Bought a Nishiki Royale just a while ago and wanted to share with the members. Dont know much about it, if you have info i would appreciate it. I think its a 1980's bike, original components.

one thing i tried doing is installing a suspension seat pose for riding on rougher paths. But the seatpost is just a little too thin, is there a way to make it fit? using shims perhaps? anyone have ideas. I dont have much money to spend, so i dont want to buy another seat post, i figure its a good way to make it much more comfy and fast.

You could try using a beer can shim. Use tin snips and cut the biggest piece possible that will be hidden in the post, and rough it up with sandpaper.

It looks like your Nishiki is getting good use as a tourer. You may want to adjust your front brake cable so the release is not open while you ride. It will make it easier to take off the front wheel.

Baes on the pictures, it could be anywhere from the very late 1970s to very early 1980s. The serial number will tell us the exact year. See my Nishiki Serial Number Database thread.

I've had good luck buying seatpost shims on eBay. Even better when you first have a Vernier gauge, or micrometer to measure the EXACT diameter of the your seat post and the inner diameter of the seat tube which receives it. I think I remember the shims and the gauge being each about $4 or $5 (incl. shipping) from generic Hong Kong based sellers.

The beer-can shim has never worked for me, except when the seatpost was already a pretty close match. If you have to make up a big gap, it fails pretty quickly.

I might try the aluminum can thing, its very close in thickness. So if that does not work ill have to get shims.

Thanks for the comments guys, here is another photo from todays ride to the cherry blossoms in dc. Best way to view them is by bike, so much traffic around here.