Info on Azuki?
 

http://www.phototalk.net/photos/data/500/160azuki-3.jpg http://www.phototalk.net/photos/data/500/160azuki-2.jpg http://www.phototalk.net/photos/data/500/160azuki-1.jpg

Picked this up at a Goodwill for $8.00. Was Azuki it's own company, or a branded name for another company?
It has a suntour seven derailleur which should put at about a 1977. It has a decal on it which proclaims K.C.L. seamless tubing. Any info on this bike or company would be interesting.

When we began to carry Azuki at Bikecology, a Peugeot and Nishiki dealership, my standing joke was, "What do you need to open a menagerie? -- a zoo key!"

The Azuki line closely paralleled Kawamura's Nishiki line; yours looks about equivalent to a later 1970s Olympic, after they got away from the cottered steel cranks. For your $8, you got a good-looking, very reliable transportation and/or recreation machine. I suspect your frame is made from plain gauge carbon steel tubing; higher-end Japanese bikes of that era had double-butted Ishiwata or Tange CrMo.

The THIRD good road bike I owned (Schwinn Varsity then Dawes Galaxy) was an a Azuki bought at Rogers Cycles in Rogers Park (chi) 1972 or 73 or so.
don't know why I went for it... plain blue like this, stemshifters(I kinda liked them),suntour, it was called the Gran tour I believe...and I took it on a couple tours before some ******* nicked it from an apt I was living in a few years later.

Verydependable bike

thanks for the responses, I thought it a handsome bike, and it is in excellent shape for a 70's vintage. Was yours a smooth rider? Is it worth new rubber?

alas... my I owned that Azuki some decades ago...
I rekon it run 27"x1.25"tires...means your options are limited... maybe cheaper
I'd say go for it.

I rode the hell out of that bike for years

A variation of the Nishiki Olympic, I second. Please Review how that front quick release is secured, cannot tell from the image but looks like the cam is not being used, just wound tight. If so, that is DANGEROUS.

I would flop the wheel or skewer anyway to have it closing parallel to the left hand fork blade anyway for style points alone.

Azuki and Nishiki were basically brother and sister brands, both being manufactured by Kawamura of Japan. They also had the same distributors, though Nishiki got the bigger "push".

I concur with John E's late 1970s, entry level assessment.

Thanks #6. The wheels have to come off anyway as the tires are dry rotted. The pictures show the bike as it came from the goodwill. I ran into that once before on another bike I purchased. Apparently a lot of people don't understand quick release mechanisms.

Definitely replace the tires. Nashbar has [had?] some 27x1-1/4"s for like $3 recently. It might seem stupid to put $6 worth of tires on an $8 bike, but it really isn't useful without them.

enjoy it.

We checked-out an Azuki on Saturday from the Bike Library where I volunteer. It had upright bars and a very relaxed geometry. There was nothing particularly special about it... however, it was a very comfortable ride. Nice headbadge too!

Not just style points - I got the big lecture from a USCF guy at the starting line once - if the skewers on all of the bikes line up on the same side, there's less chance of hooking one another in tight passes, especially front to rear. The thought still gives me shivers...

This is precisely why the CPSC began to require curved quick release levers, labeled "open" and "closed." Azukis got these just before Nishiki did.

Yes, I do believe Azuki came through West Coast Cycle Supply. We started selling them during one of several Nishiki shortages during the bike boom. If I recall correctly, the Azuki version of the Nishiki Competition got an integral derailleur hanger first.