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1982 Araya S&G Cycles

Distributed as S&G Cycles (Muddy Fox).

This was a skip find a few years back that was sold on but sat in a shed until I got hold of it. It was originally listed for sale as a Tange Ishibashi and it seems to have all the trademarks: Oval top-tube, Tear-drop down-tube, Full Cr-Mo, Tange/Giant style drop-outs, nice tight welds etc. Serial stamp is on the BB: 224177. Not all Tange frames had the more familiar T stamp serial and Tange also supplied tube kits or part builds to other manufacturers who stamped frames in different ways but by all accounts it could well be the same Tange Ishibashi design.
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Released under S&G Cycles (who later went on to re-brand as Muddy Fox). Araya provided this alongside an early Mountain Bike to the UK based company but sales were initially poor. The BMX was soon dropped but once re-branded as Muddy Fox the Mountain Bike went on to relative success, available as a limited edition.
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Even though the frame was provided by Araya, who had an established working relationship with Tange (through the JBM - Japanese Bicycle Manufacturers Group)* and both companies were based in the Osaka region, it is possible that Tange provided Araya with their Ishibashi frame, alternatively Tange could have provided Ishibashi tube kits for Araya to assemble. Personally I wonder if Araya would have had (or needed) the production set up & skill set for frame making as companies in that region often operated like a collective and the Araya factory was heavily focused on Rim production. However this is pure speculation.
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*The JBM group consisted of Araya, KKT, Sakae Ringyo (SR), Shimano, Takagi, and Tange. It broke up in 1984.