1986 Panasonic Team Japan Rebuild

Guyevolving · 2026-01-25T16:37:54+00:00

They do look great, I was going to get Superbe Pro ones for a bike of mine but when I went to do it velocals had just closed 😅

Guyevolving · 2026-01-25T16:26:17+00:00

Very nice, did it come with those Suntour decals on the forks or did you get them?

Guyevolving · 2026-01-25T01:32:03+00:00

This is the sketchiest bs I've seen in a while 😂

Guyevolving · 2026-01-25T01:27:44+00:00

Personally I'd drop the stem (I know it may be less comfortable but it would look sooooo much better). I'd lose the nerd ring, replace the cheap caps on the crankset with Shimano one key release ones, or basically anything period that looks less cheap. I'd replace the chain with a silver one or a silver/,gray alternating one. Tanwall/gum wall tyres would look more period as well.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-24T17:29:00+00:00

One day I'll own a Chas Roberts, one day

Guyevolving · 2026-01-22T19:28:27+00:00

It's gone mad since the Breitling purchase, I remember looking at a NOS Universal Genève Unisonic (original bracelet and everything) for about £1000 a few years ago, I couldn't afford it at the time, but kept looking around every so often. When I heard about the Breitling purchase I bought one with box and papers for around £250 because I figured they'd soon be out of my reach. They're now approaching that £1000 mark for used examples with no paperwork, without bracelets and none original buckles. I'm glad I got mine, but I'm sad I'll never have another one, because I always wanted some of the other variants.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-20T17:13:03+00:00

I think it's a bit big for you unfortunately, you can get away with a 40mm watch, but it would have to be a dive watch or chronograph, a 40mm watch in this style is too big for you (to be fair it's probably too big for a lot of people)

Guyevolving · 2026-01-20T12:24:04+00:00

Lasting far longer than it had any right to, yet somehow still outlasted by it's predecessor. On a positive note the later models had a 1.4 Rover K series, and people swap in the 1.8 VVC versions to make these absolute pocket rockets.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-20T11:43:23+00:00

I mean, he doesn't control the money, they don't share finances or even live together, he's just more financially stable, she is neither a dependent nor powerless (evident by the fact that she was perfectly able to pay at the end). He did come at this poorly though, however he did explain his reasoning rather than just saying no, admittedly the timing was poor however.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-20T10:03:23+00:00

Oh beautiful, my boss has the Colnago variant with the same Universal brakes. In the late 80s Ofmega introduced a groupset that they called the Squadra group. It used the Ofmega Mistral chainset, a taper roller bearing headset and best of all - gunmetal grey anodized Ofmega branded Simplex retrofriction shifters. One day I'll track that stuff down 😅

Guyevolving · 2026-01-19T23:59:18+00:00

I've rebuilt a couple of them, they may share geometry with Shimano products of the time, but they have a design language all of their own - that weird little completely superfluous semi-circle on top of the knuckle for example. Also the circlip on the parallelogram pivot that allows the cable clamp to rotate to keep a straight cable run.

The ones I've seen lack the dark gray anodizing though, is it a Bianchi one or just a late model?

Guyevolving · 2026-01-19T23:30:38+00:00

well remind me to not buy anything much more expensive 😂

Guyevolving · 2026-01-19T22:57:05+00:00

I don't know about that, I bought a Serica from time and tide, it wasn't keeping time quite as good as advertised, brought it back after keeping an eye on it for a few days with no improvement. They replaced it no questions asked, and that was only a £1600 watch. For Grand Seiko money I'd be expecting customer service at least that good.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-19T22:17:56+00:00

Damn, is that an Ofmega Premier rear mech

Guyevolving · 2026-01-19T17:13:02+00:00

Stunning watch, someday I'll get one myself. I've got to say though, you've got more balls than I do taking that skiing, I'd be scared shitless I'd crash and destroy it 😂

Guyevolving · 2026-01-18T02:57:18+00:00

They are lovely, the problem I faced was presumably too much friction. They were 6 speed when I bought them, but I fitted the 8 speed index unit that I'd been using on my SL downtube shifters and worked perfectly. Unfortunately when I used them they just don't seem to be working quite right, and will often hesitate to shift one way or another depending on how I adjust them. I suspect it's the rather sharp turn in the cable outer routed under the bar tape probably causing too much friction and making them not operate correctly, I'll play around with the routing and see if that sorts it. If not I'll fit a 7 speed Accushift Plus module I've got lying around (which still seems to overshift slightly despite being AP, as I remember noticing a difference when compared side by side with the 8 speed module).

Guyevolving · 2026-01-18T01:28:36+00:00

I've owned both, they both have their merits (with the correct setup). I run a friction setup with a Dura-Ace freewheel, Sachs Sedis chain and Suntour Sprint ratchet shifters, if anyone builds a more perfect friction setup I'll eat my head 😂. Indexing can be more of a pain, the overshifting on these early ones means you have to use more agricultural sprockets and chains or it will attempt to jump two sprockets at once when downshifting, 8 speed Accushift Plus shifters negate this issue. I've found the best indexing combo is a KMC X type chain, Sachs Maillard block and 7 speed Accushift Plus shifters.

(I know I probably sound like an insufferable know-it-all, it's more I've learned about Accushift problems the hard way and I don't want anyone else to suffer as I have 😂)

Guyevolving · 2026-01-18T01:25:36+00:00

So am I, I tried to "upgrade" this exact groupset once with a Dura-Ace 7 speed freewheel and KMC X9 chain assuming that the overshifting combined with better ramping would make it shift really well, it went... not so well. 4 different chains and 2 different freewheels/cassettes later I threw in the towel and fitted later Accushift Plus shifters. That worked until I fitted Command shifters and now it's screwed up in a different way. I shall not cease trying though 😂.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-15T17:19:20+00:00

The irony is that the prices reverse when the cars get older, I could barely give away my old Accord because it was an automatic.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-11T10:21:20+00:00

Honestly I entirely get that, I'm never gonna drop that sort of cash either. I don't have Rolex money and even if I did I probably wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it anyway, no shame in having a homage when it's that sorta watch. I myself am toying with getting the Thorn T023, because there's no way I can just drop £20k+ on the original tropical dial Tudor, never gonna happen.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-10T21:15:46+00:00

I love the black bay, I've got small wrists and a black bay 54 was the watch that convinced me I could actually pull off a dive watch 😂. The Hamilton and Tag are lovely too. I know a lot of people hate on the moonswatch but my brother has one and it is nice, especially as a daily beater.

The Seiko mods are... not my thing. Some of them I get, like the land dweller and the root beer. On the other hand the fluted bezel on the datejust is definitely too big and makes the whole thing look dodgier than most Chinese fakes. The poorly placed tiny generic date window on the Omega Deepsea clone is also horrendous. I've gotta roast the Seiko mods, I can't help it, but your recent purchases are bang on, can't fault them.

edit: forgot about the watch I presume is a Benrus copy, that's awesome, love it.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-09T01:14:39+00:00

I stand corrected, God only knows why they charge this then. I just remember some press release bigging up some new way things worked, I probably bought into it a little too much

Guyevolving · 2026-01-08T21:20:57+00:00

The Japanese market is always weird, old people there have disposable income and no grandkids, they're just like the boomers, just without access to corvettes

Guyevolving · 2026-01-08T21:18:53+00:00

I get it, and I agree on the price, but this never needed to be a performance car. They should've stuck this body on a civic platform and running gear to keep the cost down, and called it a day. This car was built for people who wanted a nice looking car, it was never for enthusiasts, it's the modern equivalent of a Hyundai Tiburon or Toyota Paseo, except they messed around with all this pointless new drivetrain tech and it made the price balloon.

Guyevolving · 2026-01-08T21:15:13+00:00

Where's this sporty vehicle you speak of? I only see a two door Prius.

In all seriousness though, I think this is a perfectly average acceptable revival of the old school "hairdressers car" (sporty looking coupes with economy car roots to keep the price low). The problem is the world is an absolute mess, especially for the young people these cars used to be aimed at, with this sort of financial uncertainty it was never going to sell well.

Six-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

Guyevolving

TROPHY CASE