Originally Posted by reroll

I was once interested in a Nishiki frame set, had heard of Nishiki but knew little about them, so I searched on Nishiki history. Nishiki bikes actually began as American Eagle bikes in the early 1960s, designed by West Coast Cycle in the USA but they were manufactured in Japan by Kuwahara. They sold well in the United States but there was some controversy about American Eagle bikes being made in Japan, so a contest was held by Kuwahara to give the bike a Japanese name and that is how American Eagle bikes became Nishiki bikes at some time in the early 1970s.


However, there were international concerns about currency values and in mid-1987 several of the world's nations agreed to adjust the exchange value of their currencies, and, long story short, a $200 Japanese bike instantly became a $400 Japanese bike, an event which had been anticipated by Japanese bicycle manufacturers who had already been making new bicycle manufacturing arrangements in Taiwan and elsewhere.


Puch bikes were also about to have their Kuwahara Japanese-made bikes instantly double in price, yet Puch also had other financial troubles too, and about a month or so before the prices of their bikes would have doubled, the Puch bicycle business got sold to Piaggio of Italy, the owner of the cult brand Bianchi, and then a decade later, the Swedish company Cycleurope took over Bianchi, including the rights to Puch.