Sentinel Bicycles

There's a guy I see about once a week at the thrift store riding a good looking red bicycle called a Sentinel. The head badge is a soldier. I've admired it and even asked him if I could take some photos of it - then last week I came across one for sale at a very good price and now I have a Sentinel Whisper. I'm not making this up. This is a real bike, from a real bike company. They were sold here by bicycle shops in beautiful NE Ohio and were quite popular. My thrift store guy says he bought his new 30 years ago at the bike store just up the street. From the looks I assumed these bikes were part of the Japanese influx of steel lugged frames from the late 1970's and in through the 1980s, but I've learned that is not quite the whole story.
Sheldon Kasower, founder and owner of the Sentinel Bicycle Manufacturing Company says they were the first company to produce quality lugged frames in the USA, until finally they couldn't compete with the Taiwan producers, sold the company to Bendix and it faded. The frames were built in Chatsworth California and/or in Kobe Japan by Shikamura, depending on the model. Mine has, and I've heard this is original, Shimano Tourney brakes - center pull in front and side pull on the rear; quick release front wheel and solid axle rear. Rigida rims. It sold for $160.00 new. Photos to follow.

Soma Japan Bicycles

There's a new Soma in the world of bicycles - Soma Fabrications started in 2001 and they make absolutely gorgeous products so check them out. But long ago in the 1980's there was another Soma Bicycle Company, during the boom of Japanese built "10 and 12 speeds". Sheldon Brown mentions the original Soma Company as, " A short-lived brand of decent-quality bikes. " And they indeed were just that.

Soma is the name of a city in Japan that translates roughly as Wild Horse. You can still find Soma bikes, some in very good condition. They are steel lugged frames. I have photos of a nice tall one I had and I just got a 24" one which is in excellent condition. Photos to follow. It will make a handsome singlespeed for someone 5' tall or less. It is so easy to find tall steel bikes from the 1980's and so difficult to find good quality smaller bikes, because there just were not a lot built.

Detel Bikes

Detel Bikes were made in the USA for less than a year in 1985 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They went out of business about seven months after production began when they did not have the cash promised to start up, or as some say, an investor backed out. Once the company went out of business the bikes were mostly given away as bonuses by companies selling autos or appliances, although quite a few were sold in real bicycle stores. I've found them with Ohio bicycle store labels on them.

Only two models were made, the higher-end Marathon (Ishiwata 022) and the more standard Legend (Ishiwata 024). There was also a numeric designation (either 6000 or 4000) added to the model name to indicate the grade of the componentry. I have found Suntour components. They seem well made and are excellent candidates for a steel lugged road bike or conversion to a fixie or singlespeed.