Chesley bought a bike from a guy in Raleigh, via eBay, but it turned out to be a bit too big for him, so I took it off his hands. It is a Nishiki "Continental" and I am getting pretty fascinated by it, and think I'll take it down to Bike Florida next week (anyone else on the CR list going ?)
Observations & Questions:
This lugged steel Tange frame is made of what tubing ? I notice that the tubing sticker has been removed from the seat tube, but I found one note during a Net search that said the 1988 Continental was Tange Infinity - which is a good tubing, isn't it ? The forks, complete with double eyelets and low-rider mounts, are labeled "Tange Fork Blade Hi-Tensile", which is not a good sign I guess. Maybe they didn't use Tange Infinity on the forks so they would be sturdy enough to handle a low-rider load ?
The nice forged drop-outs front and back (double eyelets on both) are not labeled, but the rear ones have set screws.
One the left chainstay, where my trainer Nishiki Custom Sport has the label "hand-crafted by Kawamura", this bike proudly claims "Nishiki No 1 and Proud of it" along with a Japanese flag. Very patriotic ! :-)
The crankset is a Shimano Deore triple with those weird one-fat-bearing pedals that don't fit ordinary cranks. These look like bear-traps, with a (rusty) iron counterweight built into the bottom to keep it upright. The chainrings are 49/45/32, which would make a nice touring setup, I guess, if I had a pair of adapters so I could run a pair of clipless pedals on it. Anyone know of an inexpensive source for these ?
The rear derailer is a real gem. It is a SunTour Le Pree with 3 pulleys ! I''d never seen one of these before and can find no mention of one on the Web. Chesley wants it to use on his Moulten, maybe. I guess it is able to wrap lots of chain without dropping down so low as a regular long-cage derailer would have to ? I've got no idea yet how it shifts. It has braze-ons holding SunTour friction downtube shifters, the flatish ones with a slight curve at the tips.
The brakes are the stubby little DiaCompe cantilevers with pads that look like oversized Mafacs. No "safety" levers, gum hoods, non-aero.
It has very odd SunTour "Sealed Bearing Hub" hubs with curved skers and some kind of slotted dust covers or something. The 36-hole Mavic Module "3" 700c rims.
The fork has no CPSC lips, but maybe that's due to it being made for a foreign market ? There is a sticker on the downtube above the shifters that reads "AB ARVID OLSSON Cykel & Sport HALMSTAD", which makes me think its either Deutsch or Nederlaendish ? Maybe Dansk or Swedish ? You sure wouldn't need gears like this one has in Belgium...
It has three water bottle mount braze-ons, and what appears to be a Very Laid Back seat tube, so it may be my perfect little tourer (once I get a crankset on it that can handle Speedplay Frogs). I am really curious if anyone can help me identify it in the Nishiki line-up - I think it might have been their top-of-the-line tourer in the mide-80's.
Got to get a rack on it and some fenders.
Glenn Jordan
Having fun in Durham, NC