Hi, Michael--
I'm not positive that your 81/82 is the same model, but it sounds like a somewhat updated version of my 1978 Vista SILVER SHADOW, which had Shimano 600 components. Bar-end shifters. Araya 631 tubing. Lugged. Araya 27" rims. I know they made that model for several years. Same color scheme as yours, powder coated. I had wanted to buy a beautiful red Lejeune from a downtown Syracuse shop but the guy at the rival suburban store convinced me that this piece of Japanese steel was a better value, for my purposes---sport touring. In a way, he was right. Though I wish now I had the Lejeune.
Not that the Vista Silver Shadow's a bad bike, mind you. The SS went fully packed on many a trip up and down the East Coast and survived getting thrown over the chainlink fenced walkway of the George Washington Bridge (another story for another day). Not only do I still have the bike, but, until my Cinelli, Ideor, Holdsworth, Carlton and Bertrand are fully built up, it's my ONLY ride, as I'm only a year into this vintage game.
I believe in The Complete Book of Bicycling the author shows a cheaper, unlugged Vista as an example of a frame that broke apart at the head tube! The Silver Shadow is a MUCH better bike.
I rarely see them on ebay, but when they sell it's usually for fifty bucks. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Peter Jourdain
Whitewater, Wisconsin
> Does anyone remember a bicycle with the model name
> of Vista from around 1981 or 82? I can't remember
> the name of the maker. I think it was Japanese. The
> one I had was black with a red head tube, lugged,
> and the component group was Shimano 600EX in the
> arabesque style.
>
> Michael Kahrl
> Columbus, Ohio