Originally Posted by
familyguy
This is the ebay ad pic, it's still in the back of my car. Definitely looks to be an O rather than a C, but stranger things have happened with die stamps. But, as a back up to your claim, I googled 'Racer Sportif' (as seen on the chainstay protector). Turns out to be a bike store in Toronto and Oakville.
It's missing the head badge, which is a shame. Superbe Pro cranks are in good nick, wheels turned out to be Open 4 CD on Sunshine ProAm hubs, so definitely worth the sub-$40 purchase and short drive to get it. Suntour dropouts and Tange fork ends. Now if only it was 2cm bigger, it would be a good size for me. As it is its probably too small but it's going into the collection to refinish or rebuild over time and see what happens.
Yes, I'm familiar with Racer Sportif and the frame does look like a circa 1980-1981, Canadian market, Nishiki Superbe. I'd consider the Superbe to be closer to the USA market Comp II than a Professional. However, during this era there were frame differences between the Comp II and Superbe. The former typically had horizontal dropouts, fender eyelets and brazed-on shift lever bosses, while the latter used vertical dropouts, did not have fender fender eyelets and used clamp style shift levers. Of course, there were also some minor cosmetic differences. All your frame features are ticking the correct boxes for a Canadian market Superbe of this era. This frame should have used a head decal, rather than a metal badge.