Kabuto is a Takara single-speed road bike focused at commuting for the general audience and people who are trying to get into bikes for the first time. If you have done some research about the bike, it is pretty apparent that this bike is aimed at commuting around the city with little to no trail riding as Takara Kabuto comes with no active suspension. But the tires will absorb the shocks pretty well if you are not on a bumpy trail.
As I mentioned above this is a single-speed bike which means you don’t have to deal with all the fuss and maintenance of those gears and cassettes. Single-speed bikes like this one are very reliable with no recurring maintenance every week. They are just made to be simple bikes that are ready to ride with no hassle.
This is an article featuring Takara Kabuto Review, the different parts and components in the build and whether you should consider getting one yourself. Use the Table of Contents to easily navigate in the page.
Frame
The frame is built with pretty sleek and hand-crafted steel, which is a very common material for strong and light frames at this price range. While steel is not a very good choice for being light on the road, Takara Kabuto is paired with alloy rims and other components to bring the whole heft of the bike to a modest 35lbs or 15kgs.
This bike is available in Unisex version and is suitable for people in the height range 5’6” to 6’2”. The thing which you can’t complain about this bike is its sleek looks. Takara went all minimalist on these bikes with no tacky graphics or any decoration of that sort. The final result looks very professional and fits any occasion from riding around school or some casual exercise in the park.
Pedaling Modes
Takara Kabuto also comes with two pedaling modes and if you are considering buying this bike it would be pretty interesting to choose between a freewheel or a fixed gear mode. This combination on the bike is called flip-flop hub, If you have never heard of it let me explain.
Normally a drive of a bike contains a chainring that is attached to the pedals and moves when you pedal, and a cassette in the rear which rotates the rear wheel, and this whole setup is connected with a chain.
A freewheel is a mechanism that allows you to coast downhill. Coasting is when you can’t pedal the bike faster than its current speed so you just rest your feet on the pedals and let the momentum carry you downhill. While this seems very normal and intuitive, this can only be achieved by what’s called a freewheel or freehub system, where the wheel and cassette are not completely attached. This is good because you don’t have to pedal all of the time and get breaks in between climbs.
But contrary to this in a fixed gear mode, the cassette in the back is attached to the wheel and the amount of pedaling you do directly translates with the rotation of the rear wheel. This means you can’t coast downhill while not pedaling or just allowing the pedals to rotate on their own. But a cool thing you can do with this fixed gear or a fixie is that you can now pedal backward and the cycle would move backward as the rear wheel is fixed with the front chainring.
Drop Bars
Drop bars are also a good addition to this budget-friendly bike as you don’t see them very often in this ballpark. If you are comfortable with using drop bars they make a difference in the effort you put in while you ride on urban roads by reducing the air resistance. The handlebars are 42.5 centimeters wide which provides for a good and well-controlled riding experience.
Brakes
You also get Alloy Side Pull Calliper Brakes which are reliable enough on not so well laid out roads and won’t be causing you any difficulties or repairs. Safe to say that this bike will last a long time to come, given you are not going to very extremes with it.
Suspension
Takara Kabuto Cycle comes with Kenda hybrid tires which provide enough suspension on an urban road and they are pretty thin which is a common sight with many traditional road bikes. They are 700 x 32 and the most comfortable pressure for your tires is around 100-110PSI. This is a good range because it allows you to be in complete control and feel sturdy with your ride.
Takara Kabuto Colors
I have said it many times but I will say it again, Kabuto looks clean. Takara did a great job removing all the clutter and made the riding very simple and straight-forward. The first thing many people including you notice about this bike is the fantastic color choices we have got. It comes in blue, yellow, and green.
But if you think the colors do not match your preference you can get a quick paint job for very little. You can just cover the cables and handlebars with spray tape and paint it yourself for basically nothing.
You’ll also be pleased to know that if you are not a fan of decals on this bike, you can get rid of them quite easily.
Takara Kabuto Bicycle Assembly
The bike is not mounted when you first get it, but customers are quite pleased with the packaging and other precautions are taken when delivering the product to you. Once you receive Takara Kabuto it is pretty easy to assemble. Even if you have little to no bike assembly experience it shouldn’t take you more than 45 mins tops. The assembly is pretty straight-forward and you will be needing a cheap 6-inch adjustable wrench and a cheap Allen Wrench set which costs you like 9$ and you are set.
Takara Kabuto Value – is it any good?
The biggest reason this is the first choice for a lot of people is that it’s pretty cheap for what you are getting. Depending on what size you are choosing this will only cost you around 200-250$, which is fairly cheap. As this bike is pretty inexpensive, most of the time it lays right below the radar of bicycle thieves because the risk isn’t worth the price. In the rear case that you lost the bike, it’s light on your pocket anyway.
Takara Kabuto’s price means there are some inevitable compromises made in the way of getting the price that low. There are some places where you find some components on this bike somewhat lacking.
One such situation is when you are taking this into gravel roads. This is because Kabuto is a road bike and was made to handle everyday commute in the city so the tires on this thing are too thin for the grip needed to ride on a trail with gravel and rocks.
You can also find that bright handlebars collect dirt after 3-6 months of constant use. This can’t be avoided on a bike like this I suppose. But you can quickly remedy the problem by replacing the grips on the handlebars after they are used properly.
Takara Kabuto has a caliper brake system, while they work properly with the city they can’t hold up well on more technical trails because of the extreme weather. And if you are going to commute every day on this thing you should be informed that the brakes need some maintenance every couple of months or so.
With that being said, this is a great bike to gift a beginner or use it yourself and you will not be disappointed with the way it functions. I hope this Takara Kabuto Review has helped you in making an informed decision.
FAQ’s
Takara is an Oklahoma based bicycle company, manufacturing cycles that are targeted solely at an American audience. It started its production of entry-level bikes during the ’80s and lasted well beyond. Some other companies from the same generation are shogun and Nishiki.
Yes, Takara Kabuto is a fixie or a fixed gear bike. But it is important to know that it also comes with a freewheel and you can switch between them both modes by using what’s called a flip flop hub. One of the interesting things you can do with a fixie is that you can pedal and ride backward.
Takara Kabuto is suitable for riders in the height range of 5’6” to 6’2.