Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Picked up this frame recently, it had been sanded back to bare metal and brush painted a shade of purple. So no chance of an easy identification. The original paint job was mustard over white, from the small amount found near the headset.
It is reasonable quality steel frame for 700c with a 26.4mm seat post , suntour gtIV drop outs and cable routing attached to the frame.
I don't know what components on the bike where original, my guess the tange BB and headset and the chrome forks with suntour drop outs.

The frame is very similar, particularly with the cable guides, lugs and 26.4mm seat post to a Repco Nishiki Olympic 12 speed.
The differences 700c vs 27", 1 instead of 2 bidon mounts and no drain holes in the chain stays.

Looks like a Gordonson I saw last weekend. The cable guides and lugs look the same as does the single bidon mounts, 700c wheels and tange headset. That Gordonson was red over white and I remember seeing yellow/mustard and white Gordonsons in the past. But the red Gordson did have chain adjusters and painted forks.

So my pick is a late 80's Nishiki frame supplied to Gordonsons or another Australian "manufacturer". Anybody else have an opinion?

looks very similar to an old Ricardo I had; very similar, in particular brazeons, and that gear changer stud top centred on downtube.

Adelaide brazed, Tange No 5 tubing, made in about 1983, ah, here we are

http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/cyclo/Ricardo.Fixie.jpg

I kissed it goodbye after this happened... http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/cyclo/cracked!.jpg

rustychisel wrote:looks very similar to an old Ricardo I had; very similar, in particular brazeons, and that gear changer stud top centred on downtube.

Adelaide brazed, Tange No 5 tubing, made in about 1983, ah, here we are

http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/cyclo/Ricardo.Fixie.jpg

I kissed it goodbye after this happened... http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/cyclo/cracked!.jpg

Ouch! It's a real shame. But since it was a lugged frame you could have had it repaired if you were determined, but probably not economically viable.

I had a frame with a permanently stuck seat post awhile back with those drop outs.it was a giant built repco monaco.does it feel like cro mo?
Weigh it maybe.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=390318

Looking at this info it would seem that the L in the serial # makes it neither nishiki or giant.
have a look and decide for yourself.

Got it wrong, Nishiki is a brand of bicycles in the US and Canada, that was manufactured by Kawamura in Japan and by Giant in Taiwan.

So you need to substitute Kawamura for Nishiki in the above post.

In other words:

The frame is very similar, particularly with the cable guides, lugs and 26.4mm seat post to a Repco Nishiki Olympic 12 speed manufactured by Kawamura
The differences 700c vs 27", 1 instead of 2 bidon mounts and no drain holes in the chain stays.

Looks like a Gordonson I saw last weekend. The cable guides and lugs look the same as does the single bidon mounts, 700c wheels and tange headset. That Gordonson was red over white and I remember seeing yellow/mustard and white Gordonsons in the past. But the red Gordson did have chain adjusters and painted forks.

So my pick is a late 80's Kawamura frame supplied to Gordonsons or another Australian "manufacturer". Anybody else have an opinion?

Note the Nishiki and Repco range was very similar during the 80s.

hartleymartin wrote: Ouch! It's a real shame. But since it was a lugged frame you could have had it repaired if you were determined, but probably not economically viable.

No, but yes, but no.
If you look carefully you can see a buildup of the weld where the crack is; it had previously been repaired around the lug (under warranty about 14 years after the bike was built, another story but good service!!) then the repair weld failed, cracking through the repair, the lug, and the seatube, so comprehensively that the seat tube moved 10mm laterally under pedalling load.
Funnily enough I noticed it when sprinting away from traffic lights and wondered why the frame was quite literally a noodle... rode home carefully that day, I can tell you.
Anyway, even Gripsport said it was the end of the road for that particular frame... shame, because it did make a pretty nice fixed gear and I'd done a lot of k's on that bike.

nickobec wrote:...

Note the Nishiki and Repco range was very similar during the 80s.

That is because the Repco's were just re-branded Nishikis. For some of most of this period the Repcos did not use the "Nishiki" in the model naming - just being "repco Olymic 12" or "Repco Superlite", but for about 1 or 2 model years they put Nishiki in the names. I believe this was due to some sort of contractual issue.

Anyway, as to your specific frame. The drop outs and braze ons for the waterbottle are very similiar to my Repco "Nishiki" Tri-A from about 1984. But it does look very very much like that Ricardo!

uMP2k wrote:The drop outs and braze ons for the waterbottle are very similiar to my Repco "Nishiki" Tri-A from about 1984. But it does look very very much like that Ricardo!

And also very much like a certain Gordonson.

I believe this frame came from the Kawamura factory in Japan around 1985. Kawamura manufactured frames for Nishiki, Repco and probably countless other brands.

It is probably not a Repco, their serial numbers seem to be similar to the Nishiki serials . The Recpo Nishiki Olympic 12 in the shed serial is AD01193 (A for Australia, just like C is for Canada and K is for USA market).

It could be a Ricardo, but most of the ones I have seen are metallic blue, the original paint job here is mustard yellow over white, which has me thinking Gordonson. But it could of been any brand that had it's frames built by Kawamura in Japan in the mid eighties.

The serial number L6A1761 is really the only clue.

Just been powdercoated "bistro orange" and on it's way to being built up as a singlespeed.

Out of interest frame weight is under 2.4kg forks just over 0.8kg which compares to 2.6kg and 0.9kg for my Repco/Gaint Olympic 12 speed.