Are you looking to repair this bike?
Links below for parts you can buy now on amazon.
Over the years we repaired thousands of Vintage bikes and became experts in finding alternatives to original bike parts.
Buying parts for older bikes is confusing, as most of the original parts have been discontinued.
We use these parts everyday and created this list to make it easier for you to repair your bike.
Parts list for Early-Mid 80's Takara Advantage:
➤Tires (better): https://amzn.to/33YwOyl (super flat resistant and fast
rolling, choose
27x1.25 or 27 1 1/4)
➤Bottom Bracket: https://amzn.to/2RydlSI (Likely 68x122.5 but must measure
spindle length before purchase)
➤Crank (good): https://amzn.to/2Yw7miQ (better quality fit and finish, will
likely need a new bottom bracket)
➤Crank (better): https://amzn.to/2rg0YQx (lesser quality option, likely will
not need a bottom bracket)
➤Headset: https://amzn.to/38EkfvQ (Choose 27.0 but it's better to
remove crown race and measure inside diameter for sure)
Mint Takara advantage touring bike we refurbished Here at Bike Boom. If your'e not familiar, Bike Boom is a used bike shop in Davis square, on the border of Cambridge and Somerville , near Boston MA. where we specialize in restoring and refurbishing used and vintage bikes and offer competitively priced professional bike repair services.
Great representative bike of the early 80's with a Lugged 4130 chromoly frame and alloy components with suntour shifters. Takara was an american company building bikes in japan to be marketed solely to the US cyclist, similar to nishiki, univega and shogun. They were not as popular as the univegas and shoguns here in New England but we still manage to find a few every year. They had a whole range of models such as the prestige, custom 12 and others.
From oldroads.com, probably the best forum for vintage bikes on the web: "Takara bicyles were made to spec for an Oklahoma firm, Takara Bicycle Co. The company survived well into the 80's and possibly beyond. Though not confirmed, the bicycles were probably made by Kawamura, the same company that manufactured Nishiki. Ads showed base and immediate models. Road rests from the period vary in opinion from "average" to "outright bargain", depending on the model, though they had nicer than average paint" .
