# NJS- some curiosity questions



## Auriaprottu (Oct 27, 2002)

Does anyone here know enough about the NJS (Nihon Jitensha Shinkokai) standards for componentry to answer these questions? Since getting interested in building a fixie, I've been paying a lot of attention to pics and specs of track bikes in general. I don't plan on spending the extra cash for NJS gear, but I do have a few curiosity questions I hope someone here can answer. 

1) How extensive are the standards? I.E. do they cover frame material, geometry, weight, as well as components? Do they cover track construction and specs? 

2) Are they geared  to maintain continuity over the years- same specs season after season, like baseball and golf, so that modern era athletes have as little an advantage as possible over those of the past (preserving the conditions in which the old records were set, so that new ones are validated)- or do they exist solely to insure that the racers of a given era have no advantage over each other? 

3) Campagnolo's pista gruppo was rejected (several times?) by NJS before finally being certified. Was this because Campagnolo wanted to introduce improvements that would have compromised the standards, or was it a business move designed to draw credibility away from Campagnolo and give it to Shimano (a local company)?

4) Is the equipment higher quality, or is it just more consistent from unit to unit? Is a given manufacturer's NJS hub better than their non-NJS model, or simply built to different (but equal) specs? I guess most manufacturers who have an NJS crank don't offer a non-NJS model, but in the case of Phil, Paul, or any other of the higher-end hubs by manufacturers who don't have the NJS stamp of approval- are they somehow not as good as, say, Dura-Ace?

Thanks in advance.


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## mr_e (Oct 21, 2003)

*Njs*

1) They do indeed cover frame material, design and manufacturer. I don't know the specific language, but I'm pretty sure it has to be lugged steel frames.
2)Both- consistancy during a season does take priority. Keirin racing is big money in Japan, and is heavily regulated to keep things fair. Not very open to "change" really. Safety is big, but so is consistancy between racers.
3)For a long time NJS certification was only given to Japanese mfgs. This was to keep Keirin big buisness for domestic companies. Campy stuff was to light and thing for a long time, though I'm not sure what specific changes affected the ruling. I may be wrong, but I beleive only certain campy parts have NJS certification (ie- not the whole group).
4)Phil and Paul use sealed bearings- NJS calls for loose ball if I remember correctly. I'd put my Phil high flange hubs against a set of Suzue Promax hubs any day of the week. Both are good, but NJS isn't the end all be all of track equipment.


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## girishji (Aug 24, 2003)

*keirin*

vaguely related to your post, I came across some info today that is quite interesting. Link:
http://oldskooltrack.com/files/tomity-keirin.frame.html


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## tomity (Feb 9, 2005)

This is NJS brands
http://homepage.mac.com/tomity/PhotoAlbum37.html


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## onespeedbiker (May 28, 2007)

*NJS Rocks for me*

I won’t give you a line by line answer, but I will answer some of your questions. First you much remember that Keirin racing was the first homegrown industry in Japan developed after they were digging out of WWII and they take great pride in it.There are two equal reasons for the NJS certification. First it is designed to give a level playing field, so the results of the betting will be based solely on the athletic ability of the rider; steel frames, loose ball hubs, 36 spoke wheels, front 3 cross, rear 4 cross, threaded headsets. The second is safety, the bikes are overbuilt so they will stay together through the worse crash. Recently a fork failed in a Keirin race and the bike manufacturer immediately lost their NJS status. 

The offical word was Campagnolo parts were too light and not strong enough for the NJS standard. Campy proceeded to beef up their parts and received the certification for their seat posts, hubs, headsets, cranksets, and bottom brackets. They retained the certification for 3 years and then abandoned their effort to make them more competitive in the other track component markets, that did not require the quickly antiquating NJS standard. 

Interestingly enough, NJS has bowed to some changes. When Shimano stopped making loose ball bottom brackets, they received the NJS approval on their Octalink track cranksets and sealed bottom brackets. Having said that, there was such a demand for their old square taper cranks, that they still make them for the Keirin market. So, there is no need to buy NJS to get quality track parts. The non NJS Shimano Dura Ace track parts are as good and in many cases better than the NJS parts, as is the Campy track gruppo; and for the money the non-NJS Miche gruppo is very high quality and half the price of Shimano and Campy. 

On the other hand, if you’re a retro grouch like me and you like high quality loose bearing components, NJS rocks because no one else makes them.


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## CleavesF (Dec 31, 2007)

one more thing, NJS is pretty elitist if you couldn't tell by now. 

Building a 100% pure NJS bike is not the for fainthearted as the costs are very high. I wish I had one myself but I'm a poor college student that wants to be an NJS elitist


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## tobu (Dec 19, 2004)

One of the things misunderstood about NJS certification is that it was originally intended as a protectionist scheme designed to foster the domestic cycling industry. It was a way to ensure that only Japanese components would be show cased in Keirin racing. Everyone knew that post war Campagnolo components were as good or better than Japanese parts, but they couldn't be used because they hadn't gone through the extensive NJS bureacracy. 

Later, Campagnolo did make some NJS parts but they dropped it after they realized that it was expensive to go through the certification process and they really weren't making any more money,


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## tobu (Dec 19, 2004)

onespeedbiker said:


> .
> 
> The *offical* word was Campagnolo parts were too light and not strong enough for the NJS standard. Campy proceeded to beef up their parts and received the certification for their seat posts, hubs, headsets, cranksets, and bottom brackets. They retained the certification for 3 years and then abandoned their effort to make them more competitive in the other track component markets, that did not require the quickly antiquating NJS standard.


Initially, Campagnolo just didn't talk to the right people and make donations to the right places.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

I'd say it's a bit like ansi/cpsc stickers on helmets... can't sell 'em in the USA without, but not all those without are [email protected] and some co's don't want to go through the bureacrazy to get the sticker


...damn, this is a 4-1/2 yr old thread


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## onespeedbiker (May 28, 2007)

FatTireFred said:


> ...damn, this is a 4-1/2 yr old thread



Well, that just goes to show ya, if you wait long enough, eventually some folks will answer your questions.


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## CleavesF (Dec 31, 2007)

Fail.


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