matimeo

I recently posted about my Nishiki Royal that I had just finished upgrading. However, a search of the forums leaves me empty-handed as to the quality or date of this bike. It is never mentioned in the usual lineup of Nishiki bikes. The serial number is ARYC466854. Has anyone actually compiled any information on Nishiki serial numbers, or does anyone know where the Nishiki Royal stacks up compared to other Nishikis?

ricohman

Here are a few pics of my 84' Continental.



It also has decorative lugs and a chro-mo tubing decal.
I am guessing your frame to be late 70's maybe early 80's by the lug work and the plain steel tubing frame.
The $10 Nishiki Rally I posted in your other thread has fairly plain lugs and no decal. Too bad you didn't have some of the original parts to ID the year.

cyclotoine

T-mar has.... send him a PM.

matimeo

ricohman,
The lugging on your continental is pretty much identical to that on my Royal, down to the little heart shapes inside the lugs. It also has little heart shapes on the bottom of the downtube. Your frame is in much nicer condition than mine though. I was tempted to strip it and powdercoat it, but wanted to maintain the Nishiki charm.

ga_mueller

+1 T-Mar

+1 Heart-shaped cutouts

FlatFender

here was my Nishiki International before I spray bombed it. Mine has the Suntour Blue line of components (all tucked away in a box because its currently my fixed gear commuter.)

reverborama

The saga of my Nishiki International

Rabid Koala

reverborama,

I finally got down to visit the Bikesmith in P.B.

You were right, he was a super nice guy and had a lot of vintage stuff in there. He even had a Schwinn Superior I was interested in buying for my wife until I got her a Paramount. I plan on going back when the need arises. The owner used to work at an old Schwinn shop down the street back in the 60's, a place I would occasionally go to lust over Krates and Sting Rays.

The seller you bought that Nishiki from still advertises stuff on Craigslist. Nothing really exotic or unusual, but his prices generally seem fair. I haven't been over there yet but have emailed him with some Schwinn date information.

matimeo

To get back to the topic at hand- here is a picture of the decal on the bike naming it a "Royal" not "Royale". According to T-mar, this may indicate the bike is newer than 1981. I will post pictures of the components and information about their dates this evening.

matimeo

Here are some pictures of the derailleurs that came with the bike. Possible golden arrows?

matimeo

After looking up the components, I have dated them to late 1983 and early 1984, probably making the bike a 1984. However, that now means I have no idea where this bike falls into the Nishiki lineup, as it apparently not related to the Nishiki Royale.

reverborama

Cool. I think both of them would be surprised how much that bike's been ridden since I got it home. I threw some fenders on it and use it to tow a small trailer. I even helped a guy move with it.

Video here (that's me talking about the broken helmet midway through the story).

My International dates to 1976 based on the codes on the components. That seems about right for a 10 speed with a cast metal head-badge. I saw an American Eagle that was very, very similar with the same cast head-badge but "American Eagle" where Nishiki was -- shoulda had my camera there. They changed the name in, what 1972 or 73?

icdrummer

is this a good deal?


57m Nishiki Prestige 12 Speed Road Bike. $240.
Nishiki Prestige Road Bike
Frame size 57cm
Speeds 12
Tires 27 x 1 1/4 Anodized Araya rims chain ring & deraileurs
New tubes & tires grip tape
Italia Saddle


I want a bike for long distance touring and I want to know if this bike is good, (both for the price and in general)



thanks,
jeff

brandenjs

That's probably more than I would spend for it, but it seems to be in pretty good shape. They are nice strong frames for touring. Good solid lugged frame. Man, this thread was almost a year old. thanks for bringing it back up.

firenbones

Those are indeed Golden Arrows. In fact, I am looking for a Golden Arrow rear derailleur, you can PM me ...

Charles Wahl

If it'll make you feel better about it, I will admit that I paid more for the exact same frame with a mixed bag of components (some junk, but one being a Campy SR crankset that I sold, so that helped out). Same color too, only difference is that mine is 58 cm. The crank on the one in your picture is not original. Tubeset is Tange Infinity -- seamed DB. Frame and fork weigh just about 30 grams more than my Raleigh 531C 57 cm frame, so it is respectably lightweight. And very nicely constructed, IMO. I would pay that much for a bike like that, no problem.

BTW, it's not really touring geometry -- look at the space between rear tire and seat tube -- not a lotta room there for fenders. Chainstays are only about 42 cm long. On my frame, the distance from axle to brake hole is about 370 mm in front, 368 in the rear. Lamplight has a beautiful build done on the same frame, with fenders; but I'm not sure whether he used 700C or 27" (larger, and the size original to the bike as marketed) rims.
https://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ghtsg/Nishiki/
XXXI suspect that the rims on the bike you've pictured may not be original, either.XXX Whoops! I take that back -- they're probably the original Arayas like Lamplight's bike.

HSean

Those ones are nice, mines a hunk of junk lol, though it rides very nice, some reason the chain skips though.