Originally Posted by
rickpaulos
Nishiki Backroads
serial R914410?2 (next to last digit hard to read in the photos) I'll check it again soon.
R for Raleigh USA build (Kent Washington)
R91441nnn
R9___1nnn (1991)
R_144_ day (friday May 24th )
(I was at the Burlington Iowa road race that day)
MADE IN USA decal
Nishiki Design 4130 Butted Cro MO
4130 cromo forks
Shimano Exage 300 XL crankarms
right FC-M300 date code PA (1991 January)
left date code OL (1990 December)
Suntour ARX rear derailleur
front hub Sealed Mech. Exage HB-RM50
rear hub Exage HB-RM50
Yes, that's definitely a 1991 Nishiki Backroads. That year, it was 6th in a line of 11 adult ATBs. The MSRP was $395 US. The finish was called Pearl White with Sunset, though for the life of me, I can't figure out how the blue cob webbing relates to a sunset. West Coast Cycle, the USA owner of the Nishiki brand, had been purchased by the Derby Cycle Corporation in late 1988, which explains the serial number format used by the Raleigh factory in Kent, Washington, as the Derby Cycle Corporation had previously acquired Raleigh in 1987.
The OEM spec rear derailleur was a Shimano 400LX. The RM50 hubs were not group specific, being common to Exage 300LX, 400LX and 500LX. It looks like West Coast Cycle did quite a bit of mixing and matching to hit their sub-$400 price, as my literature shows the major components to be a mix of all three levels of the Exage and even the lower 200GS.
I'll have to check my old training diaries, to see what I was doing that day. Thank-you for posting. Enjoy your new acquisition.
