"New" Nishiki

I picked this 1983-ish Nishiki up as part of a barter deal, recently.  The rear wheel was bent, so I stuck some 700c wheels in it (which I wanted to run, anyway), with 45c tires on it.  I didn't figure the tires would fit into the frame, but it's easier to store a bike with wheels than without.  Imagine my surprise when the wheels actually spun.  The tire clearance is minimal, but they do clear.

I know you can't see a great many details in the cell-phone camera shot, but I wanted to get something up about it.  I'll post more photos once I have a real camera available.

I finally found a bike to use the gold SunTour crank on.  I picked it up at VeloSwap, a couple of years ago, becase it was, well, gold and because it is a SunTour rather than a Sugino.  I don't see many actual SunTour cranks, around these parts.

I retained the SunTour bar-con shifters, but I installed them on a mustache bar/dirt-drop style stem combo, with new Aztek cables and housing.  I swapped the high-normal (if you remove the cable, the derailleur shifts to the big ring - high gear) front derailleur for another vintage SunTour unit which is low-normal (remove the cable, and the derailleur shifts to the small ring - low gear), because I hate the backwards-shift thing on the front, with the high-normal version.

Origin8 racing-style saddle, Deore DX platform pedals from the late 80s, a new seatpost,  a handlebar-mounted water bottle cage, new brake cables and housing, and Cinelli "natural"-colored cork tape rounded out the build.    New brake pads will soon be installed, to replace the 25+year-old pieces that are on there, now.

Plus, I found an old Zefal frame pump in my parts pile, and used an Agfa clamp to mount it to the seatpost.

Dave Webb and I rode down to the bike race, last weekend, and I took this bike on its maiden voyage, then.  It rode nice, even if the tires seemed to roll a bit sluggishly (I will probably drop down to 35c, or so, on it).  The racing-style seat was really comfortable, even with street clothes, which surprised me.

I love the color of the paint, and the trim.  The patina of age adds a certain "beausage", as Grant Petersen would say, so I won't be repainting it.  I will shellac the tape, pretty soon, though.

So, now I have an actual road bike in the stable, once again...

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