80s Aero 3Rensho

[DCilliams]

Originally Posted by brewsmith

For sure, but when you consider that the aero craze was essentially the precursor to weight weeniesism and we know how dear those grams can become, I can't say I'd be all that suprised....

Well, if that's the case, those will need to be plugged. To paraphrase eBAUMANN: "sweet rainwater holes, brah"

[OperaLover]

Originally Posted by brewsmith

Aero routing for an old-school, wired computer?

That would be my guess too. But why would you need two? Do the holes go all the way into the hollow fork blade? Shimano fork tips sounds right.

The eyelets don't particularly surprise me. Kono-san would build what you wanted. Old school you didn't have a bunch of bikes you put on fenders for winter.

[tv_vt]

Could they be for mounting some kind of light?

[DCilliams]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

Could they be for mounting some kind of light?

That's an intriguing possibility...

[11.4]

I've seen a lot of SanRenshos and never seen holes in the fork like that. I was just concluding the same thing -- a mount for a light, or possibly a dyno? He actually did lugged fork crowns on all the bikes I knew -- even when they were sloping they had lugged edges. This looks like something from another bike.

The only other option I can think of is that he made a few forks for track bikes with the stem actually mounted to the fork crown. They were a bit funky -- others did a better design -- but this conceivably could have been a mounting point for the stem and bars.

The rest of the bike is nice, though those bikes had limited clearances and rather an extreme position, so they don't have as much utility these days. If it fits you, you scored.

[m_sasso]

David while I had the frame I was trying to figure out what was the purpose for the holes.

I still believe it was for mounting something however if you screw a nipple on to a spoke, the holes seem to make near perfect spare spoke holders?

They may rattle against the inner fork wall a bit however the fork bend kind of keeps them secure and I couldn't come up with any other useful purpose for them.

My partner is Japanese and sometimes she just does things in a different way!

[Steve in SLO]

Sparkler holders for 4th of July parade?

[ceolwulf]

Clearly for routing your brake lines

[carpediemracing]

If this was a "fast tourer" the holes might have been for a lighting system.

[mcfarton]

Its drillium

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[merckx]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

If this was a "fast tourer" the holes might have been for a lighting system.

Perhaps it was built for an event like PBP, and was designed to accommodate mudguards and a light.

[DCilliams]

Good news: the serial number on the steerer matches the bb, so st least it’s original. I guess the best guess is those holes are for a light or some wire. It’ll be a fun project nonetheless. Make it a cool tourer.

[DCilliams]

I found another 3Rensho, this one on eBay, that has the same strange holes on the fork crown. I guess those holes were put there by the frame maker.

[ultraman6970]

Maybe the holes are to emit a frequency when the air blows through them so the deers and other animals move off your way?

[ceolwulf]

Maybe the fork is secretly an ocarina?