Well at least I won't hold him to his statement that he would pay my price if I could prove it was original paint.
Finding another just like it, well the splatter is totally different but the colors and decals are exactly the same as my Raleigh was a true blessing and the verification I needed to prove it's not a one of a kind bike but a rare one as I've only seen 3 in 50plus years of life.
the first one i saw after my cascade was stolen as I was eyeing every bike I saw but I was driving in one direction and he in another, I tell you I wanted to turn around and make an offer... To replace my cascade. But I didn't Soo when I saw this one pop up, I didn't hesitate... I jumped on it. The first one I say was in Cali just before I moved away in 99. Then this one popped up then your friends dared me to prove it was original paint and struck gold when I came across the jofogas.hu pictures. I'm going to take pictures just like the ones in Hungary so everyone who looks at the ad can compare splatter for themselves. Yes the price is now 1800.00 but only because it's no longer for sale and if someone is crazy enough to pay that, I'm crazy enough to let em have it. It's eBay, you throw a large number and wait for the right person to talk you down or a lottery winner to sees the ad.
its the fees that make eBay prices crazy and now the new tax laws, prices will continue to go up as people will fear falling short by the end of the year and one mistake in the 1099k filing... People are gonna need the extra money.
Miggy,
You’ve got me all wrong, bud. If you had read my earlier post, you’d see that I thought you were NOT a scammer, but that I
suspected that the guys that you referred to (“yahoobikeguy” and the “bike king”), either didn’t know what they were talking about, or they lied to you because they might be scammers. In addition, I never "dared" you to prove anything; I only asked.
This is the exact info I sent to you:
With all due respect, there are many things about this story that are factually untrue. If you are simply passing on information given to you by word-of-mouth, then either those people you spoke with were wrong, or they were lying to you.
I worry that the “bike king” you referred to made up the whole story to try to sell you a purported ultra-rare, first-of-its-kind bike. In other words, you may have been scammed by the previous owner.
Here are a few facts (you can verify all this on the internet):
• Richard Cunningham started Mantis in 1981.
• He licensed his elevated chainstay design to Nishiki in 1988.
• He was editor of Mountain Bike Action from 1993 to 2001.
• He was editor-at-large from 2001 to 2010.
• He was the Technical Editor at PinkBike from 2011 to January 1, 2020.
• He’s now retired, and unless he died VERY recently, he’s still alive.
There’s a LOT of information about Richard Cunningham on the internet, but absolutely NO mention of Raleigh bicycles. These days it’s very easy for anyone to make decals (or have them made by someone else) and stick them on any bike. If I put a Rolls Royce decal on my Toyota, it’s still a Toyota.
I was curious about the picture of the serial number you sent as I thought it looked like a Nishiki SN, so I checked a couple of my Nishiki’s, specifically 1990 steel Aliens, and those SNs match the same format and design as the one in your picture.
As I was looking at your bike, I suddenly came to the realization that it is most likely a 1990 steel Nishiki Alien (originally painted white with black splatter) and someone likely removed the original decals and painted candy blue overtop of the original paint so that the black splatter is visible through the candy blue. They then likely stuck some custom-made decals on top of the candy blue.
Seeing as it’s a bike from a large manufacturer, I think it not likely that RC or anyone at Nishiki made a “special” candy blue over white with black splatter Alien, but RC himself would be the best form of authentication if you could reach him somehow. Perhaps the folks at Pinkbike can put you in touch with him.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures of a NOS 1990 steel Nishiki Alien. This one is a 17" bike. Note the paint job and the serial number.
If I were you, for your own sake and for the sake of your credibility on eBay, I’d refrain from stating info that I couldn’t back up with authentication of some kind. In addition, the 1990 steel Nishiki Alien is an AWESOME bike, and if it fits, I’d keep it and ride it if I were you.
I hope none of this comes across as being harsh – that was not my intent – I’m just trying to help. All that said, if you could prove it’s more than just a 1990 Alien, I’d definitely be interested, otherwise I’m going to have to pass on this one.
Good luck.
I also added:
It would be no problem to completely disassemble, prep & mask a bike and then shoot a coat of catalyzed candy blue over the frame and forks, and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the hardened catalyzed paint and a factory job hardened in an oven. It would take awhile to paint it, but who knows why someone would want to spray paint over a factory paint job?
There are some shops that can do amazing things with a spectrophotometer to match paint and decals made on a computer; Joe Bell is one, and CyclArt is another.
Anyone here is free to weigh in on the accuracy of the facts that I was able to quickly glean from the internet.
As for giggles, your statement to me was as follows:
“I wouldn t put it past a stranger to lie to me but he had nothing to gain except giggles behind my back.
Sad someone would go through the trouble in a bike forum but I guess some people look for entertainment anywhere they can get it.”
I spent (and continue to spend) a lot of time and care to inform you that there are so many untrue statements in your description that I thought it best to approach this situation with objectivity and diplomacy, as opposed to sarcasm, but I see that in spite of my best efforts to be civil, unassuming, and polite, you nonetheless seem to view me as the enemy. I never accused you of anything; I gave you the benefit of the doubt and assumed that you were simply mislead by someone else.
In addition, for all I know, the other pics you sent may well be pics of the same bike posted by a previous owner. Furthermore, those pics are by no means proof that Nishiki, Raleigh, or even Derby sold bikes under the Raleigh name. A catalog, a magazine article, or a first-hand account from the manufacturer would lend credence to your story, but unsubstantiated statements don’t convince me, neither do I think that they convince most people. My being skeptical is by no means a personal attack against you in anyway; I think you're taking this way too personally.
As for my “collector” status, it’s true, but I never claimed to be an expert. As is typical in this hobby, manufacturers back in the day were making money so fast and pumping out new designs so frequently that I doubt (although I can always be proved wrong) that detailed, accurate records of models, serial numbers, etc. were kept during that time. It’s this Retrobike community that has collectively attempted to piece together the past history of that era, and as such, we’re always welcoming new information regarding the hobby, and every now and then that happens, and when unsubstantiated stories crop up, we’re always open to the possibility that perhaps there’s some type of authentication that can provide a measure of validation to that story, but in this case, I have yet to see it.
I’ll admit I had a laugh at your YouTube video, but you’ve got to expect that type of thing whenever you post videos on the internet. My intention in attempting to determine the facts about this bike, however, have been nothing but honorable, diplomatic, objective, and without malice of any kind.
I had no intent to insult you in any way, and I think you’re letting your pride get in the way of an objective discussion regarding the authenticity of this bike as being a factory issue. If you want to angry at anyone it should probably be “yahoobikeguy” or the “bike king”, or both (if they are the source of your "facts"), and I think that it would be easy to understand that buyers and collectors are going to want proof of authenticity of ANY item for sale, regardless of the perceived credibility (or lack thereof) of the story behind it.
Finally, for the record, although you’ve only seen 3 in 50plus years of life, this is the first I’ve heard of this bike in 60plus years of life. That said, neither years on this earth, nor photos from the internet, nor apparent hearsay is ever going to prove anything. I stand by my original statement that I’d pay your (original) price if you can provide verifiable authentication of your statements. So there you have it, a willing buyer ready to send you cash, and all you have to do is provide indisputable proof of that bike’s “pedigree”. The ball is entirely in your court, yet you seem to want to dig in your heels regarding your unsubstantiated story and, in fact, by your own admission, you're telling everyone here that you're the type of guy who would raise your price in the hopes of selling it to somebody who is “crazy enough to pay that”, which is exactly what I was concerned about in the first place.
