Makers (part 3): Burn On

Continuing on the theme of custom bicycle makers here's a glimpse of some Japanese brazing style. Shigeru Nakagawa is a maverick in his home country where most makers follow the path of the Keirin racing bicycle. Nakagawa was a racer himself, cyclocross, road and track. After an early injury ended his racing he started building bikes. As a builder he finds it more interesting to construct a variety of bikes, not simply the popular single purpose Keirin bike. Twice in two years while I was filming The Cyclocross Meeting, I visited the Nakagawa Cycle Works shop in Osaka. Mr Nakagawa kindly recounted his personal history making bikes but always made sure to emphasize the great racing culture in Japan. Possibly in typical Japanese fashion he placed the greatest value on the whole of Japanese cycling, not himself.

With the North American Handmade Bike Show coming up at the beginning of March, I'll be posting some in-the-shop and builder photos here on the blog, and on my FLICKR and INSTAGRAM (@vernor).