MRBoston

I started a thread about my 1977 Nishiki 10-speed, and here are some more questions:
-- It appears to me that the model name, almost disappeared, is "Olympic". Is that a valid name for the mfr and year? It's champagne-gold paint with turquoise accents.
-- I got a chain breaker and a new chain, success in removal, and I am wondering what material the rear derailleur sprockets are. They look and feel a bit like plastic, maybe nylon, but I haven't gone in deep yet.
-- Any suggestions for "best" chain lube?
-- The crank arms have a thread at the crank shaft mounting holes, for screwing in a cover that is made of plated plastic, with Sugino markings. Does anyone know what the thread specs are for these plugs/holes? I am considering making new ones from aluminum.

Any additional info appreciated -- thanks --

Eric F 

I will answer what I can…

Olympic is a model name that Nishiki used. From what I know, some were high-end race bikes. Some, not so much.

Rear derailleur jockey wheels have been - and still are - plastic (with some exceptions).

Chain lube is a hotly contested topic. “Best” is more subjective than you might imagine.

SurferRosa

Fixed.

And when I google this, it returns this:

MRBoston

Thanks, y'all -- good info. I didn't think to "just Google it" for something so highly specific as a thread like that, although it was a revelation to find out that the crank set is (apparently) mounted on tapered cerankshaft sections. That's good to know. Thanks for fixing my question as well. The M22 squares up generally with what I was measuring.

As far as chain lubrication, yes, that can have a lot of options, I suspect. Back when I bought this bike, I was simply interested in having city transport and commuting capability, and I was incurious to a large extent about details on the bike. These days after 45 years in engineering and manufacturing, I have a little more appreciation of nuance, I think. 3-in-1 oil was just fine at that time.

Any suggestions for touch-up paint? I imagine that in the late 70's these bikes were done with industrial enamel, not polyurethane or epoxy, but some additional corroboration would be good, as opposed to my own imagination.

roccobike

While I don't have information dating back to 1977, the 1981 catalog shows the Nishiki Olympic as a 'sport' bike with stem shifters. It probably was a higher quality, entry level road bike for that year. By 1984 the Olympic had moved to a mid level model with downtube shifters. In 1988 the Olympic was the beginning of the better quality road bikes for Nishiki. It has double butted chromoly tubing (generic), unicrown fork, downtube shifters, aero brake levers and Shimano Exage 12 speed components.
So it appears that Olympic was a model that fit in the middle of the Nishiki line-up.

Eric F 

Here's an example from 1979 that seems to be on the high end of the Nishiki spectrum at the time. It was built by Kawamura, and shares the lug shapes of my '77 ONP... https://www.pedalpedlar.co.uk/blogs/...ishiki-olympic

MRBoston

Thanks for the additional history and observations. I'm a little at sea here, wanting to get this bike on the road, but also needing to know a lot more about the details (on a 45 yr old bike!) while I am rubbing/buffing/replacing.
I put some generic Kenda gumwalls and "Bell" inner tubes (courtesy Amazon) on the rims, then got recommendations for Panaracers. Next time, I suspect.
Lots of WD-40 and toothbrush work to get dried/baked grease and filth off of surfaces.
Wheel bearings disassembled, cleaned, new grease pack, preload adjusted.
I bought a new chain and tools (Amazon again) to remove old chain, but it looks to me like the new chain is not as substantial as the original when I have them side by side. This (the new one) is a Schwinn chain, and I guess this shouldn't be a surprise. It looks like it should fit, but the lighter construction worries me a bit. Any suggestions for more substantial chain for this bike? It's 3/32 x 1/2", roller diameter about 0.302" (7.7mm).
The chrome plating on brackets, some fasteners, and other items is pitted and some rust is blooming through the pits. Is there any treatment other than just removing all, send them to plating shop for stripping and replating? Are there purveyors of these "vintage" bike parts?

If I get to (10) posts sometime soon, then maybe I can put a couple of pictures up for show'n'tell. It does appear similar to the Pedal Pedlar photos, in the placement of decal trim and the location of painted details, but mine is a more down-market bike, it appears, with Shimano 600 derailleur gear, and without the divots in the central portions of the handlebar.

Hummer

This is a Nishiki Olympic from Europe in the 1970s. A different bicycle from the Nishiki Olympic in the USA.

Eric F 

Thanks for the clarification. Other high-end variations I’ve seen pics of are Olympic Royale and Olympic Ace. Again, probably not US models.

Hummer

Hello MRBoston and welcome to the forums.

I am interested to know how you determined the year of the bicycle as 1977?




Is this similar to your Nishiki? If so, a frame manufactured by Kuwamara in Japan. The serial number can be used to determine the date of frame manufacture.

Best chain lube? Everyone has their own opinion on that question. Just don't use too much.

The threaded holes in the crank arms are for the crank puller tool. Eventually you will want to pull the crank arms off and check the bottom bracket. Try not to damage the threads. Plastic covers are fine.

Enjoy the experience of learning about bicycles and vintage bicycles.

MRBoston

That is exactly the bicycle I have disassembled on top of my table saw (as work station) at the moment. I consulted the Nishiki s/n database that I found on this site (thanks to T-Mar and other contributors) in my quest for info, so that was my method for determining age, which also squares with my recollection of when I bought the bike new.

I agree that the plastic crank hole covers are fine in functionality, but the plating over plastic always goes south after a few removals and tightenings, in my experience, After a service trip on one occasion, half the plating was gone on one cover, and I think what happened was the cover plug got lost at the bike shop and they replaced it with one from the junk drawer. When one has one's own machine shop, making parts is "normal" behavior;-)

MRBoston

Update on my Nishiki Olympic rehab project:
I put the bike back together, and did a test ride around the neighborhood. Generally functional, mechanics all seemed to work "OK", and now it's the detail attention phase of rejuvenation.
I ended up re-installing the original chain after removing it for cleaning, and did it re-using the pin I had previously pushed out, and didn't add any aftermarket master link parts. This is likely not best practice for long-term reliability under stress, but I am concerned that I don't know nearly enough about chain dynamics, dimensional standards, what chain dimensions are best matched to spacing between rear sprockets or chainrings, etc., but I know that the original chain works and is correct for the bike, ergo...

** Can anyone point me to a fairly comprehensive technical guide/chart/table/document set that would lay out all the performance and design considerations for chain selection to match the drive hardware? **
One of the big questions in my mind is whether a narrower chain would create significant possibilities for the chain falling between rear sprockets during shifting.

juvela

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on cycles with a derailleur geared drive train the drive chain carries no master link

chain removal is accomplished by pressing out one pin, any pin, as you have done

a master link is not employed as it would tend to hang up as it goes through the system

an excellent resource of information for home mechanics is the Sheldon Brown web site -

​​​​​​https://www.sheldonbrown.com/

lots to explore here


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John E

True in general, but SRAM does make road / mountain bike chains with master links. I sometimes just drive a pin, anyway, since I have chain tools and have used them many times in the past, before master links were fashionable on 3/32" chains.

MRBoston

Thanks for the chain info/observations. I found the statement about master links vs. derailleurs very enlightening, and it makes sense. The link to SheldonBrown.com is also great. I saw references to that site elsewhere in various discussions on this forums, and it seems to have a lot of info, now that I had time to look.

Do y'all have any recommendations for "high-end" chain tools? Based on the experience I had with putting the original pin back into the original chain link holes on this bike, I saw some areas for tool improvement in a big way on the inexpensive tool I bought.