My New Bike

Thr frameset is an Ebisu designed by Hiroshi Iimura at Jitensha Studio in Berkeley. According to Wikipedia, the name Ebisu denotes “the Japanese god of fishermen, good luck, and workingmen, as well as the guardian of the health of small children. He is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, and the only one of the seven to originate from Japan.” The New York Times recently featured Hiroshi and his shop. Here is the article. I have known Hiroshi for years, and slowly my own bicycle aesthetic has come in line with his, as I make that transition from late-20’s ex-racer, to mid-30’s recreational rider. A combination of French and Italian influences, all steel, comfort being the highest priority, but not at the expense of a relatively clean look. I thought about a completely custom frame, but I realized that even if I were given the opportunity to design a bike from the ground up, it would be a lot like the Ebisu—even the color. Here is the finished product:

Pretty much stock, with a few modifications:

1. top tube rear brake cable guides go along the right side, to accommodate my left-hand-rear-brake setup.

2. Increased fork rake of approx 10mm, with more bend at the bottom, mainly for looks, but also to mellow out the handling, and accommodate front panniers.

3. Braze-ons to mount a frame pump to the left side seatstay.

4. Custom racks.

5. Blue/gray color (many of Hiroshi’s colors remind me of those used on German sportscars in the 1960’s)

A few details:

The custom rear rack truned out very nice. It is inspired by a rack I saw on a Mariposa, and combines the utility and verstility of a modern pannier rack (e.g. Blackburn), with the less intrusive look of a traditional French rack (e.g. Rene Herse, Alex Singer, etc.). It is not as wide, and doesn’t seem to stand out as much as a squared-off rack. I won’t feel the need to remove it whenever I’m not carrying a load.

There is also a front rack. It is custom, in the sense that Hiroshi designed it specifically for Ebisu bikes, and will not sell it for use on another bike.

Components:

The 10-week turnaround time has allowed me to think carefully about what parts I want to use, and to acquire some of the parts which I do not yet have. The majority of the parts are Campagnolo Nuovo Record. Despite a few functional drawbacks, no gruppo can compete for sheer beauty. One of my main inspirations is the Raleigh International. Some may argue that this bike had somewhat of an identity crisis, but you could also say that it combined the best of racing and touring function and aesthetics. There are a few necessary departures from this gruppo, but I will only use parts which are from more or less the same time period and retain the general aesthetic: Mafac cantilevers, early Shimano 600 headset and rear derailleur (with “arabesque” ornamentation), early Dia Compe Grande Compe aero brake levers, TA sealed bearing BB (practically invisible)… I think that’s all. In addition, I’ve modified the crankset to accept a third “granny” chainring, using a TA “triplizer” ring from Peter White Cycles.

Adapter for frame pump.

I’m tired of having a frame pump along the top tube. You can’t pick up the bike by the top tube, and it always gets in the way when I try to shift the front derailleur with my right hand. If you mount it along the seat tube, it prevents you from using a second water bottle. The solution is to put it along the left-side seatstay. Only problem is: how to fit the Campagnolo pump head, which is made to fit in the corners of the main triangle? Hiroshi has borrowed a Toei design of a “lip” that holds the pump head near the rear dropout, without touching the seatstay. See detailed photo below.

Note the early Shimano 600 long cage derailleur. Their answer to the Campagnolo Rally, and almost as pretty. That’s a Suntour ultra-6 freewheel, 14-24. Rear spacing is the modern 130mm. Retaining the 5-speed freewheel spacing and adding spacers to the lesft side of the axle not only prevents the axle from bending, but has allowed me to build up a wheel with almost no dish (offset).

TA “triplizer” middle ring, with a 30 tooth inner. Note the Suntour Mountech front derailleur. Handles the 30-42-52 range no problem.