Sport = dud. Prestige was pretty high up the product line.

Better off opening yourself up to all the good Japanese brands. After all, Nishiki didn't build bikes anyway, they had others produce them. There were a lot of great brands from that era that did not manufacture their bikes: Univega, Centurion, Lotus, to name just a few. And of course, you had all of the terrific Japan built Schwinns.

There is a Nishiki serial number thread out there, that I think lists a lot of the models. But again, I would not limit myself to one brand. The list of great Japanese produced bike brands is quite long: Bridgestone, Panasonic, Miyata, Univega, Nishiki, Centurion, and on and on. I just picked up a nice 1986 Katakura Silk for my keeper fleet. So my keeper fleet includes a Centurion (Japan), Schwinn Prologue and Paramount Series 5 (both Japan, Panasonics), a Taiwanese Univega (KHS), the Katakura Silk (Japan). I'm probably forgetting a few more.

Thread on Nishikis is here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...umber-Database