Ms.V

Hello,

I'm new on the forum so please forgive me if I'm not posting this in the correct place.

My husband and I were living in Ottawa, Ontario in the mid 1980's and purchased matching Toshiba bikes designed by Norco. We used them for one summer and moved to the country. After that they were stored inside the garage until I moved to Florida a few years ago. Since I live in a rural area here, the bikes have been in a storage facility.

I'm considering moving into a more urban area and am thinking about getting new tire for the woman's bike (it has the original tires but they are falling apart). However, before I do anything I would be interested in knowing the value of these bikes, if they are considered vintage, and if they are, whether I should put special tires on them to keep the vintage look.

I'm posting some photos of the man's bike, but the woman's bike was purchased at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any information that you can give.

Ms. V

oddjob2

Actually you have a Nishiki bike made with Toshiba tubing, and sold via Norco. Not particulary special, but a solid rider. IMHO, worth about $75 +/- as is, mayble double that amount in tuned and lubed ready-to-ride condition.

Ms.V

Thank you for taking the time to pass this information on to me.

I enjoyed riding the bike when we were in the city. Since posting here I checked on ebay and tires for the bike are not very expensive so I think it's worthwhile to dust it off, put some tires on, and mount up again.

Thanks again,
Ms. V
PS...I love your icon!

T-Mar

+1, Toshiba 150 is the tubing. Based on the stem shifters and what appear to be SunTour Honor rear derailleur, I suspect these are Nishiki Rally models. If you are interested, I should be able to narrow down the model year from the serial numbers.

Germany_chris

Ma'am,

The bike isn't worth much but it looks to be in stellar condition. I personally wouldn't hesitate to put a bit of money into them especially since you carried them to many homes over the last 30ish years.

Ms.V

Hello Sir,

Thanks for the information. They were matching bikes for my husband and me to enjoy some exercise and travel together at a pace somewhat slower than the speed of light. They traveled from the city to the country outside Ottawa, then traveled from Ottawa to Ocala, Florida with me. I guess you could say they are international travelers. The condition is due to inside storage. It's all the original paint, brakes and even chains. I think I'll pull them out, dust them off and put some new tires on. It's time to get them back on the road.
Ms.V

Ms.V

Thanks for your response, and for the information about the tubing. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to replace the tires as well due to dryrot and age. These are the originals and are somewhere around 30 years old. I didn't take a really close look at the tires when I got the photos, but I did notice the condition. I should be back there next week and I'll get a photo of the serial number when I'm there. Thank you.