Friend - Hand Made Randonneur Bike

Friend - Hand Made (Since 1933) (Randonneur / Vintage Touring Bike) (House Brand): Handcrafted and custom-built (Lugged Steel Frame / Custom Build) by Friend Shokai (フレンド商会), a legendary bicycle pro shop founded in 1933 in Asagaya, Tokyo, Japan. This is a low-production, Japanese Domestic Market (JDM Only) craft bike from the 1970s–1980s. During the 1980s, custom-built bicycles from Friend Shokai commanded high prices ranging from 100,000 to 180,000+ yen (equivalent to the high value of modern custom bikes). Ernesto Colnago (Founder of Colnago): When Colnago first expanded its market to Asia, Ernesto personally flew to Japan and visited the Friend Shokai shop in Asagaya. He praised the shop's displays, bike setups, and parts inventory, stating it was "meticulous, delicate, and possessed a unique charm that many pro shops in Europe could not yet achieve." Eddy Merckx (The World's No. 1 Cycling Legend): While building his own bicycle brand, Merckx traveled to promote it and visited this shop to observe Japanese-style bike setup culture. He collaborated with the shop to act as an agent for assembling high-end racing bikes in Tokyo. Praised by Global Magazines: Bicycle Quarterly & Jan Heine Jan Heine, editor of Bicycle Quarterly (the quintessential magazine for Randonneur / Vintage Touring enthusiasts worldwide), traveled to cover the touring cyclist lifestyle in Japan. He encountered this shop's handcrafted Friend-branded bicycles and was so impressed that he wrote about them in his blog/magazine. He praised the "frame geometry and lug work as being incredibly smart, beautiful, and perfectly balanced." This resulted in classic touring bike enthusiasts in America and Europe recognizing the name Friend Shokai as a "JDM Masterpiece." The Arsenal for Japanese Magazines (New Cycling Magazine): During the golden era of the 70s–80s, when legendary Japanese cycling magazines like New Cycling (ニューサイクリング) flourished, custom handmade bicycles from Friend Shokai were consistently elevated as "Reference Builds" in deep-dive columns about Randonneur bicycles.