The Nishiki Bravo was a hard-frame primitive hybrid or mountain bike from the 1990s. Part one of the project and the work done previously are here.
My plan was to finish it by buying an old flea market road bike rear wheel for easy, cheap single-speed conversion since I already have a nice Shimano 17-tooth single cog freewheel. Here’s what I did first.
A Shimano sealed bottom bracket of 73mm standard fit perfectly; black alloy Vero crankset equipped with orange flat light plastic pedals, 40-tooth chainring.
Front brake was a Raleigh and the rear a vintage Dia Compe, both alloy ‘side-pulls’.
I planned to use this front wheel and tire of unknown provenance or origin, coincidentally same size as stock.
‘Horizontal drop-outs’ are why old bike frames are used for fixie/SS conversions, easy chain tension adjustment.
I’m a ‘cro-mo’ man.
I hung it on the fence while I’m shopping the flea market. Looks sharp, almost done, I think.
But the best laid plans o’ mice and men…
I did find a wheel-set for $23, the two on the right.
Unfortunately for completing the Nishiki Bravo project, I also found the above superficially rusted but actually near new-old-stock ’90s Raleigh Horizon City Sport hybrid or ‘comfort bike’ from Taiwan for $25. And a nice Planet Bike male pattern seat for $8.
I stopped work on the Nishiki, stripped the bars, tall quill stem and front wheel to use on the Raleigh; along with the new used flea market rear wheel. And hung the Bravo project in the rafters for another day.
So instead of a single-speed Nishiki Bravo completion, look for a fully geared up and lightened up Raleigh Horizon City Sport bike, a rare challenge for me.
Actually it’s my second build of one of these bikes, the first above, and here, looking very similar from nearly five years ago when this blog was young and exclusively about bike building. And my big goal was getting a bike posted on Fixed Gear Gallery.
Unless noted, all text and images created and copyright owned by todgermanica.com. Contact for noncommercial content reuse.
