Japan's Team Biwako Guma Handmade Frame Project Leader coming to NAHBS!

Cover of the magazine"Restore
Chromoly Custom Bikes".
Sub-title: "Building frames
can be Entertainment!"

Intro page for the article.

 While in Japan over the winter holidays visiting my in-laws and friends I happened across a bike magazine article about a club of bicyclists called "Team Biwako Guma Handmade Frame Project" (a loose translation of their Japanese name) making their own lovely steel lugged bike frames which really caught my eye.  Well, Biwako is the name of Japan's largest freshwater lake in Shiga Prefecture (Michigan's sister state) which happens to be a 5 minute walk from my in-law's house, so needless to say I was excited to go meet these people and see what they're up to.

Some of the 16 members of the Team
Biwako Guma Handmade Frame
Project in their shop (magz. photo).

So, after my wife and girls went home (and I had some time to play) I visited the Team Biwako Guma Handmade Frame Project headquarters which happens to be on top of a mountain just outside Otsu, the capitol of Shiga Pref. 

It had been quite a few years since I'd made the drive up the road that features about 20 switchbacks and a lot of 10%+ grades, in fact I rode it more than once back in the early 80s with my brother-in-law and his fellow professional keirin racers; it was one of their favorite training rides as it begins the merciless climb just 5 minutes from the now closed Biwako Keirinjo (velodrome).

View from one of the switchbacks
looking back down towards
Biwako and Otsu.

Steel Boy and his new
handmade steel frame!

I had a delightful visit meeting the project leader, Tsuyoshi Ishizu his wife Shoko and son Tetsuya (literally, "Steel Boy").

Tsuyoshi apprenticed for a short time under the current framebuilder for GanWell of Iwai Cycles in Kyoto, Yuka Miyata-Kitajima, to learn the finer points of frame building.  He then set about making his own jigs and accumulating all the necessary tools and supplies with Yuka's assistance. 

In the GanWell shop

This was just a few years ago.  He's since helped a total of 16 team members build 18 lugged frames!

It was great to get to know them and see some of the beautiful frames that Tsuyoshi has made for himself and his son.  Turns out Tsuyoshi is a metal artist by profession,

Some of Tsuyoshi's artwork

so he loves to fabricate lovely things out of metal; what a great combination for a steel frame builder!  His shop studio features some of his artwork as decorations giving the place an art gallery feel.  Below the studio is the project shop where the magic happens.  They even make their own forks and do their own paint work.  Pretty amazing.

During the course of our visit I asked Tsuyoshi if he'd ever heard of the N. American Handmade Bike Show, and of course, he had.  I encouraged him to come this year since it's once again in the midwest so I'd be going and could be his guide and interpreter.  By the end of our visit he'd decided it was time to do some traveling and go to NAHBS 2015.

He's now got his airline tickets and is all ready to come stay with us for 10 days or so with one of his lovely handmade bikes.  Unfortunately, there were no more tables left for first-time frame builders, but he'll have his there and I'm sure would be happy to tell anyone about it while he's riding around Louisville or mid-Michigan!

The three on the left at the Rapha event last fall on their
handmade frame (photo courtesy Cyclowired)

Here's a photo of the Team Biwako Guma girls at the Rapha Women's Prestige YATSUGATAKE last November, and another of Maria's CX bike w/ some fresh mud from the same event. 
  
Following are some additional photos that highlight their work including one of his protege's, Momo, with a couple of her frames that she made and has ridden in several races and longer events.

Seat lug detail of Tsuyoshi's 2nd frame.

Detail of Tsuyoshi's 2nd frame.

Seat lug cluster of Tetsuya's frame.

Mockup decal for Tetsuya's frame.

Backside of the Biwako Guma jersey.

Frame jig w/ BB shell in place.  Each frame had
it's own one-off jig made for the desired
angles, lengths, etc.

Momo's 3rd frame blueprint detail

Detail of blueprint for Naomi's frame that she used to ride in the
Rapha Women's Prestige event last fall.

Naomi's frame angles and other specs

 

Project member's roster and progress chart.

Every major task for the frame builds is
marked off here as they went.

One of their hand-made forks.

Tsuyoshi posing in their shop with
one of their jigs.

Another one of Tsuyoshi's metalwork
art pieces on the wall of the studio.

Posing with Tsuyoshi, his frame and the magazine
issue where I learned of the Project.

Details of Momo's 1st frame
(which has since been repainted)

Momo with her 2nd frame, a cyclo-cross racer
which she's raced a couple times already.

Detail of the head badge of Momo's CX bike frame.

Lug details of Momo's CX frame. (The splotchy
paint job is by design)

Momo's CX frame details.

Tsuyoshi and wife Shoko outside the project shop.

If you'd like to see more, here's a page of links to all the Team Biwako Guma Handmade Frame Project members, their notes, photos and some videos of them and their frames and completed bikes out being enjoyed on the roads and trails of Japan!