thatnillamobley

Recently was gifted two 1967 Azuki Sports Cycle's. Pics are in my profile albums as well as one in my avatar pic!! If anyone could give me just background information about these would be wonderful and any specs on them would be great!!! Specifically if anyone knows how long my chain needs to be. I unfortunately got rid of the old chain and didn't record it's length down before disposing of them. Any and all info/help would be appreciated.

juvela

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your member page states you have not created any albums

1967 is the earliest date have heard for an Azuki badged cycle

the marque was created by Howie Cohen, founder of the Los Angeles importer/distributor West Coast Cycle Supply Co.

the actual manufacturer for the cycles was a company called Kawamura

WCCS owned several badges; best known among them is that of Nishiki

​​​​​​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishiki_(bicycle_company)


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cb400bill

Pic Assist - https://www.bikeforums.net/g/picture/22167727

juvela

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the same cycles were also sold by WCCS as the Premium and Jewel badges

your example appears slightly late to be a 1967 model


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thatnillamobley

Now my pics should should be in my profile albums. Thanks for the information you guys have shared so far. When I return back home to Kansas I intend on taking one of them into my local shop to see if they can help out with more technical specifications. I just figured I would ask the community because I currently have one with me in Arkansas and needed to replace my chain and I'm not sure what length or how many links would be ideal for this bad boy!! I love the bike and they are both in great condition. Smarter person would have recorded the length of the original chain before discarding it but me being young just wanted to get it rolling. L. Again thank you for your time and knowledge. I appreciate it.

dddd

I am recalling that the bikes from this marque were branded as American Flyer prior to 1972/1973, just as the Nishiki bikes were branded as American Eagle prior to that same time.

So I am in agreement with juvela on the bike's dating.

There are two-letter date codes to be found on the bike's components, such as the deralers and freewheel.

juvela

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chain length is likely to be 112

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your member page still states that you have not created any photo albums

perchance @cb400bill shall be able to assist...


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T-Mar

+1, these bicycles appear to be arly 1970s and would be no earlier than circa 1972. Bottom of the line model with hi-tensile frameset, steel cottered crankset, steel rims, nutted hubs. Brakes are the ubiquitous Dia-Compe centre-pull. Shifting system is Shimano with Fingertip stem shift levers and Thunderbird front derailleur. Rear derailleur isn't visible but likely from the Skylark/Lark/Eagle family. While many Azuki were manufactured by Kawamura, I've seen some early models that appear to be from Kuwahara and these look like they may fall into that catelgory.

Hummer

Link to picture of the serial number:
https://www.bikeforums.net/g/picture/22031069

As T-Mar states above Kuwahara manufactured the early frames for the Azuki brand.

The serial number is one the seat tube with no date digits for year or month. This is a Kuwahara serial number from 1974 or earlier.

repechage

My impression was that bike shops who could not get Nishiki were offered Azuki.

I recall American Eagle bikes, my parents suggesting one of their 5 speed Sting-Ray type bikes… but I knew better, Schwinn or bust.

the parents bought the Schwinn.
best Christmas ever.
the hit of the garden apartment complex.
what I found interesting was how many adults just had to ride it.

T-Mar

Some of the bigger companies offered protected territory to dealerships as as incentive to carry their brand. That meant there there couldn't be another dealer for that brand within a stated distance of each other. Companies could legally get around this by marketing multiple brands. A distributor like West Coast Cycle would sell one brand to dealer A and a different brand to dealer B, only a few block way. Often the differences between the two brands would be quite small. In some extreme cases, they could even be from the same manufacturer, with the only differences being the brand name, colours and graphics.

Edit: Another ploy was for the distributor to offer the dealer a house brand. The dealer might not be able to get his hands on brand "N" but the distributor could get the same bicycle from his manufacturer and have the dealer's name/brand put on it.

repechage

Yes, this was the era of protected territory. But those rules were broken often enough! I observed it firsthand in the 70's.
What I do not know was when the sunset of American Eagle occurred. The headbadge is the forerunner of Nishiki, just I did not visit shops that might have carried the Westcoast brands between 1967 to 1972. By 1972 Nishiki was live.

John E

For what it's worth, I bought my American Eagle Semi-Pro in March 1971. (Kawamura frame, KS78091)

By the time I started working at Bikecology a year later, the marque was Nishiki.