Late 80's Nishiki rebuild DONE!

[Wildcat]

My brother in law asked if I could redo his old Nishiki.
He thinks he got it new in 1987 or 88 and it is a Regal.

I need something to do anyway so I'm rehabbing it totally, then painting it yellow gold as he wanted. It's been repainted once. I looked it up and the Regal is a road bike and I can't find this bike listed. The serial number isn't showing up anywhere on the frame either. The rims are Araya with Joytech hubs.

The hubs say C87, maybe it's an 87 bike. The rusty spokes are out and ss new ones are on order. I may have trouble finding replacement brake pads for the cantilever ones.

I really like the bull bars.

 

[Wildcat]

All torn down, ready for cleanup and new parts. The bull bars have Taiwan 87A on them, so it may be one of the bikes made when Nishiki first shifted production to Taiwan from Japan.

 

[Wildcat]

I found the serial number. It's on the downtube. I've never seen one there. It doesn't match up to the Nishiki codes I researched. Has anyone seen the number placed on the downtube? It looks like A7036390.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I have an 80s nishiki mtb in the garage, but I don't think the cable guides I have under my BB are like that at all. Pretty sure it has a riveted on plastic guide, not sure where the serial number is. If I can get to it this afternoon, I'll snap some pics

 

[Wildcat]

Giant was said to be the Taiwan builder, but their numbers were on the dropout and always began with a "G". Maybe they used some other builders at first.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Nope. I buried it too deep. I won't be able to get pictures without rearranging half the garage.

 

[Dominicus]

Mine has plastic guides...serial is in the same spot W89103216

 

[Wildcat]

Going by what I've read, W is a bike made for the USA market, the 8 is the last digit of the year. That makes yours an 88 model. They also say they were made by Giant after 1987 but this shows they still used their serial numbers, not Giant. If yours was a Giant, the rear dropout would be Gx88.

That would show the one I'm working on as a bike made for the Australian market "A" with 7 being 87. It was bought new in the Philippines so that makes sense. They didn't have a separate code letter for Philippines so that's probably it.

Thanks! What's the model name of yours?

 

[Dominicus]

Mine is a Colorado. One of the Taiwan built Richard Cunningham designs. Too big for me but a nice bike.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

There is a lot to like on that Colorado, from the straight leg fork to the seat stays, the rear brake cable guides, to that rad splatter paint!

 

[Wildcat]

I should have removed the cluster before cutting the old spokes. I'm still waiting for the special tool for the old Suntour freewheel, but all the videos I've watched show a lot of energy needed to break it loose using the wheel for leverage. I'll see if I can get off without damaging the hub. I want to keep as much original stuff on the bike as possible. Most of the replacement parts I can get are made in China and aren't as good as the old stuff.

 

[Wildcat]

I cleaned up all the parts overnight in a bucket of degreaser, then I polished up the rims and front hub along with the crankset using metal polish.

I thought most of it would need just a good cleaning and shining up, but the derailler cogs look very well worn.

I don't think they are supposed to look like that. Maybe replacements aren't hard to find. I already have new brake pads, chain, and cables. That should be all it needs for parts. I sanded for a couple hours this morning. The frame is welded but has one lug on the seat tube. I've never seen that.

The stainless spokes look good so far, I just laced the front wheel 4 cross, the spokes were a 5 mms too long on 3 cross, so 4 cross worked.

The seat post is stuck and it will stay there since the owner has had it that way for over 30 years. At least no one can steal it.
I checked the rear for size, all my ss spokes are 270mm, so it will be 4 cross also, if I can get the cluster off. The special freewheel tool arrived today, so that's the plan for tomorrow.

 

[pebblewurm]

Check eBay for NOS Suntour, Shimano freewheels and other parts. ChiCom threaded freewheels are not great. I have a 1986 Nishiki Ariel that I really like, and a similar year Pueblo frame I'm "doing something" with.

 

[Wildcat]

Definitely Ebay for used parts. But shipping is the problem. Things don't make it all the way here and they like to add "fees" to the packages, even after all the postage is paid.
Luckily most of the original parts are still in good shape and can be shined up. There's no play in the freewheel so I think it is good to go. I just need to find a way to make it look new. It looks like first and second gear was never used.

 

[Wildcat]

"I was right about a mistake I made." After I said that I laughed and thought maybe I should be a politician.

Don't cut out the spokes before removing a freewheel cluster. It won't loosen without damaging the hub. That's what the guy at the bike shop said right after I told him I knew I shouldn't have cut the spokes first. I'll keep it hoping one day to find a way to do it, but it's well used so it will get replaced. So, new hub and cluster.
The best hub they had is similar to the old one in looks and the new freewheel adds 2 cogs, so it's now a 21 speed bike. They had no replacements for the little derailleur wheels, so I got their best new derailleur too. Now it's time to lace up the rear wheel and finish sanding before the paint arrives.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Would something like a strap wrench around the hub hold it firm enough to brake the freehub loose?

 

[horsefarmer]

Could you pull some spokes and relace a few to an old hoop just to get the cluster off?

 

[us56456712]

I should have removed the cluster before cutting the old spokes. I'm still waiting for the special tool for the old Suntour freewheel, but all the videos I've watched show a lot of energy needed to break it loose using the wheel for leverage. I'll see if I can get off without damaging the hub. I want to keep as much original stuff on the bike as possible. Most of the replacement parts I can get are made in China and aren't as good as the old stuff.
View attachment 149433

If you can’t get it off, which you probably won’t be able to do now that it’s not attached to the wheel, don’t sweat it. It will almost surely need a new chain and that usually require’s a new cassette to prevent skips. Stuff wears out. I have welded a cassette free wheel shut, put the rim in a heavy duty vice and tried to remove it with a giant pipe wrench. It came off. This was still attached to the wheel and a puller didn't budge it. I learned not to try and remove these after they have been removed from the wheel. You will almost certainly need a new hub and cassette.

 

[Wildcat]

It's got the new cluster, derailleur and chain, so the Suntour hub and freewheel with derailleur is going into the parts bin. I could lace up the non drive side of the old hub to an 24" rim I have, maybe 4 cross, and then have enough leverage. But there's a little play in the freewheel and the whole thing is over 30 years old with a lot of use, so it'll get new stuff. I was going to transfer new cogs into the original derailleur, but nothing matched up between the 3 of them I have. The cage had years of sludge built up.

The wheel is laced up 4 cross and ready to go to the shop for truing on my next trip out of the house. The front wheel is ready to go.

The chainwheels are in good shape and cleaned up nicely.

The original Suntour bottom bracket is very good still, no play and solid so it will stay.

The primer and paint showed up already. The owner sent me a pic of a bike with the color they wanted. I found it to be Honda yellow, yellow with an orange tint.

That's what the paint brand I could get calls it and it looks like a perfect match. The sanding is done as of lunchtime today but I need a tripod stand of some kind to hang it up while I paint. I might get a brother in law to make something out of bamboo, maybe 10 feet tall. It'll get plenty of use in the future. I have a good spot where our courtyard has yet to be developed that will work perfectly.

 

[Wildcat]

A couple rainy days in a row, so no primer yet, so I worked on other parts. The kickstand was big and chrome, but after cleaning it up and getting some bolts for it, I see it's bent and has a small crack where it was bent. So, a cheap alloy stand will replace it, and take a pound off the total weight. I redid the shifters and got the handlebars ready.