Nishiki Tourist Restoration / Singlespeed Conversion

So, I'm a big fan of mixtes.

I don't ride one myself, but I think they're beautiful, and have wanted to build one up for a while, not that I actually have much use for one. Then the other day I realized that all of my bikes were set up for sturdy people over 6 feet tall, which isn't very helpful if I want to go for a ride with a normal sized person that doesn't own a bike, so it was time to look for a decent loaner bike, preferably a mixte.

I began scouring craigslist. Buying a bike off of craigslist is usually a hassle, between digging through the myriad listings for Magnas, Murrays, Roadmasters, Pacifics, Motivs, Micargis, and the other bike shaped objects, and finding that most of the decent deals have already been snapped up.

But I managed to locate a few, especially a Univega Mixte down in Long Beach, and a couple of Nishikis (one mixte, one woman's frame), also in Long Beach about a mile and a half away from the Univega.

So I drove down to take a look.

The Univega was BEAUTIFUL. It had been built up by a guy with a bike workshop in his garage for his wife, but then she injured her food and lost interest in cycling, so he put it up for sale at an absurdly low price. I took a look, saw how immaculate it was, took it for a short test ride, and handed over the cash, all in the space of about 5 minutes.

Then I drove over to look at the Nishikis. They were not as beautiful, but they were cheap, and bikes always look prettier at night, so I bought them also, figuring I'd just throw on some new tires and tubes, and put them up for sale again at a bit of a markup to help pay for the Univega.

So, not all that long after thinking that it'd be fun to have a mixte as a loaner bike, I was headed home the owner of three new bikes.

The Univega didn't need any work at all, so that one was easy.

I decided to start with one of the Nishikis, the FFS Tourist.

So called, because it featured one of the more bizarre bicycle drivetrains made, the Shimano Front Freewheel System, aptly described as a "solution in search of a problem." Basically, unlike your average bicycle, which has fixed front chainrings, and then a freewheel mounted to the rear wheel, the Shimano FFS drivetrain has the freewheel built into the crank, like so:

Yeah, it's a pretty horrible system, even BEFORE you notice that it has cottered cranks.

I contemplated getting it rideable as it was, but it's really not fair to sell something that awful to an unsuspecting member of the public, as not only is the crank unlike anything else before or since (with the possible exception of some niche trials bikes), but the rear wheel has semi-fixed cogs, which means that the rear wheel would also be tricky to replace.

Given that I'd bought these bikes to have a project, I decided I might as well go all 0ut and actually turn this bike into something that someone might want to actually ride, with a drivetrain that someone other than an acolyte of Sheldon Brown might recognize.

So it was off the the Bikerowave, to grab large tools, and cheater bars and penetrating oil, to go ahead and get the bike dismantled.

In a matter of hours, I had the bike converted from this:

To this:

With most of the FFS drivetrain vigorously tossed into the recycling bin. (The rear wheel had a standard freewheel threading under the bizarre cogset, which was nice.)

I tossed many of the smaller parts into the parts cleaner and went after them with steel wool to get the rust off, and began by greasing and reassembling the headset.

Disassembled, the fork and threaded headset look like this:

 Then it was a simple matter of putting them back on, in order, starting with pressing in the headset cups,

then reassembling everything in order.

Then reinstall the handlebars and brakes, run the brake cables and housing, and you've got something that's starting to begin to resemble a bicycle.

(Old bikes have some cool random touches sometimes, like this brake cable pulley.)

Then it was time to install the bottom bracket, cranks (hint, use allen headed crank bolts, that way you can tighten them with an allen wrench / multi-tool instead of a socket wrench), pedals, and screw a singlespeed freewheel on to the rear wheel.

I lucked out, and the chainline was fairly straight, so the wheel didn't have to be redished.

Added the seat and front wheel, and it was really starting to look bikelike.

So I tightened the brakes, added a chain (gold, to match the lettering and give it a little bling), added grips, tightened and aligned everything, and it was ready for a test ride.

(I let Bikerowave colleague JD do the honors, as the bike's a little small for me.)


It worked GREAT!

What had been an old bike with a marginally useable drivetrain was now a rebuilt and roadworthy singlespeed.

No longer an FFS Tourist, it's now just a Tourist.

It came out pretty nice.

Now to find it a new owner in time for CicLAvia.

If you've ever wondered why bike shops don't sell used bikes,imagine trying to make a profit while paying your mechanics a remotely reasonable hourly rate (much less a living wage in Southern California) to do this on an ongoing basis.

Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for a factory worker in China is around 75 cents, that's why the bike shop near you is selling new bikes made in Asia, and not restoring old bikes here in town.

Old bikes ARE fun though, so if you can find one you like, and are willing to put a little time, effort, and money into making it roadworthy once again, it can be worth it, especially if you like the lively feeling that old steel provides, which (for most) is MUCH nicer than the harsh ride of an aluminum frame, light and stiff though aluminum is.

Now I just need to spend more time turning the pedals, and less time turning wrenches.