No. Here's the lowdown on the earliest Nishiki e-stays
as I understand it, along with some pics:
1989 - Alien, Tange Prestige steel, white with purple pearl clearcoat & black decals. 1" head tube. Seat-tube lug has a swooshy "N" cutout on the left & right. sides All Deore XT.
1990 - Alien, Tange Prestige steel, white with black splatter & teal decals. Same exact geometry as the 1989 except with 1 1/8" head tube & no swooshy "N" cut into the seat tube lug. All Deore XT.
1990 - Alien ACX,, Aluminum/Chromoly X(perimental?), aluminum front triangle, chromoly bolt-on rear triangle, head tube & welds around the saddle crack if you look at it sideways. All Deore XT.
1990 - Ariel, Chromoly steel, white with purple decals, geometry matches 1990 Alien. All Deore DX. You can zoom into the attached pic to see part of the seat-tube decal stating "4130 Thin Wall Butted Tubing". See pics below and note the similarity in the decals to the bike for sale posted above.
Over the next 3 years or so, Nishiki went on to make over a couple dozen different varieties of e-stays, including all-aluminum Aliens, all-steel Ariels, Cascades, a Pinnacle, and a few more for the Canadian and European markets. I think I have versions of all but a couple Nishiki e-stays, all buried in storage until I can retire in a couple of years (Got a Nishiki e-stay to sell? Then I'm your guy.....unless I already own what you got......like this Ariel)
I think I just obligated myself to immortalizing all of my Nishiki e-stays online for all to benefit, including pics, weights, measurements, and any and all documentation available, but it won't happen for a couple of years yet. Meanwhile, check my previous posts for more info. Grab a shovel and dig in!
Thanks
@setspeed for the magazine article. More documentation is always appreciated but unsubstantiated info just introduces confusion, hence my rant above. This type of confusion has been introduced here on RB before, but reports of Richard Cunningham's death are greatly exaggerated. Note my qualifying statement above, "as I understand it", based on about a dozen years of research and collecting.
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