Glenn,
In 1985 I bought a Nishiki Continental for my son (but methinks I have ridden it more than he has). Dark blue. It was identical to yours except the tubing which was Tange double butted Mangaloy 2001 - with the same HiTen fork - and the rear mech which was a SunTour Mountech. The three-pulley LePree was launched in 1984 as I remember it but I have seen it on a number of SunTour mechs from Superbe to AG.
The Continental was the middle in a row of three Nishiki tourers, the first being named Ultra Tour with full db cromoly, the third the International with hi ten frame, "safety levers" a.s.f. The 1985 Ultra Tour could be had with three-pulley Cyclone or with a Superbe Tech.
As I said I have been riding it a lot and found it a very nice ride, with hi ten fork and all. The Mountech have sadly been called to the celestial roads, now instituted is a Campagnolo Rally with less finesse but more sturdiness.
Arvid Olsson is a wellknown swedish shop in Halmstad on the swedish westcoast halfway down fron Gothenburg. Founded in 1949, some ten miles from my parents summer house north of H, I have visited the shop regularly since the 50´ies and they have got a hunk of my money. Knowing and nice personel and the only shop that have said that they will rebuild any cassette custom with the gearing of my choice.
And why not use those touring platforms, I did find them quite nice and was sorry when they were worn out.
Olof Stroh
Uppsala Sweden
> 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