If ever there were a contender for Colnago’s crown of flamboyant racing bikes, it would be Japan’s Zunow. The Z-1 Pro-Form might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of a Zunow, but it’s as ostentatious as you can get.
Zunow, which translates into English as ‘Genius’, originate from Osaka and were made by Mr T. Kageyama, a Japanese frame builder who thought he could match the Italians in terms of gregarity. They were extremely well made, on par with those by 3Rensho, featuring investment cast lugs, exquisite bottom bracket shells and loud paint.
Anthony Balaguer lives in the Philippines and built up his Z-1 Pro-Form in an appropriate manner; i.e. completely over-the-top: an Austrian Xentis Mark 1 Tubular Carbon wheelset is just as eye-catching as the frame they’re attached to, joined with CA380 cranks by Zipp — the first ever carbon fiber crank available on the market. The groupset is 7800 Dura-Ace and on top of the Nitto 65 seatpost is the ‘Fire’ model of Selle Italia’s Limited Edition SLR Elements saddle.
The Zunow belongs to Anthony’s exotic bicycle collection, and he’s a frame builder himself under the Irony Cycleworks moniker — his fillet brazed racing frames are as equally well-executed. We’ll look forward to seeing more from Irony Cycleworks in the future.
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