Nishiki (bicycle company) Nishiki (bicycle company) Nishiki is a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by "West Coast Cycle" in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cycle Co. in Kobe, Japan, and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the "American Eagle" brand beginning in 1965 and later under the "Nishiki" brand until 2001. Throughout the U.S. bike boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Nishiki and "West Coast Cycle" competed with domestic companies including Schwinn, Huffy, and Murray; European companies including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane—as well as other nascent Japanese brands including Miyata, Fuji,
Raleigh Chopper to a T-bar-style shifter. (The early 1969 'Tall frame' model already sported the T-bar style, albeit in black with the elliptical window within the shifter cover.) The frame was subtly revised, and the seat moved forward, to help prevent the front of the bicycle tipping up. A small rear rack was added. The handlebars were welded to the stem to stop children from inclining the "ape hanger" bars backward, thereby rendering the bicycle almost unsteerable. A drop-handlebar version, the Sprint, was also produced, this differed from the standard Mk 2, as it had a slightly taller frame. The Chopper Mk