anixi

New to me is this lugged Nishiki:







Picked up off of CL, for $20. Is it collectible? I'm hoping to flip it come summer. Let me know if you think it was a good or bad deal. Honor RD, "Spirt" FD, Suntour shifters, steel wheels all around (bolt on), 5-speed freewheel, cottered crankset, etc.

Thanks!

T-Mar

Entry level model, circa 1973-1974. It's not collectible and you can't tell much from those pics, but at $20 it's hard to imagine not making a profit from it.

anixi

Thanks, T,

Just wondering if it's worth the effort to flip, but it seems well worth it to me.

FastJake

Give it a bath, take some good pictures, and you could probably double or triple your money. I wouldn't bother spending money on it though, I'd be surprised if you get more than $75 for it.

anixi

Yeah, it would be VERY hard to get $100 for it now. I'm thinking of strip and lube, then hold onto it for when the market is hot again.

wrk101

Not collectable, not much flip potential. Be careful with your spending to rehab. Fully refurbished, during riding season, might bring $100 around here.

anixi

Thanks for the advice Bill. I'm not going to spend much. I would like to lose the steel cottered crankset though. That thing must weigh 3x what a good aluminum would! Junk! Brakes and derailleurs seem just fine. I'll have to get a new tube, that should do it.

anixi

I disassembled the bike, got the frame all cleaned up. Here is the serial number found on the bottom of the BB:

KS309811
Fancy "W" on the BB

I wonder when it was made, anyone have an idea?

Picture of the frame:




Looks pretty good to me, all cleaned up and polished!

wrk101

1974 ish. There is a serial number thread on Nishikis. Also, all of the components will have date codes. Earliest is 1973, latest is 1975. Love that color. I have had several Nishikis from that era, all were either blue or gold/biege. The orange is much nicer IMHO. With some alloy wheels and a 3 piece crankset, it could go for more than my estimate, maybe $150+. The challenge would be finding parts cheap (donor). I had the perfect donor for that bike, a 1974 Nishiki International (step up). I picked it up for $5, as the frame was totally trashed. Parts went onto another build.

anixi

Yeah, the frame is in really good shape. The steel bolt on wheels and the steel cottered crank make up a HUGE portion of the weight. If I could just replace those three components, it would be a real sweet restoration. I'm looking all the time...

anixi

BTW, I'm looking for a newer style al. crankset and bottom bracket for the bike. Does anyone know what size the BB should be? I measured it to be 70mm wide. I'm assuming that since it's Japanese, it should have English threads...
Thanks in advance!

anixi

I will check the components asap. Will post findings later today.