Thanks all. I've begun building up first bikes for Granddaughters and have a Fuji Mixte nearly done for my oldest. This will be a big jump for her to 700c wheels and to offset it the low step over height of the Mixte/Step Through frame made a lot of sense to me as that first pedal push to start and ease of getting your foot down to stop keeps the confidence strong and makes all the rest fun. Then in another half dozen years, figure 8 year old to 14 year old, I can look for their first diamond frame bike, if the interest is still there. They live in France so vintage bikes from Japan may be cool if not different. The bike above will be the second project for a second Granddaughter. I have several Nishiki bikes so when I saw this complete and in what appears to be remarkable condition Nishiki I took the plunge. Now the fun of getting it boxed and shipped from one part of America to another where I live...oh, joy. It will be interesting to see what its serial number is, as I believe this is a pretty early bike and top of the line of the Mixtie/Step Through frames they made with nice double butted tubing (hard to find as a frame material in this style of bike)...again, have to wait and see.
verktyg, thanks for a great post, always something to learn about the history of bikes. Wonder after firing the machine gun how many sub-assemblies of the bike had to be re-tightened to avoid things falling apart???