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1979 Takara Outlaw

`79 Takara Outlaw Looptail

Alright, there's not a lot of Takaras in the Museum, especially Looptails (I got a thing for Looptails). This was one of two bikes I pulled out of a junk pile in northern New York about 7 years ago. The other was a Royce Union cruiser that I fixed up and gave to the kid next door because he liked it so much. This bike has sentimental value to me because of what I went through to get it! I was out driving one day and saw a pile of bikes next to what seemed to be an abandoned house. I didn't stop the first time I passed and went back again a few weeks later. Not to tresspass or anything, I went to the next house and knocked on the door. A very polite old woman answered the door. I asked her about the bikes and she told me that her son (now deceased) had a bicycle repair shop there until the mid 80's. I asked if I could check out the bike pile next door and she said I could have whatever I wanted if I brought some firewood in for her. After bringing in the wood I went to check out the bikes. Nothing interesting initially until the woman told me there was a hundred times more bikes in the barn out back! It literally took me all day (9-5) to go through all the piles of bikes piled to the rafters. Just when I was ready to call it quits, I caught a glimpse of a Blue Looptail at the bottom of the last pile of bikes. I think everyone knows what I was thinking: JMC, Hutch, Mongoose, Race INC, everything except Takara? When I finally dug it out, I asked myself, "What the hell is a Takara?" Theres not a lot of INFO out there, but this one is mine and I love it! Judging from an ad posted by Mustang6473 and the original "420" decal on my forks, I think the full name of my bike is a Takara Outlaw Competition 420. It seemed to have all the original steel parts when I found it and was rusty as hell. The original blue paint, red decals and red steel components were not salvagable. Bike is pictured with the original F/F, Stem, Viscount Seat w/logo and V-bar pad. I traced the original decals w/tissue paper and had vinyl copies made in the original colors. F/F is powdercoated pretty close to original blue and the original steel Sugino snowflake chainring (which I still have) was replaced with a red annodized alloy version. I also had my local upolstrey shop make a copy of the original top bar vinyl pad. Other parts include Red annodized VDC V-bars, Red annodized fluted seat post, Red annodized Lee Chi brakes, and Red annodized 7x wheels w/Suzue high flange hubs. I tried to restore this Takara as close to the original look as I could with upgraded alloy parts. This is my rider and my keeper!