Midori Bicycle, Lady's Economical (Circa 1952)

次回この記事の日本語版を投稿します。

Here is a nice Lady's bicycle from around 1953.  The bicycle was pieced together with NOS (New Old Stock) by the proprietor of CHOJYU JITENSHA SHOKAI who back in the 1950''s used to be a distributor for Midori Bicycles.


Let's take a closer look. 


Midori front fender with gold transfers, trademark stamp and hand painted gold pinstripes.


Midori fender ornament.


Heavy duty Sankyo Electric 6 volt 6 Watt all chrome generator.


Ukai B/E (Beaded Edge) rims.





Nice bullet shaped Toshiba head lamp.

Fancy lamp bracket with trademark on front, and, on the sides.




Head tube with very nice badges.



Close-up of the upper cloisonne badge.


Model name Economical No. 1.


Close-up of the lower cloisonne badge.

Back of front fender,


Fender bolt bears the Midori trademark.

In place of fender stay badges the proprietor uses his shop's badge.
The bolt heads appear to Miyata.





Cover to protect frame. This prevents the rider's shoes from hitting the frame and leaving scuff marks when they step into the frame.

Midori trademark on down tube lug.


Down tube transfer in excellent condition.






This is extremely rare.   A round brazed on plate with company trademark, similar to plates commonly found on Hidori bicycles.  First time I have ever seen a brazed on plate like this on a Lady's model.

Beautiful Midori leather saddle.  Complete with stamp on both sides and badge in the rear.

Seat tube.

Beautiful cloisonne seat tube badge. (Japanese Only)

Large seat tube badge bearing the manufacturing company's name, and, the work KINSEI （謹製）。 To me, no other word better conveys the spirit of the craftsmen and women after WWII, or the Japanese spirit to provide the best product possible, than this word KINSEI.  It is written with two characters, the first meaning "humble" the second "to manufacture".  The meaning is "to humbly pour one's heart into producing the best product possible". 



KINSEI （謹製）

Cottered bottom bracket. A sure telltale sign of how old the frame is as cottered bottom brackets were typically used up until around 1955.

Spotless chaincase complete with badge.

Midori rubber block pedals with the trademark on each block.



Cotterpin covers bear the Midori trademark.


Rear carrier with Midori trademark badge in the rear.

Only because the proprietor used to be a distributor for Midori Bicycle Company, could all these parts be amassed and assembled into such a sweet machine.