Bike Check: Young.K’s “ALU” Stratos Track
We all love a good Japanese track bike, but in a country know for its creations out of thin steel tubing, it always gets even more interesting when the frame is aluminum. That’s a material that only appeared for a brief moment in Japan’s track scene, making these bikes incredibly rare today. Only a handful were ever produced, and my friend Young.K happens to own one of them.
Oversized aluminum tubing, a steel fork, and that unmistakable blue tint, could this have been Japan’s answer to the Cannondale track? Let’s take a closer look.
About 30 years ago, Murayama-san (Stratos's builder) decided to build four aluminum frames for Gifu Daiichi High School (岐阜第一高等学校) , one of the few schools in the country with a road and track cycling club that also has a strong presence on the amateur competitive scene. The club also serves as a natural bridge to the Japan Keirin School, where students can eventually obtain their professional Keirin rider license and enter the demanding world of Japanese Keirin cycling.
It's been about five years since this frame found its way to Young.K. And naturally, when you get your hands on something that rare, it can only go one of two ways. Either you build it straight away because you just can't wait and have everything ready to go, or you put it in a corner and spend years quietly thinking about the right way to do it justice.
For him, it took so long that by the time the build was finally complete, he'd gotten married and had a kid somewhere in between.
Yeah. It took a while…
Detailed Parts List
Frameset
Stratos Pursuit “ALU”
Crank Campagnolo super Record Pista (1985)
Seatpost and Saddle
Selcof Bioposition, Selle Italia Flite Ti
Stem and Handlebar
Nitto Dynamic 9, Nitto ZigZag Bar (Sada Signature)
Wheels
Sun Ringle Assalt laced to Zipp T2 hubs,
So how did he build it? The proper way, of course! Starting with the cockpit: a Nitto Dynamic 9 stem, which is apparently a very early generation of the more widely known Nitto Pearl. The bars are Sada's signature ZigZag, with that classic old-school bullhorn shape, topped off with a NOS Campagnolo Steel Record Pista headset.
The saddle is the ever-reliable 90s Selle Italia Flite Titanium, a favorite we all seem to share, but this one carries a little extra weight as Young.K has had it since high school, which means it's yet another part that spent well over a decade sitting in a corner before finally finding its home on this build.
Finally, the wheels: Sun Ringle Assault rims laced to Zipp Track T2 hubs. Young.K told me he picked these up back when he was still racing for BSBC, and while they cost him more than a few meals and nights out at the time, that sacrifice clearly stuck with him. They remind him of a simpler chapter: less money in the pocket, but days full of racing, good company, and the kind of freedom that's hard to replicate.
Make your bike a story.
🎞: Kodak Color Plus 200
📷: Leica M6
📍: Saitama
