badger_biker 

I picked up a Nishiki Cascade frame and parts last year to build up as an off road drop bar tourer. The wheels and brifters on it were worth more than what I paid so I was happy until I got it built and it seemed a tad small for me so I kept searching. Fellow BF member cog_nate was good enough to line me up with a larger Panasonic of his that I will now use.

Fast forward a month and I see this Nishiki Cascade on CL that was identical to mine but in nearly flawless like new original condition. I just couldn't pass it up since the price was right. Here are some pics of it. It still has a nice slick coat of wax on the frame from the previous owner.



Cool Bull moose bars and Suntour XC thumb shifters.



Suntour XC triple pulley RD


Front fork rack mounts


Rear roller cam brake


I bought it with the intent of using the XC RD and possibly the crank on my new build but I don't know if I have the heart to break up this OEM beauty.

Velocivixen

Wow, that's gorgeous. If you don't want it I'm calling first dibs to buy. I'm drooling with envy. Nice work. I want to see more photos....please????

balindamood

I love the 3-pulley RD. I parted one of those out last year that had lead a rough life. It is nice to see a surviving example.

orangeology

mighty nice!!!

badger_biker 

I'll try to get some more photos posted and get a couple of its cosmetically impaired twin. I'll keep you in mind Velocivixen if I do decide to part with it. Other than a couple very tiny chain slap nicks it is almost spotless and I'm almost afraid to ride it as it was intended.

Does anyone know the year? I'm guessing right about 1986 or 1987?

Velocivixen

I love those roller cam brakes. I have those on my Fuji front/rear, but the rear are under the chain stay. Easy way to work on them is to just flip the bike upside down.

What size is it? I'm guessing too big for me. I ride about 50-52 cm or 19-21" depending on top tube length, etc.

Saguaro

Yes, what is the age of this beautiful Nishiki? I don't think its a 1987. The Nishiki catalog from that year shows the Cascade with the rear brake mounted down low to the chainstays.

Link to catalog page: 1987 Nishiki Catalog! | Just another WordPress.com site

The Golden Boy 

I would guess 86 by the Roller Cams on the back seat stay and the XC ratchet shifters.

I wouldn't have guessed Bull Mooses that late though...

bikemig 

I like it a lot. I'm a long time road rider but lately I've really been appreciating rigid, vintage MTBs more and more. They were (and are) classic bikes that can be modded for lots of different uses or just ridden as is. Great score.

badger_biker 

With the rack mount it would be more difficult to work on the rear brake. Fortunately unlike me it is well adjusted :-)
It is 20 1/2 inches to the center of TT and 21 1/2 to the top of the seat tube.

badger_biker 

I agree on the rigid vintage MTBs - very versital and the ones with the mid fork rack mounts are great candidates for gravel and dirt trail tourers.

GB - I think you may be correct on the '86 guess I found a thread on MTBR where someone had one the same color and it was 1986.

Here is the link to that thread - #6 has the pic.

https://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro...all-98988.html

Velocivixen

In 1986 Suntour introduced the roller cam brakes with the tension spring INSIDE under the mounting nut vs the long spring on the back of earlier models : Suntour Museum
so that would give you info on age of rear brake - of course you could just look for a date code.

The XC group was introduced late 1984 for the '85 model years.

badger_biker 

As requested here are a couple more pics.




And here is the status of my build on the the not so beautiful twin - complete with ugly snow banks.

9 speed with LX hubs and On One ****** rims- these came with the frame when I bought it. Sorry it is a bit dark but I got out kind of late tonight.


Midge bars

The Golden Boy 

There's so much cool **** going on between those two bikes...

I love the "portage strap." That's a really cool off road "tour-y" detail.

Notice that lugged unicrown fork... Is your bike made by Giant?








That must be the upper end Giant ATB fork.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans for this bike!!!

cyclotoine

wow, you work fast! One day!

badger_biker 

I wish I could find a triangle corner bag with grommets to make use of the braze ons for that strap but I've only seen ones with velcro attachments.

I don't know enough history on Nishiki to know if they built their own frames or not. Outside of type of brake studs the fork does look identical to the one on your High Sierra. I'll have to check the SN tonight.

badger_biker 

LOL! The one with the drop bars was my project last fall :-)

The Golden Boy 

I don't actually remember, but I seem to recall a G serial number.

I wonder how you can make use of those grommets... what are those straps actually called- I'm sure some people have repurposed them.

cyclotoine

ha...I wasn't paying close enough attention.

badger_biker 

I don't know how many bikes came with threaded braze ons for the portage strap (I think that is an excellent name for the strap BTW) like this one did but I would be very curious to find out what others have figured out as an alternate use for them. I thought of a pump clip under the top tube but only one fitting may be a problem.

You just had to bring this up Dave :-) Now you have me thinking ................ I can envision a nice vintage canvas and leather wedge bag or perhaps just a place to hang my dromedary bag for extra water when needed, etc. Shoot - a couple of weeks ago I was happily looking forward to building up the Pansasonic ATB Pro I bought from cog_nate with parts from my original Cascade and now I'm leaning towards having 2 expedition/off road touring bikes in my garage because I NEED one with these pegs! However as you can attest to - one can never have too many touring bikes right?

The Golden Boy 

You can justify it by the length of time and amount of effort you put into the search.

Of course, you don't want to use me as any sort of example- I obviously have a sickness about it.

Saguaro

Nishiki was a brand, they didn't manufacture anything. They assembled and marketed bikes using frames and components from various suppliers. Nishiki frames were initially provided by Kawamura in Japan, and later by Giant in Taiwan. I suspect your frame was manufactured by Giant. If the serial number starts with G it was made by Giant, if it starts with C, K or W it was made by Kawamura.

1982 Nishiki Cresta

badger_biker 

Thanks for the info Saguaro. Mine are both made by Giant (G0186 and G0886). I'm assuming the 86 also validates the year that has been proposed for them.

Saguaro

You're welcome Badger! The numbers following the G in the serial number correspond to the month and year of manufacture. So one was made in January, 1986 and the other in August, 1986.

Hummer

I know this may seem picky, but for clarification, the G0186 and G0886 are not serial numbers, they are Giant date stamps. The Giant serial number is another number stamped on the BB shell or the rear non-drive side dropout.

The Giant serial numbers up to and including 1986, are all numeric digits (no letters) and usually start with the last number in the Giant date stamp. So the serial numbers for your bikes probably start with "6".

For the 1987 model year bicycles, Giant changed their serial number format and dropped the date stamp.