I THINK (I don't know) that Norco's were built by kawamura too, but I could be wrong. My girlfriend's old Norco Magnum GT was very similar to an international but had a few small differences in finish (style of seat stay braze-ons etc) and was speced almost the same (dia-compe brakes, suntour DT, sugino crank). The bike was a 1985 and the serial number was Y4K 8171. I say 1985 because it had a sticker on it that said 1985 but perhaps it was built in 84 (it had the same colour scheme as my 1984 international which had the designed by Norco sticker on it)... Then Y=year 4=1984 and K is probably the month (november). However it is unlike the Nishiki Serial numbers. My 84 international starts with CD... so it follows the right pattern.

Leigh, By 1984 Internationals had all the braze-ons aside from the lowrider mounts (which I don't like anyway, I prefer the clamp, it's much stronger than a 5mm bolt). It is also built with double butted tange 900 chromoly. It is possible that Terrors' bike is a late in the year model when they switched to double braze-on DOs etc...

leigh, mine has only one set of water bottle mounts, no low rider bosses on forks, decal " designed by Norco" on left side chainstay. BTW seatpost size is 26.6

Then this means that the only differences b/w YOUR International and the Continental are the absence of canti bosses and lowrider mounts and one set of water bottle mounts instead of two. I assume the geometry is the same.

Mine is probably, as Anthony pointed out, the previous model before the change to the one like yours. Furthermore, mine has hi-tensile forks and stays, yours is full cro-mo.

How do you know he has cro-mo stays? I don't know if mine has a cro-mo fork or not but I suspect it does. I know mine has hi-ten stays as does Valley's '89. As far as I know Internationals always have hi-ten stays.

As for being like a continental: Continentals changed just like the internationals. An '83 continental would have caliper bakes too and no low rider braze-ons. And the colour of Richo's bike matches that of the '83 international options. You will probably never know if it is perhaps a continental frame painted as an international. Continental and international were always virtually the same, with the continental having better tubing and better components.

People, please remember that just because two bicycles have the same year code in the serial number does not mean that they are both from the same model year. Models built in the last quarter of a calendar year could represent the following model year. Unfortunately, Kawamura does not appear to have incorporated a further stratifier to help us out with this. Also be aware that US and Canadian models could be substabtially different for the same year.

Found it! Here's the Nishiki Safari, which was basically a loaded International.

Whenever I see the loaded touring bikes, I realise why they didn't come in my size--there's no way to fit the bags properly .

East Hill