Steel Road Bike Book (Japan)

During a recent trip to Japan, we saw a beautiful book about steel road bikes, published by our friends at Bicycle Club magazine. The cover bike may look familiar to Bicycle Quarterly readers – it’s part of a famous Japanese collection that we featured a few years back. Many consider this bike, built by Toshio Kajiwara, the zenith of Japanese framebuilding – simple and understated, but beautifully crafted.

Open the book, and you’ll see this stunning (and original) 1950s René Herse racer…

… and an equally amazing Cinelli Laser from the early days of aero bikes.

There are British bikes…

… and an illustrated story of how a frame is built. On 240 pages, there are dozens of bikes, articles and everything related to steel racing bikes. The text is in Japanese, but the photos say more than enough to enjoy the book.

We were able to get 20 copies on short notice, which we hand-carried back to the States. Two are spoken for: one goes to our friend Peter Weigle, and one I’ll keep. The remaining 18 are available for $ 39 each. They’ll be gone soon, and there won’t be more – sorry, we couldn’t carry more on the plane!

Click here to order your copy.

Update: All 18 copies are sold.