# Nishiki top model made?



## dialbill (Dec 26, 2012)

I rode a Nishiki international in High School - I was looking to pick one up to restore and curious what were the top models that Nishiki made in the 70's and 80's. I spent some time on line looking but could not find a site that specified top models, just company information and models made in general. Can anyone help?


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## Oxtox (Aug 16, 2006)

two of my friends in college rode Internationals and also worked in a bike shop...I seem to remember them discussing the Competition and Olympic models as having steeper angles and being more 'race worthy'...

edit: I found a 1983 catalog online...the Olympic is not really a racer...looks like pretty relaxed geometry and was pretty heavy...27 lbs.

the Competition was 23 lbs and billed as being for the 'competition-minded'...


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## davcruz (Oct 9, 2007)

I have no idea of the top model, but the Tri-A was higher up the rung than the three mentioned thus far.


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## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

I got no idea either, but I did learn a lot Nishiki (bicycle) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

I see there was a model called "Ultimate" so surely that must be it?


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## Oxtox (Aug 16, 2006)

here's the '87 catalog...

http://www.stevevance.net/nishiki/images/c/cf/Nishiki_1987_bicycle_catalog.pdf

top of the line was the 'Carbon'...DuraAce-equipped.

then the Altron (alum frame), a couple of tri-bikes, the International (SunTour components), and the Olympic was under it...

no mention of the Competition, guess they dropped it from the line by that time...


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## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

They had some nice offerings by that catalog. The ones in the local shops were entry level, up to the Shimano 600. Didn't see the CF or any Dura Ace equipped models. One of my early bikes was the Prestige.


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## dialbill (Dec 26, 2012)

Thank you Oxtox-I found the catolog quite helpful. I never knew Nishiki make a CF bike.


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## honkinunit (Feb 13, 2005)

That catalog is great! I had two 1987 Nishiki's: The Altron 7000 and the Linear. I still have the Linear, although it hasn't been ridden in over 10 years. Talk about pristine Shimano 105 from that era: the bike has maybe 200 miles on it. I did replace the Biopace crank immediately with an old Dura Ace AX I had laying around. I seem to recall that the crank had 165mm crank arms, which was totally stupid. Well, the entire bike is kind of stupid, but I hear that there are some fixie hipsters that love them.

The Altron was a nice bike. It had a killer paint job, which was a pearlescent white with purple overspray to purple fade, like the one in the inset of the catalog, not the main photo. It had one major annoyance: the rear drops were about twice as thick as a normal dropout. The rear hub that came with the bike had an extra long axle and QR to accommodate that, but that wheel couldn't be used on any other bike because the axle was too long. Any other wheel you put in the rear dropout was iffy because the axle was too short, and the QR nut was usually only threaded on by a few threads. It was too bad, because it rode well. I dumped it after a couple of years because of the rear dropout issue.


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## paredown (Oct 18, 2006)

bikerjulio said:


> I got no idea either, but I did learn a lot Nishiki (bicycle) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> I see there was a model called "Ultimate" so surely that must be it?


I just heard talk of that model this week courtesy of the CR list. Apparently for a short time Nishiki sourced some bikes from Italy--and by rumor, from Colnago among others although other manufacturers seem more likely.

Italian sourced models included the Maxima and the Cervino--although there seems to be a dearth of information including catalog pages for these bikes. Here's T-Mar from that other forum:


> There were three Nishiki models that came with Campgnolo NR/SR components - the Cervino, Maxima and Ultimate. The Cervino and Maxima were made in Italy using Columbus SL/SP tubing. Constructors reportedly producing the Italian models included Colnago, Olmo and Viner. The Olmo and Viner associations have some credibility as original owners have reported them coming in boxes marked Olmo and an employee who worked for the distributor recalls them coming form Viner. The Ultimate was made in Japan by Kawamura.


Here's a picture of a 1983 Cervino on Fleabay that started the conversation:
View attachment 272711


Since we all know that the best bikes have Campagnolo components and come from Italy, my vote is for the Maxima or Cervino as the best Nishiki.


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