# Nishiki Caribou by Norco - 1984? - What to do? - Warning: Canadian content...



## deadmanschest (Apr 15, 2007)

Hi all - cloudy and cold, nothing to do but post pics on the internet...

Thrift store find, an early Nishiki. Only reason I looked at it was the SunTour XCII bearpaws and the bullmoose bars.....

I pumped up the tires and rode it home. Nice and smooth. 25 years of sawdust, but no wear on it all....

Started to look closer and all the Sugino, Dia-Compe and SunTour components seem to be date-coded to 1984.

The BB serial number starts 'CC' which might be March 1994 if Nishiki used A = 1982 as Sugino did on some parts, but the Sugino GT cranks are GC which would be 1982 on one version of the Sugino date codes...Whatever..

Some pics.

Drive Side









Front end









Early Norco









Tange "Mangaloy" - silly name









Power Shifters









Alpine Gear Tech

















Fork and Dia-Compe Wide Profile Cantis









Seems to me that this would be a really early entry level mass produced ATB. I was going to gut it and clean up the parts and so on. Would be all original with a wide-ass Selle Italia "Lady" seat...The seatpost was all the way down to the tube, luckily its fairly long..

The dealer was "Maritime Billiards and Bicycle" in Halifax, Nova Scotia ...how cool is that....hehe..

Nova Scotia is as far away from me as Japan is, so kinda funny.

Should I butcher it for parts? Should I strip it, clean it and rebuild it? Should I just sell it as is?

Maybe I should ask Norco if they have one...if they even keep an Archive...who knows?

Cheers

dmc


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## bushpig (Nov 26, 2005)

I wish companies still built bikes from Mangaloy. I dig the bike. When I was a young 'un that was one of the bikes carried by the LBS - Sundance Ski and Sports.


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## stan4bikes (May 24, 2006)

First thing I would do is give it a good scrubbing. Looks like it's in pretty good shape. A clean bike will make you look at it in a completely different way. You may want to keep it intact and ride it  Nice find, the HOOVER approves!


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## pinguwin (Aug 20, 2004)

With the exception of the tires, looks in decent shape. I say keep in intact, ride it, if you part it out, you'll probably not get very much. It looks mostly original, let it be, even if it sits for another 20 years.

'Guin


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

I previously owned the very same model and its a 1982.


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## richieb (Oct 21, 2004)

Email Peter Stace-Smith at Norco...he is keeper of all things vintage and would be maybe be able to give you some info...

petess at norco.com

He used to head up design in the bike dept back in the day, now he's head of PR and Marketing...Awesome rider, too!


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## deadmanschest (Apr 15, 2007)

*Sooo many old steel bikes, sooo little time...*



bushpig said:


> I wish companies still built bikes from Mangaloy. I dig the bike. When I was a young 'un that was one of the bikes carried by the LBS - Sundance Ski and Sports.


Hi bushpig - "Mangaloy" - makes me think of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers saying "Lay-Zer" [finger quotes in air]...

Sundance? - so this bike was sold in the US as well?



stan4bikes said:


> First thing I would do is give it a good scrubbing. Looks like it's in pretty good shape. A clean bike will make you look at it in a completely different way. You may want to keep it intact and ride it Nice find, the HOOVER approves!


The HOOVER seal of approval - :thumbsup:



pinguwin said:


> With the exception of the tires, looks in decent shape. I say keep in intact, ride it, if you part it out, you'll probably not get very much. It looks mostly original, let it be, even if it sits for another 20 years...'Guin.


Stan and 'Quin - its a slippery slope....I salvage or save an old OEM bike for parts or just cause, then I play with it, clean it, wax it, touch up, do the bearings, get a new chain, cables, pads, tires, saddle replacement, maybe seat post...then it passes into keeper status, and I have to find more parts bike.......doh.......



DeeEight said:


> I previously owned the very same model and its a 1982.


Excellent - thanks DeeEight - pretty sure that it's all OEM. I'm wondering about parts datecodes - the DiaCompe cantis are marked '01 1984. Would a frame come from Japan and get built up locally to a Norco spec for parts, maybe in 1983 or even 1984?



richieb said:


> Email Peter Stace-Smith at Norco...he is keeper of all things vintage and would be maybe be able to give you some info...
> petess at norco.com
> He used to head up design in the bike dept back in the day, now he's head of PR and Marketing...Awesome rider, too!


Thanks richieb - shall do. I'm sure its just flotsam and jetsam to Norco, but they are close (relatively) and if they don't have one from the early days then that would be cool. Thanks

Cheers to all -

By the by - the hubs are "SunShine" Japan - just assumed it said SunTour....hehe..and the rims are Ukai 1.75" h/e ( look as wide as DH rims) - have yet to clean and weigh...

No QR, crappy tracknuts, and of course a 5 speed freewheel....

Thanks

dmc


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## deadmanschest (Apr 15, 2007)

*Cleaned up nice....but hefty...*

 Hi all - brief update;

Stripped and clean the Nishiki - came up nice...

Also weighed the beast - The frame (18") is 6.5 lbs....the Tange fork is 1100 grams and the bullmoose bars, Win (?) Japan are just over 2 lbs as well so the thing is no lightweight..









Cheers

dmc


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## nightbike (Dec 28, 2007)

*Nishiki Carabou*

Yea,
I just purchased a Nishiki Carabou 1982 bike from seller on craigslist (seattle). I think this bike has about 200 miles total in 25 years. I plan on using this bike for a commuter. I commute about 20 miles roundtrip to work. Yesterday I changed the tires, added fenders reflective tape, new grips, lowered the handlebars, new bar extenders, grips, moved the friction shifters inboard. I like the feel of this bike alot, it is the right frame size for me.
See attached pictures
all comments welcome.
Regards
mike


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Its definitely a 1982, as to the diacompe brakes, I think that date was actually something other than the production date for them. It may have been the patent expiration date because by 1985 DiaCompe had sold the tooling for them to LeeChi who were then making cheaper clones which were spec'ed heavily on lots of brands of mountain bikes.

As to Tange Mangaloy... its a manganese-molydenum steel alloy....perhaps you're more familiar with Reynold's tubeset using the same alloy.... its called 531 ! Chromium-Molydenum alloys got adopted when they did because they were cheaper to produce.


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## grawbass (Aug 23, 2004)

deadmanschest said:


> Hi bushpig - "Mangaloy" - makes me think of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers saying "Lay-Zer" [finger quotes in air]...
> dmc


An evil Mangaloy tube?

I have an 80 something Centurion road bike with a Mangaloy fork.

Nice thrift store find by the way!


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