Restored my high school bike
 

Hi all,

Been working on my high school bike over the "quarantine" months, a 1985 or so Nishiki Custom Sport, Kawamura frame.
Original to the bike are the calipers, headset and bars. All other vintage parts came from a Schwinn Prelude that I had laying around. Lots of Mother's mag polish to get them where they are.
I'm very happy with how this turned out, rides as well as I remember, such a great frame (last ridden 25 years ago). Glad I decided to finally
resurrect it. Need to sleeve the derailleur cables within the brazed on bottom bracket guides, they're rubbing on the bottom bracket, and tighten some spokes (vintage 105 hubs),
but it came together very well and was well sorted from the first test ride
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3936fc0e25.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d91255b3b2.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0006fb1c6f.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6afef561c9.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...20eea68872.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...79014358e7.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dc087d0ffd.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...019b8b79be.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...336f27531a.jpg
. I'm hoping to either find a good sub compact crank in the future for not too much money and perhaps change
the rear gearing as well to deal with the hills around here, but that can wait until spring. The paint is still a bit fragile, our humid summer did it no favors in setting up, so I'll let it cure over the winter
and touch up any rash from installing components. These were really great bikes and with a little TLC are perfectly usable today.

Patrick

Awesome restoration ! :thumb:

Very nice. My high school bike was a Nishiki as well but not as nice as this. For a crank, why not run a 110/74 bcd shimano triple as a double? You can either run it as a 110 bcd double (with a low of 34) or as a 110/74 bcd double if you want to go really low. Those are easy to find and relatively cheap. Or just run it as a triple.

Very nice job!!

Extra special

Thanks, that's a good idea. Perhaps I'll make it a true triple.

Patrick

Thank you. I found it very satisfying and learned a lot. I might make this a regular endeavor.

Thanks, it really turned out how I had envisioned.

Patrick

Thanks so much.

Patrick

Wow! Excellent restoration. Kudos for bringing it back, ready to roll. Great backstory and history— thanks for sharing. Brings back memories!

You should reroute the rear brake cable in front of the front cable and around the non drive-side of the head tube. Looks like you left enough cable to do so. If you wrapped the bars bottom-up, you could reposition both cables on the bottom of the bars as well. Nice paint job. Looks great.

Thanks for sharing. Congrats on getting your old bike back on the road. I restored my old high school race bike and it remains my favorite bike to ride. That restoration brought me to this forum. Wishing you many more happy miles on your Nishiki.

Great job.

Looks outstanding!

That came out great, I'd be interested in hearing what paint and primer you used, and sanding/polishing between and after coats.

Thanks, will do.

Patrick

Very nice! One of my college pals bought a 1971 Nishiki Custom Sport shortly after I bought my Nishiki Semi-Pro. His was a gaspipe boat anchor with steel rims and cranks, but 10 years later, the Custom Sport had morphed into a very desirable machine.

If you can find a 110mm BCD touring double crankset, you can go as small as 34T. Pair that with a 48T outer, and with a 13T high on the freewheel, you would still have a 100-gear-inch top gear. The 14T drop in front would be comparable that of a standard 53-39 road double, which your rear derailleur should be able to handle.

Thanks. The paint and clear is Dupl-iColor, a Honda metallic gray, and Dupli-Color primer. Very light sanding on the base coat, just to remove any overspray. I let the base cure for 3 weeks before clear. After clearing I used McGuires ultimate compound
to smooth it out. The painting was the worst part. I screwed it up the first time and had to strip it down to basically bare metal. Very time consuming. I'm glad I did it, but I might choose to have
it media blasted and powder coated if I do it again. Spraying lacquer is very tricky, especially in less than ideal conditions as it was this summer. Very humid and windy at the worst times.

Patrick

Thanks. It's surprising how light the bike is. I'd say 22-23 pounds. Very comfortable and fast. I will look into the gearing options for sure.

Patrick

Looks fantastic. So I see primer, then silver, then the grey?

No, primer/gray metallic base then clear coat.