our standÄrds and just make lt
weigh _ grams"?
Regarciingthe weight aspect,we havein the pasr,with
Tom Ritchey,triedto be numberone.Whenit comesto
makingthe world'smosrlightcomponent.
thereare
alwaysnew producrsrharwill be lighteror rhe materials
may change,the productionmethodmay change.The
morehandlebars
one makes,the greaterthe chancethat
therewill be a faultyone-it is mäthemarical.
Of course.we will not mäkeanythingbelowour standards,evenifa cusromerasksus ro do so underrheir
name.Whenit comesto new products,we areespecially
diligenrandput rheproductsundera stricrinspection.
For a 2001broad ride!, how light can a bar be made
and stlll pass your standards?
The lighrestis 2609. About 250'2609.Ifyou rry ro make
it lighrcr than 2009,you have to üse 7075. You have to
use better grade material.
Sothe 7000s€riesls süon{er?
Thetensilesrrengrh
yes,burrheproblemrs
is hrgher:
thät, when there is high impacr,the 7075 breaks
becauseia is briftle. With the 2OO0series.it bends€asier.
We think this is safer for the customerifit b€ndsinsread
ofbreaking.
I've heard that aluminum handlebats should be
r€pläced every five !€ars. Do ),ou agree $ith this?
Even if thev have not been crashed?
The life spai of aluminum is shorrerlhan steel.If you
make an alurninum handlebarand dont even use ir fot
ten years,it is significantlyweaker than when ir was
new We know thar our handlebarsand stemsare qu'te
strong,of course,but when rhey are aluminum, it is
safestro replacetheft before they break,or show signs
ofbreaking. lt is a personaljudgement from the rider. as
to when to clothis.
Overthe years,and still now,you'w madesolid
forgedalüminum stemsand tubular Tlc-welded
ones(CrMo).I understandthat they all haveto pass
your tou8h tests,bur whlch is srronger?
I he aluminum used in our torgeclsremsis essentiallyan
extruded material,and it has a grain, like wood. It has a
strong direclion and a weaker direction.But when we
forge it inro rhe shapeof a srem.rhe grain follows the
shape,so you don't havea Problem.
Forthe sameweightin aluminum,in
our tesrs.the forgedis slrongerthan lhe
non.forgedsteelstem.ll isn t assimPle
asdeclaringonestronger,rhough.
becausethere are other variables,such
äs the rypeof steel,whelherit is heatlrea@dof no!. andso on. gut anyway.
Nltto products a.!ervell-known fot
ütetr 6eauty. who deslgns most of
them?
and 80%of
we donl havea d€signer,
I do
from
within.
rhe designscome
by
The
wriring
mos!ofrhe designing.
was
ini'
Pea.l.
the handlebatclamp,
Thit on. .howt th.
N to malr.i all the ba6 ud 5!.n. for th. poital sdi..
tially designedwithin the company but was not very
rcd b.al.s F.n or th. .!.cmbly), A blh. chäin 3ttachcs to !h. ..nt.r Por'
good becauseit looked tooJapanese.
don and pulß the bdkd tnto th. rin. slfrPl.,3trcnC, end b.tt r 3!it d lo
As for graphics,I don l do that a5 much. I think that for mdl bllcs than c.bl.-oP.rated br.k.s.
some things,like logos,using a designerwould help us
keep up with the times. lf its OK lo us€ the old ones
think aboutrl. we wantto be flexible.
we dont mind using them, We are now considering
making the company logo smaller and maldng the prod'
well, I still like that cank idea, and I know l|te
uct name larSerlike shimano did with Dura'Ace Ultegra.
could selt a few hundred of them pe.l,ear, even if
and 105.
they cost 5350. But I know it'd lake a long dme to
Bü! makin{ wur name smaller would make it
ha.rderto b-e;ome known outslde ofJapan. say ln
the USA.
oh. maybeyou areright.TheUSis sucha largemarket
so thereareprobablymorepeoplewho don t know
äboutNitto.
The Nftro crcst that you engrave lnto the handlebar
sleews on lDur drcp bals looks grcar but it do6n't
look laDanese.whert did lt come from?
rr.ir wäsabout40 yearsago.There
Mv uicle designed
weremanyentriesfor the desiln,and fte company
some[hingsimilarlo the
chosetheone that represented
familycrestsin Europe.And,he wasä significantman in
the company,of course.
Have you ever considered maklng olher Parts
besldes bals, stems sۊt po5ts, racls and bottle
ca{es?The idea of a Nitto crank apPealsto me....
wärred lo mäkea crMo crank.usingiubes.but it took
too muchtime and effotrfot whatthe customeraclually
benefits.cranksaredifficult.It hasto not oscillateand
therear€so manydifferentthingsto consider'we want
to producethingsthat custometswill reallybe ableto
is vety diffiout of all componenE,
enjoy.Thederailleur,
it shifts,it moves.we prefetto
cult !o designbecause
makebicyclepartsthat don t move,
But of courseif ahereare any goodideas.we will
get that project ofr the gtound, so folget it br now.
Is there qood tidin( atound here?
It is betre;nearthisiew factory.thanthe old one LJpin
Fukushimait is berler,lhough.I tour in that area6 times
a year,with a groupof old friends-I m in it, the chair_
man.the salesdirector,alsoMr. Mitsui,all from Nittoare
in ir. Andthe formerpresidentofBridgesbne,Mr.
Akamaandthe presidentbeforehim, Mr. Choraburo
Yamafluchi
are in this gtoupaswell.
Do j,ou have childrcn and hmi[4 lfso, do they
wort at Nitto. or have any bigrcle intercsts?
well thevarestill studenls.It wbuldbe nrcerf oneor
two wouldtakeoverthe companyButit is up to them,
you know.Therearethree.
what ate your othet interests? How much time do
vou have to Dursue them?
At the momeit I dont havelnlerestsotherthancycllng
well. I guessI havefishing-fßhingwith my children.
museumsand8alAlso,an, I enioygoingto exhibitions.
lerres,wrth my wife.
when do wu Dlan ao rEtirc?
well, wheriI fe,öllike l ve reachedmy limrt.Our chairmanis 78 now,and he hasnl retired.so maybeI have
tharone mu$ decide
manyyealsro go.It is something
on ones own time,andso far I haventdecidedat ail
Thiny yeaß ago, and up untilthe anl.ss 90s, allgood handlebarrhad engravedcrcetsofeome rort. To our knowledgeNittos the only modern
mat€r who still do.s it. Anolher €r.frple of how Nitto followi ils osn päth. rhanr Spodn.se
What is your favodte Nitto prodüct, and why?
The one thar left rhe most impressionor impact would
have to be rhe Bullmoosehandlebar.lt was when no on€
had rhe fainte$ idea of what a mountain bike w:ls. Gary
Fisherand Tom Rircheybrought the Bullmoosehändlebar ro us. as Ive said Y€s.rhar would have ro be it. Also.
the new CrMo stem is impressive.the thin-gaugetubing,
rhe way rhe forging made such a lighr änd srong handlebar. Next. it would have ro be Shimanos DI II bicycle.
You roclejt yesrerclay,
the red one. lt sugge$sa direction
of bicyclesin the furure. We built only about 60 or 70.
The retail price is 180.000yen, about Sf,5O0.or so.
wher€ do wu Eet ideas for new prcducts?
Thereare (liree inaln areaswe ger o'ur ldeasfor products
l_ir$, rher€ is always,whar I would want.. what I wish for
myself. Secondly,rhereare rdeasthat come through the
shops(hat we deal with who get requestsfrom their customeß who compete in road and mountarnand
Üiathlon. Thirdly. we get Informarion from the marketing
r€searchof the various bicyclecompanies.But mainly,
when I ride I alwaysthink ol ways that it can be macle
more fun. enjoyable.Its hard (o really get new ideas
wl!houtriding.
Wher€ did "Crlstal Fellow" (seat post model) come
hom? lt seems an odd narne for a seat post, or anythin€ else, for that marter
Our aharrmancameuo wrrhthe nameand a skerchof
the design.Afterward;, ir was turned over to the R&D
group where they rogelh€rcame up with the prototype
The seatpillar took abou! three months to make into a
product and two months for Ihe handlebarstem.
Fine, bur whv 'crvstal Fellorr"?
Oh Fellow aamelrom the rdpaol lnendsJr o'urn.rs.
which you may call your fellows. l-hesrliling of the handlebar and seat pillar are similar. like ä famrly fellow. or
ber$een ffl ends or brothers/srsrers
Tell us about the bottle cage design. Did )ou do it
on a computer?
No, the chäirman sketchedit by hand. on paper. I made
the productaon
drawingfrom the 'pen€ilandpaper"
sketchthat rhe chairman had drawn. At the rime, a few
yearsago.we didn\ have a computer Now we havc one.
but still sketchour original ideason paper When yoü
send us your hand-sketch.i( js the sameway. I make it
neater.Someaspectsof designare bestdon€ by hand,
becauset givesa befter resuk And, rhe hand drawing is
often faster.We transfera hand clrawingto the computer
if w€ need to: but of coursethe handsare thc nrosr
important
Wa ofrar Nltto barr, 3teftr, seat p$t5 exclusively,
and ü€ cualantbfworldng on ncw model5with Ma.
Yolhlkawr. NlatoproducB arc th. b.st of their qpe
tn tftc eo.ld- Thqr ar! conristrntly bcaltlft{, rometlnaa rhockingly !o, lf you'rb uscd to normal fü!;
and dt.y ala thoroüghly tasted and Jt ont. Every
,ood bikc dcsrwrr rorrrfhin, ftom Nitto.
Workingname.the R-14. las a lot like our currentminirear rack, but it attachesto the seat stays instead of the
seat posti and ir's a li(le longer. The new attachment
isn t something we reEarda5 an upgrade,but it does
allow easier lev€ling on odd-sizedbik€s. And it's sligh.ly
longer. Eventually we ll have a trunk ballfor it. and in
the meantime it s slill a fine saddlebagsupport, and
usetul for srrapping on a stuffsack tull of ovemighl gear,
in th€ on€-in-a'million chance you don t have a saddlebag. It attachesto the dropout eyeletsor seat stays.
This one showed up by surprise. but now we re going to
design a bag around it. Nashbarand Topeak and proba.
bly others already make bags that unintentionally fit it.
It adjusts and attachesthe same as the fabled R.14, and
we show ir h€re attached to the sea! stays.It could llo
lower on the stays,or to the dropout eyelets; it ll come
with long enough rods ro do ftat with. The rack loops
you see are guides for straps.The lower loop on this
model, well...it d be easy enough to find a use for it. No
name for this one. Let's call it Fünny Boy for now.
1."
'l;
To commemorate its 80th Anniversary, Nitto made a
new boßtlecag€ almost identical to the current one
(which is not being discontinued).This one's fatter,
4mm tubular stainless.and at 4Eg,weighs 5g (about l/6
oz) less than rhe other. Here are both. You can tell
which is which, but it s not ultra.obvious. Expensiv€.
H€re s a protory?e of Shimano s new cantilever brake,
which rhey slot in at just below Uhegra level. lt has a
linear spdng, different from older models. The finish is
fine, and it seemsto work fin€, although nobody here
has rried it yet, since we just got it. P ce, about 550?
Availabiliry?we d guesssometime in üe early spring.