SEKINE SHC 271 - INTRODUCTION

This middle of the line Sekine SHC-271, from the mid seventies, was practically mint "as found".  Everything was absolutely original.  There are only a few very small and unobtrusive paint chips.  Wear is a non-issue on this little used old Canadian made road bicycle.  The bicycle is, without a doubt, the cleanest old Sekine I have ever owned.  Believe it or not, I gave it away to a complete stranger...

Canadian Sekine bicycles were well made, even the entry level ones.  The company, situated in Three Rivers, Manitoba, set their quality goals a tad higher than others at the time and sold quite a few bicycles because of it.  Sekine was the only company to send their road bikes to dealers with the handlebars already wrapped with bar tape.  Little marketing ploys like that helped the Sekine company carve out a pretty good customer base in the seventies.

Sekine frame sets were guaranteed for life, unless "this or that" occurred, of course.  All Sekine frames were hand built.  Tubes were silver soldered to lug assemblies.  Most Sekines were made of high tensile tubing.  The more exotic early models, the SHT and SHX, being built from chrome moly double butted steel tubing and sporting forged drops, to boot.  Each frame set received beautifully applied lacquer paint, four coats deep.  If there were to be a criticism of Sekine preparation, it would have to target the Sekine down tube decals.  These individually applied letters frequently failed to stay glued to the frame, falling off and looking much like my personal Sekine SHT-270.

I have no idea why Sekine Canada closed its doors, and it was a sad day when they did so.  That said, only their two top models were issued with tubing stickers and forged drops.  Bikes like the SHC had to settle for sturdy pressed steel drops.  The tube sets, for these mid level Sekines, were nothing special either but certainly competitive at the time.  The two lowest end models were made from steel tubing and brazed lug to tube joints.  All mid level offerings used high tensile tubing for frame sets and the top of the line models, double butted chrome moly.

NEXT - FINDING THE SEKINE SHC 271