I do not know a lot about this bike—I can’t even decide whether I should refer to Echelon as a “brand” itself. Most of what I know comes from this Bikeforums thread:
Echelon was conceived as a Japanese-made bike for the US market, likely imported to San Francisco by DIN Importers. The bikes were made by Cherubim in Japan in the early 1980s (another source says that these were actually built by Hitoshi Konno). They made at least two different framesets, one with Ishiwata 022 (Odyssey) and one in Ishiwata 019 (Spectra—which has the trademark Cherubim fork crown not present on the Odyssey). This frame bears the sticker of Garner’s Pro Bikes in Redwood City, California. They are now named Goride Bicycles and although it is a long shot, I’m curious if they have any distributor info from the 80’s squirreled away somewhere.
The frame itself is beautiful, with incredibly sharp lugwork, tasteful paint (the masking on the dropouts and chainstay are a nice touch), and full chrome plating. The vintage wheels have just the right amount of magic to them—they’re not fast, or light, or aero, but they ride so smoothly, the chain on cog has a pleasant feel that modern groups don’t, and the freewheel makes that very pleasing tick tick tick while coasting.
Here’s another Echelon owner’s experience stripping, repainting, and creating a headbadge for his Odyssey.
The build on this bike looks about 3/4 original, or at least period correct. There’s most of a Shimano 600 groupset (everything minus the levers!), including 6207 hubs laced to Mavic rims, headset, and presumably the bottom bracket—but I haven’t pulled it to look inside yet.
The cockpit is non-original with a Nitto Technomic post, Nitto bars (I also have not unwrapped these to peek at the model number, but they are definitely wider and deeper than I would run), and Tektro RL340 levers (pictured but replaced by Shimano 600 tricolor aero levers).
So this is the before version—what’s going to be the after?
I’ve been missing riding a dedicated road bike since moving to Portland and I’ve been looking for a steel frame/fork from the early 80’s to late 90’s that would accept a modern group, and I think this might be it. I want to make sure the frame will fit me comfortably (it’s a 55cm top tube) before I commit to spreading the rear triangle and building up a set of road wheels. I have a soft spot for the vintage components, but there’s no way to get around the fact that modern road caliper brakes are so much better than anything made before 1999.
