When I first moved to the heart of goathead country, I all but stopped riding my road bike--- after inventing the sport of bike pushing. So, this bike (a late '80s Kamra Aero II, made by Nishiki) hung in the garage for a decade and a half. The other day I happened on some 27" kevlar belted tires. I got some Slime and lubed the bearings and went for a ride! Just as sweet as I remember. Needs a bit of polishing...

Slime for bearing grease. What a novel idea.

Can someone show me a pic of these dreaded goathead tire destroyers ?

They sound fearsome!

This is the Devil's work !

Ha! Ha! No, I used Slime in the tubes and grease in the bearings. (My bad for the awkward sentence construction.) Yeah, going through a patch of goatheads on a ride can literally 86 a tube. I've had tubes so full of holes they had to be replaced after a single ride. You can try to avoid 'em, but you can't miss 'em all. Lower pressure and heavier tires and tubes help, but that's not enough to avoid walking home. So far, the kevlar has worked well!

I would not want to imagine what avoiding those while in a group ride would look like !

I used slime tires once... I think they weighed 5 pounds a piece!!!

I'm not a "weight" guy, but those were heavy.


But if it came to using those tubes or spending most of the time walking... hello slime tubes!

I always wondered what these notorious goatheads were that everyone talks about.

Texas is covered with those things. We call them stickers though.

I have pulled many a tube out of customers bikes that were filled with the slime. You are not far off at all about the weight. Imagine, close to 10 lbs of rotational weight !

LoL Law... doesn't bug me so much when I get a flat from one.. but when I step on one OUCH! Oh and from in the saddle they're nigh on invisible...

Oh and Needles, can we get a better shot from driveside? Looks like it's probably a beauty.. but then again I'm partial to Japanese bikes.

The ones I've used were maybe 100 grams more each.

Man... way to suck the fun out of the hyperbole.

That is a nice bike, I have three Japanese road bikes and always looking for more.

LoL I just assumed you used the actual heavy ones, was letting you know there are ones close to regular weights my bad.

Most of the stuff is Suntour (ARX derailleur on the rear, front says AR). Brakes are DiaComp. Suntour is a bit heavy, but nearly unbreakable.

I've put some more miles on it now. I'm thinking of a lighter weight seat and some shallower drop, "track" or "mustache" bars. I don't ride on the drops a lot--- wrists and shoulders just can't handle it. I still need to polish off a few "freckles" on the stem, seatpost, and some of the other bright bits. Oh, yeah, and the clip 'n' strap pedals need to go!

You didn't invent it. Bike pushing has a long and storied history, and none shall soon forget its unrivaled champion: Grumpy McWalkerflat. Refusing the added weight that comes with such nonessentials as tire levers and frame pumps, he pointed to their absence as the key to his fabled long-stride grumblepush.
I believe I speak for everyone here when I say Grumpy, you'll be in our hearts forever. Rest in peace, friend.

My Takara has SunTour AR's and Dia Compe brakes that look about the same.

The brakes are identical, I'm pretty sure. The rear derailleur looks to have longer pulley arms than mine; maybe they anticipated my somewhat Neanderthal tendencies... Nice bike!

I originally got the Kamra at a used bike sale at a bike shop in the DC area, in 1990. It fit. I didn't have a road bike. And it cost $170 on sale. The Washington and Old Dominion Rail Trail ran behind the place where I worked in Sterling, VA, and I used to ride out 'n' back every day after work. It was also handy to hop onto the Metro in Vienna to go into the city. (I lived in Manassas.)

I got the Takara last spring at a swap meet for $3 (I can't crow enough about that) it's been trouble free and it fits. I've been blessed finding bikes that fit, I think because I'm 5'10" which is fairly average.

Hi Needles.

Your bicycle is interesting to me. I have never seen or heard of a Kamra brand name bicycle before. The headbadge decal is the same format as the 1983 Kawamura built Nishikis, with the obvious changes for the name. Those Nishikis, if I am not mistaken, were all lugged frames. Yours appears to be TIG welds.

I am interested to know how you know that it was made by Nishiki.

The 1983 Kawamura built Nishikis all have "Kawamura" on the non-driveside chainstay. Does your Kamra have this?

Also, if you do not mind my asking, what is the serial number? Is it the same format as Nishikis?

Yet another reason I will never live in that part of the country. Went on a vacation that had me pass through Pagosa Springs and Sedona. Both very enchanting places, but I got 4 flats on 3 short rides. Never again.

Hummer, it actually says "DESIGNED by Nishiki," on the rear of the top tube. My bad. There's nothing on the stays, as far as I can tell. Serial # is GE 06632. It has oval tubes. Sticker says "CroMo tubing". Something I just noticed, looking at the stays: the chain stays are lugged to the bottom bracket. (That may not be that uncommon; I don't know.) They are the only joints I can see that are not TIG. One cool little detail is the little stud on the inside of the right seat stay--- handy to hang the chain on when removing the rear wheel. The clearance between the wheel and the down tube is less than 3/4", and it has slanted dropouts, so you can use all the help you can get to get the wheel off or on.

[MENTION=407088]Needles[/MENTION], thanks for posting more information.

In the early 1980s bicycles were being made with an aero design. Aero frames usually had oval tubes. This also helps to explain why there are no lugs.

The serial number format and "designed by NISHIKI" means that the frame was made by Kawamura of Japan, the same manufacturer of most of the early USA Nishikis. "G" serial numbers for Kawamura frames are not common in the USA and Canada. These frames were probably made for another foreign market.

The second letter, "E", in the serial number means that the frame was made in 1985.

Looks like a great bike to take on the road. Too bad about the "goatheads".