SEKAI VALUATION Don Gillies These japan-made bikes were designed in Seattle by Velocipede [Freeman11] which is still in operation today [Velocipede11]. It was owned by the Tamura brothers, including Glen I. Tamura, Craig Tamura, and Lloyd Tamura. The enterprise was half-owned by the Shinwa Trading Co. of Japan [Freeman11]. The mass-production models (models 400-3000) were built by Yamaguchi Frame [Muzi11]. The high-end bikes were built by Miki [Muzi11] [Freeman11]. The 5000 Superlight was made in particular by Mr. S. Higashigawa at approximately 6 frames per month [Sekai77]. The 4000 Professional Model was available in Road and Track Models (the latter was not in catalogs.) In 1976 and 1977 there was also a Tandem available [Muzi11b] [Muzi11c] (also not in catalogs.) The lower models were popular on college campuses across the USA, and the model numbers greater than 1000, when divided by 10, roughly approximated the selling price. So a SEKAI 2700 sold for roughly $270 new in the mid-late 1970's, when the japanese yen was 250 to the dollar and the bike was easily 25% cheaper than a european bike of similar quality. Rebecca Twigg trained on a SEKAI 4000 road bike and a SEKAI 4000 track bike as a junior in Seattle and she won several state championships with that training [Ottum83]. The lightest frameset was the Sekai 5000 "Superlight" (frame/fork only, 4.33 lbs) which sported a 6/3/6 toptube and seat tube which could be pinched between your thumb and forefinger. The frame was appropriate for a $500 bike, and it cost a little over $200. It had no chrome, no eyelets, a short wheelbase, vertical dropouts (to keep the stays short) and diamond shapes cut into the short point italianesque lugs. That last feature is a trademark of this frameset. Figure a value of $300-$400 for a frameset in guideline condition. One level down was the SEKAI 4000 "Professional" frame, a road frame with a sport geometry like the Raleigh International with a nearly identical weight. A model 4000 in new condition has Shimano SF rear dropouts and Tange TF front dropouts (the fork was mass-produced by Tange), thus, this difference is not the sign of a crash. In some years the 4000 frame was fully chromed with italianesque (no cutouts) long point lugs a little larger and more triangular than Prugnat lugs on a Raleigh Pro. The all-chromed frames were painted in transparent red or blue lacquer, exposing the chrome on the polished forks, head lugs, and wrapover seatstays. In later years painted prugnat 62bis lugs were used. These frames can be identified by the chromed lugs and brake-bridge reinforcements. In guideline condition, $180-$230 seems reasonable for the 4000 frameset. There is also a SEKAI 4000 "Track" model, often with Prugnat lugs and no chrome. Given the current high (2010) valuations of Track models, a price closer to $500 in guideline condition might be appropriate. Mass-production models like the double-butted 2400, 2500, 2600, 2700 and 3000 often sell at rock-bottom prices and ride just as nicely as the 4000 model. The general rule for these bikes was Dia Compe / Suntour / Sugino Maxy drivetrain, and Tange frameset, SR, KKT, and Elina rider interface. The 2700 GT Deluxe in particular includes a Sugino Mighty Tour crankset and cyclone gears (equaling Suntour Superbe in the late 1970's) and it often sells for $150-$250 used. In 1980, due to the rising yen [Yen11][Freeman11], the Seattle owners lost control of the brand and the Japanese parter Shinwa engineered a sale to Norco of Canada. Norco was a low-end brand like Huffy in the USA and the quality and component selection on these bikes took a steep decline. Many dealers dropped the SEKAI brand and adopted TREK. Thus the 1970's models are much more sought-after than the 1980's models [Gillies11], and the brand folded in 1986 [Freeman11] [Muzi11]. ============== http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai/ - Don Gillies San Diego, CA, USA REFERENCES [Muzi11] SEKAI (Web Page) at Yellow Jersey, available at : http://www.yellowjersey.org/sekai.html, retrieved 1/20/11. [Muzi11b] Rentals (Web Page) at Yellow Jersey, available at: http://www.yellowjersey.org/rentals.html, retrieved 1/20/11. [Muzi11c] Tandem Info (personal email on Web Page) available at: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai/AMuzi_Tandem.html [Freeman11] Sekai History (email on Web Page), available at: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=classicrendezvous.11101.0874.eml retrieved 1/20/201 http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai/SEKAI_HISTORY_1.txt [SEKAI77] Sekai 1977 partial catalog (jpegs : cover, 2700, custom), at: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai [SEKAI75] Sekai 1975 catalog (1 jpegs), available at: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/sekai/75_full_catalogue.jpg [Gillies11] Don Gillies (personal communication). [Yen11] Chart of Yen:Dollar exchange Rate, 1970-2009, available at: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/SEKAI_Yen_Dollar_70s.jpg [Velocipede11] Velocipede Bike Shop (Web Page), available at: http://www.velocipede.net/ [Ottum83] Bob Ottum, The Pursuit Of Excellence, Sports Illustrated (Web Page), June 13 1983, retrieved 1/19/11. available at: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120928/index/index.htm http://www.ece.ubc.cSEKAI_Rebecca_Twigg.html P.S. I'm somewhat uncertain about the SEKAI 5000 valuation. I do own 2x sekai 4000's, both from Ebay. One was a rattle-can for $100 from a consignment shop, which are notorius for poor auction listings, one was near-guideline but missing some decals for $180 (including crankset). Both appear to be circa 1977. Also, I've seen a few offered on craigslist and ebay, and in general, full model-4000 bikes with high-end asian parts fetch $350-$500. I know a few SEKAI 5000 owners and I am a SEKAI lover, having bought a 2500 model in 1977 for $240 (w/tax) which was stolen in 1985.