[CR] Help ID this faux-Colnago Japanese frame? - I think we have an answer . . .

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2002)

From: <emeneff@earthlink.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:16:36 -0700
Subject: [CR] Help ID this faux-Colnago Japanese frame? - I think we have an answer . . .


Looks like an old Nishiki ONP frame from the mid-late 1970's.

These were a special high-end model Nishiki offered, similiar to the Schwinn Paramount program - i.e. a limited production high-end frame model that had almost nothing in common with the rest of Nishiki's lower-priced massed-produced bikes. A product intended to demonstrate the company's engineering and design knowledge and capabilities better than the $149 - $249 typical product they were perhaps better known for.

Not that there is anything wrong with mass-produced low-priced bikes . . .

The bb shell cut-out is the give-away clue, along with the fastback seatstays. I believe they originally were only available in a "Champagne" gold color.

I wanted one, never got it.

Regards,
Mike Fabian
San Francisco, CA