Mountain Biking - Anyone know what model this auminum Nishiki is?

I'm trying to sell a bike and someone offered to buy it outright or trade straight-across for a Nishiki mountain bike. It doesn't have a model on it, just the Nishiki name on the down tube and "MR" on the top tube. I Googled that info without much succes. It has an aluminum frame and an Answer Manitou Mach 5 fork(haven't seen/had one in ages :lol: )....I just noticed the Presta stems too. I can't tell much else about it from the photo.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc383/Dirty_Dude/IMAG0123.jpg

Is this bike worth $100? Would it be hard to sell for that much if I needed to? I currently ride a stock GT Backwoods....anyone idea how this Nishiki compares quality-wise? Are there any junky, red-flag parts I should watch for when I look at it? Or should I just take cash and forget about it?

Okay, I guess the model name is "MR." I have been digging and digging on Google and can honestly only find one example of this bike posted by someone in Japan. It's a pretty sweet road conversion:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16546033@N00/2586109037/sizes/z/in/set-72157605678012285/

It has some higher-end parts on it than the one I posted above, obviously. Oh yeah, I spotted a blurry Deore LX rear derailleur in my photo, which I guess is a higher-end product than the STX on my bike now.

I suppose the details are not so important since I made the trade and have the bike now. Well, I'll pass along anything new I discover.

As best as I can tell from sparse findings and what the previous owner told me, this model was probably never sold in North America and perhaps never outside of Japan. As far junky parts to watch out for, there don't seem to be any on this bike. The brakes and drivetrain are Deore, hubs are Parallax, and rims are Araya with steel spoke inserts. The biggest non-Japanese part seems to be the Manitou fork, which was probably made not far from me right here in SoCal. If it was a Manitou 4, I could say that my father's shop actually built the brake mounts instead of just prototyping the crown. ;)

Worth is just for the purple ano bar end brake lever extensions.

Yeah, I have never seen them before and I can't find anything about them, either. Darwin 468AL, made in Germany. There's a patent number on them as well, so I may look it up.

Even though I love GTs I'd take the Nishiki over the Backwoods. Other pics in that dude's flickr show some killer polished chrome and I love the gusset.

Both are around $100 bikes in my neighborhood, could probably get more for the Nishiki if totally pimped out and you had good pics on the CL ad.

I don't remember those Nishikis either so the not sold in US bit sounds like a good guess.

Thanks for the input. My GT is down for some sprucing up, so this one is a convenient spare. Unfortunately the Nishiki is about 2.5" shorter in length and height than my GT. It's not too badly cramped when I'm up on the pedals, though. Now that I have the bike up close, I'm not so worried about selling....probably will keep it for a while at least and get a feel for everything. :thumb:

The Nishiki is no dog by any stretch. Definitely worth a Benjamin.