Gear Gallery……The Quotidian Nishiki Sport
Nishiki Sport Mixte
The Nishiki is a great city bike. The upright position is so comfortable (the height of the handlebars really contributes to this) that I ride it instead of my Guerciotti or Ebisu on errands around town.
I use it for trips to the Post Office, the Coffee Roastery, the Good Earth, the Scoop, Gestalt Haus, Fat Angel, and (especially) the hardware store. I’ve carried four cans of paint (two one-gallon cans and two one-quart cans) by using the front basket and then hanging one of the gallon cans around the handlebar grip. I’ve also carried 10 eight-foot strips of redwood lathe.
What I’ve added: a front basket, a kickstand, a bell, new tires, an extra long seat post (so I could get the seat up high enough to make the smallish frame fit better), and a halogen flashlight that I wedge in the basket for night riding.
What I’d like to add in the future: fenders, a bigger basket, mounted head and taillights, maybe an internal gear hub, and ultimately a full conversion to the 650B wheel size so I can use wider tires.
That’s a nice bike. If I could find an old mixte my size I’d ride it everywhere. I picked up an early 80s Univega mixte for my wife. I plan to have it rebuilt by this spring. It came equipped with some Shimano 600 arabesque parts.
Myles/ rattrappress
18 Dec 09 at 3:18 pm
Univega, cool! Finding a large size is the hard part. My Nishiki is a little small, but with the long seat post it’s not a bad fit. Still, my hunt for the perfect mixte continues.
fridaycyclotouriste
18 Dec 09 at 6:57 pm
Thanks, Nathan,
Nice graphics, keep me on your list’
Tom
tom schneider
8 Mar 10 at 9:53 pm