reefster100

Hello, I have a mid-to-late 80's Norco Bigfoot, which I would like to turn into a nice commuter project. Might have the frame powdercoated as well. I am trying to figure out the exact year and specs of it..in particular, the wheels/rims. I am trying to decide if they are better than the Weinmann 519 rims I have on another old bike (ie should I swap them or not).

There is a red and yellow sticker that says "Special Design Mountain Bike 4130 Cromoly frame tubes and front fork" on the seat tube. Underneath the frame near the bottom bracket, what appears to be a serial number,
'SFN 5627' is stamped in the metal. I am having trouble deciphering/interpreting this though. I understand some 80s Norcos were actually made by Nishiki and similar to their models ?

This is my first post, so I am not able to post pictures yet, but perhaps I can message them directly to forum users who might be able to help.

Thank you, appreciate any tips and help!

eshew

https://www.pedalpedlar.co.uk/blogs/...ano-date-codes

clubman 

Click on Gallery at top of page and upload a few pics to 'share' with the community. We can then repost in the thread for all to see.

T-Mar

1986 or 1987. I'd need a good, drive side photo to narrow it down.

Edit: Photo assist...

Hummer

Hello reefster100,
welcome to the forum.

I would suggest that the first character of the serial number was not well struck into the frame and that the serial number is 6FN5627. I have seen a few examples of this format and location of serial number. The first character is the year of frame manufacture, 6 = 1986. The second character is always the letter F. The third character is a letter that probably represents the month of frame manufacture, but I have not seen enough examples to decipher which letter represents which month. The last digits are a unique sequential number.

As previously stated this Bigfoot is a 1986 or 1987 model year.

FYI. No Norco bicycle models were manufactured by Nishiki. Nishiki is a brand name, not the name of a manufacturer. Norco for a time distributed the Nishiki brand in Canada.

reefster100

Thank you for welcoming me to the forum, the photo assist, and providing the help and information. I didn't seem to have any luck uploading to the gallery and sharing the photo of the serial number, but after I have 10 posts maybe I will come back and add it to this post.

You are totally right, seems to be an 86 or 87.. I saw 86 stamped on the back of one of the Shimano components. Doing a google search for 1987 Norco Bigfoot also comes back with a Pinkbike listing of a bike that is very similar to mine! Serial number stamped scheme resembles mine too.

Looking forward to sprucing this cool bike up and riding it as soon as I have put new tires on and filled them with air! It has a 6-speed freewheel in the back, sugino crankset, dia-comp brakes, and Shimano EM friction shifters.

reefster100

So I read on the Sheldon Brown site that these Diacomp yoke brakes, if there is a cable failure, can potentially cause a dangerous situation where the transverse cable locks up the wheel. So a brack, reflector, or fender is recommended, so that it would block the cable from contacting the tire as it is in between the two.

Does anyone happen to know what size bolts I would need for these mounting points?

The hole in the seatstay bridge (seems to be 4mm and straight through)
The hole in the front fork (there is a hole at the back of the fork above the tire, but it doesn't go through to the front. Seems like it could be threaded?, and roughly 4mm also)

Going to put new 2inch wide slick tires on soon, as well as a 6 speed megarange freewheel and new chain, as soon as I can get the old freewheel off..seems quite stubborn.

Cheers

clubman 

I'd try to change the yoke and maybe the canti's as well, which I did on my '84. You're already upgrading so no need to stop. Keep original components in a box and you're good to go. Those reflector supports are too much gauche for me.

reefster100

I like the way you think..no need to limit upgrades since I am working on the bike anyways! I now have some fenders, and slick tires, so I will be installing everything soon and posting some new pictures.

I am also thinking of upgrading the wheel nuts to fancier track nuts with built-in spinning washers. I tried measuring the bolt diameter with calipers but I seem to get in-between numbers, something like 9.24 and 9.37mm for the front and rear. Does anyone happen to know what size nuts I would need, and thread? (ie M9, M10, 3/8", 24tpi, 26tpi). I am having a bit of a tough time time figuring this out. If someone knows, it would save me the hassle of taking parts to the hardware store and doing some trial-and-error test-fitting.

Warm regards