VIntage Sekine Medialles Road Bicycle BIke Shimano Sugino Dia Compe Steel Canada

In the early seventies the Canadian government, feeling pressure from a major domestic bicycle manufacturer who happened to have a bit of a strangle hold on the Canadian bicycle market at the time, elected to impose an import tariff on bicycles coming into the country. In an effort to avoid this twenty-five percent tax, Sekine Cycles opened shop in Oo-za-we-Kwun Rivers, in the province of Manitoba. The year was 1973.

For a short while, the newly formed Sekine Cycles company enjoyed great success. Quality, Canadian made, bicycles rolled off of the assembly line and Sekines soon became know for their excellent quality, a reputation which still holds today. Frame paint was electrostatically applied, resulting in an overall finish on the bicycles that was, all but, unparalleled in the industry. One long time bicycle mechanic commented, "It was a pleasure to assemble new Sekines." Thanks to attention to detail and considerable pre-assembly work, on the part of the Sekine company, set up time for new bikes was considerably reduced. Handlebars arrived with levers installed and bars taped. It was quite possible to set up a new Sekine in approximately half the time of similar competing brands. A bicycle mechanic of considerable experience (he worked on these early bikes as a young man) remarked that he had never seen any brazing gaps left in the Sekine’s lug work, once again suggesting pride in and quality of workmanship. The quality demonstrated in every Sekine bicycle far exceeds that of its major competitor of its day, the Canadian Cycle and Motor Company. Not only did the Canadian made Sekines provide serious competition to the one time premier bicycle manufacturer, but they were often better made than many of the bicycles being imported during the "Bike Boom" era.

Sekine Cycles’ period of little challenged prosperity was short lived. The Canadian government saw fit to lower the tariff on bicycle imports, from 25% to 15%, in 1975. This encourage a new rush of imports, which proved to be bad news for Sekine Canada, as well as other domestic bicycle manufacturers of the time. Sekine continued in production until the early eighties. Increased competition from a rash of newer and more efficient Canadian bicycle plants, such as Raleigh and Peugeot, forced Sekine Cycles to close its doors in the early eighties. Such a shame, because Sekine did offer the consumer a quality product.

And some info on the Madialle model...

Second from the top of the line, at the time, was the Sekine “Medialle” SHT. These were very nice bicycles, sporting full chrome moly frames, complete with Shimano forged and machined front and rear dropouts. The rear drops included axle position adjusting screws.  Fork tips as well as chain and seat stays were chromed and, as was the case with all Sekines, the overall finish of the paint was excellent.  The lug work was the fanciest offered on any of Sekine’s bicycles, even those to come a few years later. Shimano 600 derailleurs and controls handled the shifting chores and did so remarkably well. These bikes shift like a charm. SR Royal cotterless cranks, fitted with alloy rings, made up part of the power transmission system. All in all, the SHT was, and still is, a very nice bicycle to observe, as well as ride.

Payment Terms
• All payments must be received within 7 days via Papal. Contact if you have any questions.

Shipping Terms
• Combined shipping on multiple items is available. Shipping costs stated in the auction include all shipping and handling fees and is non-negotiable. All bicycles will be partially to fully disassembled for shipment and we fully recommend a professional bike build.