# Yamaguchi?



## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

Is anyone riding a current or relatively recent Yamaguchi road bike? I have an interest in a steel road bike and he lives only about one hour from me. I would love to hear from anyone who rides one before I contact him.
Thanks.

Bill


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I don't have one but a Yamaguchi is #1 on my want list....


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## Rubber Lizard (May 10, 2007)

Yamaguchi is one of the most experienced and accomplished framebuilders in the United States if not in the world. His steel road racing frames are legendary and have been raced in just about every world class event in the nineties. 
He's a great guy too.


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## rook (Apr 5, 2009)

Just saw this. I don't see Yamaguchi's name mentioned alot in these online forums, possibly because he is getting up there in age and the younger builders that do the bike shows have become more popular with the cycling newbies. However, I promise you this. Anyone who has come up in the elite ranks in the 80s and 90s know who Koichi Yamaguchi is, especially if you recall the Winning and Velonews articles of his frames.

I had a frame built by him years ago. I had ordered one from the advice of my friend. My friend, who was an amateur racer way back on the junior national team, had one of the red/white/blue fillet brazed GT bikes that Yamaguchi actually built. Alot of riders on that team had the frames painted over to match their current sponsor. After having ridden many steel bikes, I can safely say that my old Yamaguchi is the best steel frame I have ever owned. I've had some other steel frames custom built over my many years of cycling that just had one thing or another that bugged me. For ex: front derailler brazed too low, rear brake bridge brazed too high, etc. With the Yamaguchi, this was the only custom frame that I had in which every little thing was straight-on perfect. I know I sound like a commercial or something, but I think if you want to do a steel frame then you would be remiss not to include Yamaguchi in the list as a builder of high quality.


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## steveno (Apr 21, 2009)

It's funny that you mention Yamaguchi and the US National team bikes.

I just put mine up on eBay.

Looking to get into road cycling. By far my favorite bike that I've ever ridden.


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## zigurate (Mar 3, 2009)

I wonder how old the guy is?


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## steveno (Apr 21, 2009)

zigurate said:


> I wonder how old the guy is?


I'm not sure...but I do know he still runs his framebuilding school where you can build your own frame under his guidance at his place in CO. I've seen some very nice custom bikes come out recently.


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## towerscum (Mar 3, 2006)

*Get one*

Buy one and post pictures!

towerscum


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## gm1230126 (Apr 8, 2007)

Per Forrest Yeleverton at the GT Tech Shop the build sheet on this one has Yamaguchi as the builder. Serial number USC9906.


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## rook (Apr 5, 2009)

Are we sure that this one is a Yamaguchi? The Yamaguchi frames that the US Olympic riders got were fillet brazed, not TIG welded. Of course, since they were painted as GT's, it is alot harder to tell if they are Yamaguchi frames or not. However, if its a early to mid '90s frame, fillet-brazed, then it probably is a Yamaguchi.


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## ZeroG (Jun 9, 2004)

I have two Yamaguchi frames and I adore them (obviously enough to buy another one). I also enjoy that you don't see them around every corner. If you don't mind the language barrier (and there is one), then you should be fine. The wait is quite awhile but well worth it. 

Good luck.


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## wsriii (May 23, 2006)

*More info? Photos?*



ZeroG said:


> I have two Yamaguchi frames and I adore them (obviously enough to buy another one). I also enjoy that you don't see them around every corner. If you don't mind the language barrier (and there is one), then you should be fine. The wait is quite awhile but well worth it.
> 
> Good luck.


What frames do you have? More info please(review/ride description) Photos maybe?
Thanks
Bill


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## gm1230126 (Apr 8, 2007)

rook said:


> Are we sure that this one is a Yamaguchi? The Yamaguchi frames that the US Olympic riders got were fillet brazed, not TIG welded. Of course, since they were painted as GT's, it is alot harder to tell if they are Yamaguchi frames or not. However, if its a early to mid '90s frame, fillet-brazed, then it probably is a Yamaguchi.


You need to check your facts on the frames that team members received. This one is serial number USC9906...one of ten produced in late 98 and this entire batch was TIG welded. Forrest Yelverton himself checked the build sheet on the frame to confirm that Yamaguchi was the builder.

I also have two others in fillet. Just finished the build on this one and I also have serial number 5 from 1994 the first year GT produced the fillet Edge's and Team bikes in Longmont.
The 94 frame is Excell tubed and an amazing ride. Lighter than the 853 frame.


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## ZeroG (Jun 9, 2004)

Hi Bill,

I have been a long time admirer of Yamaguchi, since my days track racing in Los Angeles at the Dominguez Hills Velodrome (rebuild and now ADT track), when a lot of the Cat 1 and National riders rode steel frames.

That was ages ago, and I live in Europe now but still ride track so I have his Team USA frame/fork and it is stiffer and beefier (in a good kind of steel way) than anything else I've ridden. I also weight 100KG (around 200lbs), so I need a strong frame for sprinting.

My second Yamaguchi frame is basically the same (just a backup), and as Mr. Yamaguchi is like the rest of us (not getting younger), I wanted to be sure to get another one while I can.

No pics to show, but there is a gallery you might want to check out: 

https://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb298/YAMAGUCHI_Bicycles/?start=0

I think when purchasing a custom frame (at least for the first time), that a lot goes into you buying quality from a particular frame builder and some kind of bond is formed. A certain kind of trust and something that you can associate with in the builder is established. Since all of my communications were via email, I wish I could tell you that I got to know him a bit and we had long friendly conversations, but that was just not the way it was. I know some builders have lunch with their customers, talking about this and that, but Mr. Yamaguchi is all business or maybe writing is just not his thing.

Nevertheless, I am a more than satisfied customer and if looking for a third frame, I would not hesitate to make a deposit. It's also nice to race (sometime even win) on quality steel when others are on carbon or aluminum.

Good luck with your decision.


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## rook (Apr 5, 2009)

*The A & B team riders on the national team had fillet-brazed frames.*

Yamaguchis are great frames, but I really don't think that he did much, if any, TIG welding. I'm sure that he might have, but the couple of friends that I have that rode on the US National team that had repainted/rebadged Yamaguchis were fillet-brazed. And as far as I know, the other National Team riders had fillet-brazed Yamaguchis too. If there is any doubt and there is a frame up for sale, then I'd suggest emailing the man, Koichi Yamaguchi, yourself to find out.

I have an old Yamaguchi and I remember calling and speaking with his wife years ago who worked answering the phones and taking orders. She's really knowledgeable too, but I kinda already knew what I wanted. I think if you don't really have a clue as to what you want and you need a custom builder who you want a personal relationship with, then maybe Yamaguchi isn't your best bet. However, I'm really really happy with my bike. Mine has a great combination of light weight and stiffness for a steel frame, but then again I already knew what I wanted and speced tubeset, angles, TT length, etc..


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## texbike (Oct 21, 2004)

gm1230126 said:


> You need to check your facts on the frames that team members received. This one is serial number USC9906...one of ten produced in late 98 and this entire batch was TIG welded. Forrest Yelverton himself checked the build sheet on the frame to confirm that Yamaguchi was the builder.
> 
> I also have two others in fillet. Just finished the build on this one and I also have serial number 5 from 1994 the first year GT produced the fillet Edge's and Team bikes in Longmont.
> The 94 frame is Excell tubed and an amazing ride. Lighter than the 853 frame.


Sorry to be late to the game on this discussion (just happened upon the Yamaguchi post while surfing the web tonight). This specific team frameset was not built by Yamaguchi, but by Dave Tiemeyer. 

I owned this frame until earlier this year when I sold it on Craigslist to a guy in Wisconsin (is that you gm1230126?). It is the 6th team frame produced in 1999 (hence the 9906 in the serial #). 

When I first bought the frame a couple years ago, I emailed Koichi Yamaguchi, Mark Nobilette, and Dave Tiemeyer (who were all rumored to have built bikes for the National Team at one time or another) to find out more about the bikes and how they were equipped for the team. Yamaguchi was the first to reply and stated that he consulted in the design of the bikes but was never actually involved in their construction. 

Dave Tiemyer was the second to respond and stated that he did build frames for the National Team and actually had the build sheet for this specific frame. He was kind enough to share the spreadsheet.

Nice frame by the way, and yes, Yamaguchi is one of those unsung builders that doesn't get the attention that they deserve. Maybe if he spent more time "marketing" on the forums than building he would be better known. 

Texbike


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## rook (Apr 5, 2009)

texbike said:


> Sorry to be late to the game on this discussion (just happened upon the Yamaguchi post while surfing the web tonight). This specific team frameset was not built by Yamaguchi, but by Dave Tiemeyer.
> 
> I owned this frame until earlier this year when I sold it on Craigslist to a guy in Wisconsin (is that you gm1230126?). It is the 6th team frame produced in 1999 (hence the 9906 in the serial #).
> 
> ...




I had a feeling that the GT bike pictured above was not a Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi doesn't do TIG. Tiemyer does. I've lived in Colorado and Tiemyer has a nice following amongst the Triathlete and TT crowd. FYI, Yamaguchi did the vast majority of the US National Team frames that were fillet brazed. First, repainted over as Performance brand and then, later many riders had them repainted over as GT brand. There is info on Yamaguchi's website. This isn't on there, but I know that Jeff Evanshine had a GT that was featured in Winning magazine once, but it was actually a repainted Yamaguchi. Marty Nothstein also had a few Yamaguchis that were repainted. I've moved on from steel because it's yesterday's material, but there are some real old farts in here that won't ride anything else.


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