jtyr71 

I'm building up a beautiful 1971 Nishiki Road Compe:

Raw Nishiki Road Compe ready rebuild.

and I want to push it even a little further back to the dawn of Japanese steel by spec-ing some of the earliest parts I've ever seen, and this "Compe" stem that appears on some of very early Nishikis/American Eagles really intrigues me:

Early "lugged" Compe stem

I've seen these stems on the full range of early American Eagles, from Olympiads, to Kokusai, to 1970 and possibly earlier Semi Pros. I know my Road Compe woulda shoulda had the nice Dia-Compe Forged diagonal sloped stem, but like I said I want to push my Road Compe a little further back and differentiate it from the mid-70's Competition and Professional I already have built and on the road.

So my questions are:
1) Is it really a true lugged stem anything at all like Rivendell's amazing thing of beauty? Or is its lugwork just a stamped imitation?
2) Anyone have specific or general experience with these stems or similar "lugged" stems from the 60's. I think I've read that similar French(?) Ava stems were prone to failure?
3) Anyone have one that they might be willing to part with? :-)

TenGrainBread 

It's not lugged in the sense that it's sleeves of steel brazed into lugs. It's forged or cast aluminum where the mold is designed to imitate a lug.

The French stems that were prone to failure failed not because of the design of the extension, but because of the quill. The slot at the base of the insertion area would have a sharp terminus where stress would cause cracks to form. The "lugged" part has nothing to do with the failures.

Kuromori

These sorts of stems also tend to be considerably lighter and flexier than the plain looking stems due to often having a hollow extension. Even though a solid center shouldn't do much, there seems to be a perceptible difference in stiffness.

gaucho777 

+1 to forged/cast alloy, not lugged.

Also, expect this to be a an .883” stem.

https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-m...y-options.html

TenGrainBread 

As far as "early" Japanese OEM export stems go, the first gen Nitto Dynamic was made in the 60s I believe, a faithful copy of the Ambrosio Champion stem of the 50s/60s.

John E

I remember the Nishiki Road Compe well. As a UCLA grad student, I was working summers and weekends at a Peugeot/Nishiki dealership in 1972-1974. My own bicycle collection included a 1971 American Eagle Semi-Pro, which had the same wraparound seat stays and frame geometry, but lacked the Road Compe's integral derailleur hanger, half-chrome stays (those came a year later to the Competition) and tubular tires. For the 1972 Los Angeles Wheelmen double century I gave my Semi-Pro the homebrew Road Compe treatment, with a pair of tubular tired wheels and the Road Compe's stock 54-44/14-16-18-21-24 1.5-step gearing. The latter drew a few comments from fellow participants, such as a gentleman with wide range gears who observed, "You just shifted across your frewheel, and it made only about 2 gear-inches of difference!" 52-42/14-24 had already been showing up on Schwinn Paramounts, Masi Gran Criteriums, and other racing bikes of that day, but American Eagle / Nishiki always seemed to have this fascination for 54-tooth outer rings. The Europeans had 13-tooth high gear cogs from Regina, Cyclo, and Atom, but Shimano and SunTour went no smaller than 14 teeth for several years, hence, I suppose, the 54T chainrings. (52/13 = 108 gear-inches; 54/14 = 104; 52/14 = 100)

since6

In case you haven't found this if you will Google search:

1974 Nishiki Brochure - VeloBase.com

You will find a 1974 Nishiki sales brochure pdf. which lists the specification of parts for your bike. This was invaluable to my restoration of my 72 Katakura-Silk/Nishiki Professional.
And lucky you, your bike still has the mushroom bike pump cage, that took some doing to track down.
Good luck and enjoy the journey.

3speedslow

Another early Nitto to consider

jtyr71 

Thanks for all the great answers folks!

Mmm, yes, I've always admired that Nitto I-beam stem, 3speedslow, but I've only ever seen them on (perfectly lovely) Fujis-- so to my mind-- not quite right for a Nishiki build.

Just for fun here's the crank that I've got lined up for the Road Compe, and yes, John E, thanks for pointing out Nishiki's odd penchant for 54T chainrings. I've always loved the look of Sugino's "Rene Herse" three-bolt crank copy. Nishiki also used it on many of their early American Eagle models. I got this one with removable chainrings from Japan, and transferred the "American Flyer" red washers from a non-removable chainring donor crank.

Sugino "Rene Herse" 106BCD three-bolt crank with removable chainring

juvela

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+1

the .833 dimension is an important one to keep in mind as you search...


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Kuromori

To be fair Herse didn't invent the 3 arm crankset, and they were actually fairly common when it was first introduced. Not even the big circular chainring cutouts can be attributed to Herse, although he did end up with a fairly elegant and practical package compared to his contemporaries. The thing is that he continued making high quality cranksets with 3 arms even when they seemed archaic for other brands.

jtyr71 

Afa 1 pump holder
I was planning to take it off. My only hesitation being possible paint loss... I have the same pump cage on a mid-70's Fuji America, and I expended I great deal of time trying to find the right pump on that auction site and failed. Can you point me to the right pump that would fit?

since6

What I have is a "Primus" frame pump (while better known for making vintage back packing stoves, they also made frame pumps). These were made in Japan and as much was at this time is a design copy to the Silca frame pump.even down to the twin prong copy of the Campagnolo presta pump head though it has flatted sides rather than rounded sides.

Keep an eye out on eBay as these do come up time to time.

If you can find an auto paint store they can often create a paint match to your frames green or black and you could then have them paint the body of your pump to match your frame color, which I did with my pump.

As to size that's the nice part about the mushroom cage you can slide it up or down to fit the length of your pump.

I had a Loop Frame Nishiki Competition which I gave to my daughter and the Primus Twin Prong Campagnolo pump head frame pump came with it, so that's the make/model you should be looking for.

I see your's is on your seat tube, I have mine mounted on the down tube to avoid wear on the decal. .

since6

Search for the post on Classic & Vintage:

How do I Get a Frame Pump?

And then go to post #18 and you will see my pictures of both styles of the Primus frame pump, one with the Campagnolo style pump head and another with a rounded golf ball style pump head.

jtyr71 

Here's the direct link:
https://www.bikeforums.net/20672263-post18.html

T-Mar

The subject bicycle should be a 1972 model, as that was the first model year for the Nishiki brand. However, it the components would likely have 1971 date codes, which I assume was the basis for dating.