Bike Check: Nagasawa’s Custom SSCX Nagasawa
Hello readers! Over the past few months, I’ve been writing about how NJS bikes are a good base for builds when you look past the strictly “Keirin style Track bike” that they are built for. I showed it with this Peloton in a previous write up, and you’ll see that this Nagasawa is similar, but pushing the custom side a bit further.
My friend wanted a bike that could easily compete with a Mash Work. With tire clearance beyond the traditional 28 mm, a versatile geometry while still being a track bike, and internal cable routing. But why start with a Nagasawa rather than going straight for a Mash Work or Steel?
Simple answer: my friend’s name is Nagasawa, and he wanted a bike with his name on it! Fair enough if you ask me, and yes you can do that kind of things when you’re Japanese.
Nagasawa hired our local frame builder, Kaito Harada, to craft a new fork with increased clearance, replace the rear bridge to fit a brake, and add internal routing for said rear brake.
As a big fan of the Mash Work, I can confidently say that it’s one of the coolest track bikes we’ve ever had. (See my rating of the mash work here.) But this? This is even better, in my opinion. Taking an already great frame and improving it to make it more suitable for daily use is a trend I can never get enough of! It’s a bike that likely would have been left on the shelf if not for this new life being breathed into it.
What about components then? Starting with the cockpit: street sourced drop bars clampted by a an ITM carbon stem, and sandwitch between some MASH lens spacers. The Headset is obviously a Chris King one inch but threadless.
Also on there are some unknown single speed levers linked to a pair of Sram red calipers.
Detailed Parts List
Frameset
Custom Nagasawa with fork by Kaito Harada
Chainring and Cog
Sugino 75 47T, Euro Asia 17T
Crank Sugino 75
Seatpost and Saddle
Nitto 65, “naked” Flite
Stem and Handlebar
ITM eclipse carbon, BNVB dropbars
Wheels HplusSon box laced to Grand Compe hubs
Everything on this build has a “back to basics” vibe. A Nitto seatpost paired with a bare Flite saddle keeps it OG, while a set of classic HPlusSon box rims, laced to low-flange Grand Compe hubs, adds to the simplicity. The 33c IRC Serac CX tires are pushing the limits of the available clearance, barely squeezing in.
I may sound like a broken record by now, but hear me out:
This Nagasawa frameset is, to everyone outside of Japan, an expensive and hard-to-obtain piece of Japanese craftsmanship. But for the locals, it’s just another old frame from a kind of Local frame builder. (The Nagasawa workshop used to be in Osaka) Other than that, everything on this build is simple yet tasteful. And there are plenty of vintage steel track frames out there that you can grab for cheap and take to your local frame builder for something truly unique.
Bikes with soul, not just specs!
🎞: Kodak Color Plus 200
📷: Leica M6
📍: Tokyo
👤: @_na_ga_sa_wa_
