Addendum:
It's been said many times before, but names like Nishiki, Azuki and Takara were Japanese words used for brands created by the US importers.
Nishiki - a small river in the mountains south of Hiroshima.
Kintai Bashi bridge over the Nishiki River.
http://www.flickr.com/
Azuki - a small red Japanese bean.
Takara - a plum.
Then there's Nissan Fair Lady Blue Bird - a Datsun 240Z mini muscle car! ;-)
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Steven Maasland wrote:
> John wrote: "Well then, this will have to remain forever a mystery. I
> know what I saw
> and now I wish I'd taken delivery of the bike with those original rims
> just because of their rarity. I only ever saw another one like it at the
> time in Mike Barry's shop in Toronto. Perhaps Nishiki had originally
> speced the bike with Campagnolo rims that were promised, but didn't
> materialize, so they resorted to stickers. Everything is Campagnolo or
> 3TTT, except the Japanese bottle cage and toeclips."
>
> This will not remain a mystery at all, you simply have mistaken recall
> as to what was fitted to the bike that you saw in Woodstock. Mike Barry,
> Mike Brown and all other people working at Bicyclesport at the time can
> confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that no Nishiki with Campagnolo rims
> ever passed through the shop in the On-Topic period. I say this based
> upon personal experience as I worked at Bicyclesport for virtually all
> of the first half of the 80's and remember the bike in question. It did
> not have Campagnolo rims. If I am not mistaken, I believe they were
> Super Champion clincher rims. Nishiki at the time was little more than a
> marketing name and the bikes sold in Canada were often quite different
> from those found in other markets like the US. If I am not mistaken the
> same bike in the US was sold as the Professional SL or something like
> that. Likewise, I have a high end "Nishiki" BMX frame made out of full
> chro-moly from either 1978 or 1979. The same frame model, with almost
> identical serial numbers, was sold in the US as the top of the line
> Redline, so alternate and fanciful decals were used quite haphazardly.
>
> All documents, first hand knowledge and logic preclude that a Nishiki
> could be fitted with Campagnolo clincher rims in 1981-82 as no mention
> or evidence of their existence (even in prototype form) exists before
> 1983. I would be more than happy to be proven wrong, but until you can
> come up with something more concrete than a fleeting glance close to 30
> years ago, I feel very confident when I state that all Campagnolo
> clincher rims were made in the off-topic period. As Chas has stated, it
> would not at all be far-fetched that someone got carried away and put
> Campagnolo decals of the rims. This was indeed quite common in the day.
> I can state that I personally always removed all wheel decals from my
> bikes and replaced them with reflective Canadian Flag decals (still have
> many of those wheels).
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ
> USA