The thread on Sekai, etc, brought back memories. One is awe, sometime about 1970, when Ben Oaken (?) at Bicycle Exchange, Cambridge MA, showed us the parts catalogues from Japanese makers. That stuff was really impressive to a young guy like me who knew nothing except Campagnolo, Simplex, and Cyclo-Benelux. Even I could see that this stuff was likely to have a future.
About the same time, we saw the first few Fuji Finest and Newest at rallies, and they really looked like great values. But I never bought one. By '73, we were in Oregon, where the revolution was underway, and I particularly remember the Nishiki Competition as a value package there. Unfortunately, they developed a tendency to break down tubes eventually. Or seemed to. Downstairs there is still a box that's the remnants of one of these: nice solid DiaCompe CP brakes, etc.
Requiescat in pacem, Simplex et al.
harvey sachs
mcLean va