I have a co-worker that has in his possession an early or mid 70's Nishiki Competition. He tells me the frame is double butted cro mo and its got suntour and Shimano components according to him and some other stuff I forgot about. Any idea what this bike may be worth in what he says is very nice condition, no major rust. He is going to bring it in for me to look at in the near future. He didn't say he wants to sell it but I think I may talk him out of it provided its worth taking on as a project

How big is this bike, and we'll need photos!

East Hill

I don't know the size but he said his dad owned the bike and they both had them, my coworkers bike got stolen and when his dad passed away he got the bike. He indicated to me that his dad was about my size so that would mean it this bike fits me it would have to be about 50 to 52 cm depending on the frame geometry. Like I said he didn't say he wanted to sell it but thought he might fix it up for his kid but that the kid probably wouldn't appreciate and just reading between the lines it sounds like he might take a reasonable offer for it. This all depends on the condition of the bike which as I said before he states its really nice with some light surface rust. the bike has chrome forks and chain stays but he couldn't remember it the seat stays were chrome. I really want lugged frame for my next project but if this thing is nice who knows. I'd like to get a ballpark figure for an offer and I think he said this bike was around $200.00 new

I just bought one on Ebay. Should receive it next week.

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN:IT&ih=014

When I bought my International, I soon regretted not spending the extra $40 and getting the Competition. Well, 34 years later I got to scratch that itch.

Figure out what the seller's kid really wants, help the seller fulfill that goal, then the Competition will be yours cheap.

I think I'll offer him 100.00 if its in good shape and it fits me ok and see what he says I can go up if its really nice. It all depends on the shape and since he is a coworker I don't want him to think I'm trying to get it for nothing but there are a lot of bikes out there so I can be patient. This is one I would not want to flip in case he asks me 5 years down the road to buy it back for double the money. That might be hard to explain

Hey Koala,

Nice find! Yours looks like a ca. 1973 model. The 1971s had lousy paint and lacked the chrome stays. I got 20 years and 40k mi / 65k km out of my American Eagle Semi-Pro (same bike, previous make and model names) before the seat tube lug broke away from the bottom bracket shell.

I don't blame you for regretting choosing the Kokusai/International over the Competition, but at least you finally got one.

The SunTour kit may well be original; the Shimano is not.

Yeah and I'm not really sure he said shimano or not but he told me that for its day it was a really fine bike. I'm hoping its nice and is my size and he wants to sell. If he just wants me to look at it thats fine but if I like it I'll offer to buy it and if not i'll tell him if he ever wants to get rid of it I'll take it

Some mistakes take a long time to rectify!

My International was purchased in 1973, and was silver like this one.

Was there yet another model above this one? I recall one that had chrome lugs.

A $200 original price, would make it one of the very early models, circa 1973. As John E> states any Shimano parts on a model this early, would be non-original.


I concur, it's 1973 or 1974. Please PM me the serial number, when you receive it. TIA.


The top Nishiki during this era was the Professional, which did indeed have chromed head lugs.