Originally Posted by
repechage
As to the '73 Nishiki, it was an outgrowth of the desire of Westcoast Cycle Supply to create a line for the American market. They brought in Leonard Hearst, owner of Hans Ohrt bicycles in Beverly Hills Ca to go along with on a trip to Japan to provide insight and help spec bikes. Leonard was impressed by the Suntour V GT rear mechanism, the slant parallelogram really allowed a wide range rear freewheel and "half-step" chainwheel spacing.
The bikes with those set ups can be attributed to Mr. Hearst.
The Olympic came with a Shimano Eagle rear derailleur, a 14-34 Shimano 333 freewheel, and some kind of cottered steel 3-arm 52-36 (mid-compact double!!) crankset, and it weighed around 40 pounds. Mr Hearst may have played a role in the component selection, which was reasonably well thought out for the price point. I think the "design" of the frame was "grab some cheap tubes and braze them together in this shape." Curiously, the bike requires a 21.1mm stem.