This was a 10-speed, pretty much all steel except for the handlebar stem and the Dia Compe brakes. He most widely distributed Japanese bike of this era was sold under the name Royce Union. (This gap was wider at the time than it is now, due to the privations the Japanese population suffered during and after the war.) Royce Union

While Japanese bicycles were manufactured to very tight tolerances, and nicely finished (considerably better than their European competition), the Japanese had not yet come to terms with the average American's being taller and heavier than the average Japanese. market for adult bicycles was basically owned by the French and English. market until the early 1970s.Īs the 1970s opened, the U.S. This began to turn around in the camera and electronics industries in the 1950s, but Japanese companies didn't figure out how to make and sell bicycles for the U.S. Japanese Bicycle Brands.Quick JumpĪfter the Second World War, Japan was primarily known for making cheap knockoffs of foreign designs, competing on the basis of cheap labor. There are still many very fine Japanese bicycles available on the used market, and this article is intended as a guide to them. market today, due to unfavorable currency exchange rates. Japanese bicycles are often of very fine quality, but few are available in the U.S.

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