26” MTB Commuter Bike Build - Nishiki Alien

Thanks for watching, here’s some links and chapters below!
The handlebar (currently out of stock but enquire as they should get more) www.magiccomponents.work/prod...
Chainring: www.stridsland.com/product-ca...
Stem: Nitto Young
Grips: ESI chunky
Tyres: Specialized Rhythm Lite 26x2.3
Seat: Brooks b17
My instagram: / toastyrides
00:00 intro
00:37 disassembly
05:03 tidying frame
10:57 front end/bar install
13:26 brake cleanup
15:40 hub disassemble/clean
18:03 wheel servicing
19:22 new nipple
21:45 widerange 7 speed
23:37 front hub problem
24:57 front tyre on
26:10 bb/crank install
28:51 rear derailleur shenanigans
34:00 pedals on
34:16 cables & front rack
39:04 seat swap
39:30 ESI grip install
40:01 sticker time!
41:03 ride time!
47:52 finished look
49:57 WHEELIES
50:38 ending hype & thoughts

[@toastyrides]

Thanks for checking the video out! There’s a few parts used in the build listed in the description if you’re curious. See you in the next one coming up in a week or two 😄🤙

[@evanheuchert8029]

Legend has it these frames will fit 26x2.8 tires front and rear… Source: I have the same frame with 2.8s on it.

[@toastyrides]

Haha I’ve seen that too! Can’t remember the rest of the setup but I did see one with huuuge tyres on it. What are the 2.8’s you have stuffed under it? 👏

[@al-du6lb]

in 30 years or whatever, are people going to be fixing up carbon electronic bikes like people do today with steel bikes?

[@toastyrides]

Highly doubt it in the numbers people are doing 80’s/90’s bikes! The new stuff just doesn’t have the character or build quality of the older rigs. As well as the e-bikes get beaten to death, with a shorter life span 😖

[@2NDLIFEBIKES]

Beautiful build as always and mighty fine sticker choices! 🤌🏼

[@houseofsolomon2440]

Steel frames from the 90's is where it's at.

[@toastyrides]

Definitely! Don’t make them like they used to, can’t beat the price point in comfort:class:practicality either 👌

[@dorothyvankomen4109]

Just found your channel after impluse purchasing a small 1992 hardrock. Thanks for explaining the steps you are doing, hopefully I can get it back together.

[@sloebicycles]

oh man, this is epic! such an awesome build and the frame is something else. loving the stem shifter too

[@toastyrides]

Thank you! Stoked with the whole build, had to do the frame justice with a decent selection of bits 😍 haha just felt weird with the thumbie on it, but the stem shifter feels great 👍

[@drill_fiend1097]

That frame is beautiful and one of its own.

[@jeabou_]

Such a sick build dude. What a whacky frame hahaha. I'm super keen to check out those mothbars too 👀

[@jeabou_]

Also what a facial hair journey this video was 😂

[@toastyrides]

So weird aye!haha. The mothbars are awesome, I’ll be grabbing another pair 😂👌 I’m quite tall, but love the backswept bars so knew I’d find a bike that’s a great fit for them. Something that’s tall with a decent length toptube would be a pretty good candidate 🤙 Hahaha I don’t even remember having the Mo 😂

[@johnssonnz]

Great build, glad u gave some love ....i will try find another one 😂 but smaller...belissima my friend

[@toastyrides]

Thanks Michel! Hope you find another haha. Yep this is a huge one, hope the next is a good size for you 😄🤞

[@jacquescelere5693]

One of the most beautiful bike you made. Looks like my Cromega.

[@andypicken7848]

A really distinctive bike made more so by your excellent effort. Thanks for posting. Andy from Birmingham England

[@toastyrides]

Sure is, thank you 🙌 glad you liked the video. Oh awesome, that’s where my mums from! Ha, was made in England but born over here in NZ. Greetings 👋 will have to visit the motherland sometime and see 2ndlifebikes and MonkeyShred 👍

[@jackaimancastle2724]

After i restore my brother old fixie...i luv watch vdo like this...even...i dont have proper tool...really like this👍👍👍👍

[@toastyrides]

Oh sweet! Love a fixie build, awesome to hear you restored it for him 😄🤙 yep don’t need many tools, just use what you can 😎👍 thanks for watching! Happy riding 🤙

[@madisondeans5566]

Toasty does it again!🤯I love this build!! Looks so smooth riding as well,love to find an Alien frame so I could be a copy cat!🤣😉👍

[@toastyrides]

Haha thank you! 🙌 glad to hear, I’m in love with it too! It does ride very smoothly, awesome commuter bike or to roll around town. But still boogies on the trails too 😍 haha. Hope you do find an Alien! Send some photos when you do 😁👌 haha

[@draggonhedd]

Awesome builds as always, I always loved the Alien. Hoping to find one in that crazy fuoro green and purple fade some day. Gonna do a belt drive IGH build with it

[@toastyrides]

Cheers mate! Yeah it’s always been high up there on my list, really surprised when my mate showed it to me! Had to have it 😂 hope you find one, would be really cool 👌 I thought about going belt drive but it’s a bit complicated without horizontal dropouts. You could run a tensioner or eccentric bb converter though, but would make it a lot more expensive

[@johndef5075]

Beautiful bike from the time I started mtbing. I had the u-brake GTs.

[@toastyrides]

Good taste! The old GT’s are lovely, still quite like them. I have an early disc converted Avalanche to build up but only slowly acquiring parts for that, to do it right 👌

[@76v8jeep]

Like that nishiki alien frame, I have a nishiki bravo I converted to a nexus 3 speed with flat bar that I might have to change to something similar to your handlebars. Love riding it!

[@toastyrides]

Awesome frames, they ride really well too 👌 oh sweet, always loved the Nishiki but don’t see too many here unfortunately! Sounds like a sweet build, Nexus are great hubs. The Nitto Albatross is a similar style bar but a bit skinnier for town use or for shorter people 👌

[@CheeseRat12]

That frame looks like it would be a good candidate for a carbon belt drive.

[@toastyrides]

Yes! Would be an easy as swap if it had horizontal dropouts 👌

[@dropthesubjectkiddodropthe5450]

Just the right time.

[@toastyrides]

Hey Arphy! Glad I could provide some Sunday entertainment for ya lunch/breakfast 😁🫡 haha, hope you’ve been doing well!

[@parkstraat9]

Jeuh new gloves 🥳

[@stephena4878]

SO GOOD

[@toastyrides]

Thank you! 🙌

[@StanEby1]

Very cool.

[@toastyrides]

Thanks! Really love the old Nishiki’s, didn’t think I’d own an Alien but glad I jumped on this one. Rides great 😁

[@ozenfant_ozn]

purple beauty!

[@toastyrides]

💜 love some purple bits 🥹

[@ThriftyFramebuilder]

Man, I always wanted one of those. Knew I’d never be able to afford a Mantis. I might have to put an elevated chainstay bike on the “to do” list.

[@toastyrides]

Never thought I’d own one! One of the nicest “realistically could own” e-stays out there I reckon 👌 would be rad to see your version of one! Horizontal dropouts for a belt drive would be cool, but any e-stay will be awesome. 🤙

[@tlister67]

On a road bike with drop bars stem shifters you are stretched over the bike and it seem difficult to adjust them precisely (friction). I think it is just less leverage with the arm position.

[@toastyrides]

I think you’re right there, it’s more awkward to move your hand to when in the drops too! But for upright bikes/bar setups they’re much easier to use

[@bennyjmarston]

Are you ever going to build up that old trek? I keep seeing that and wishing that you would "toastify" it!

[@toastyrides]

Haha it’s not next in the queue I can say that, sorry! It will get done though, it’s in usable condition but small for me. The plan was to build it for a mate in Texas for when he visits, but there’s no date set(yet). I’ll just get it ready ahead of time I think 👌

[@kajkob]

Nice build! I saw a comment somewhere that for friction shifters on old bikes, one should actually use brake cable housing due to the structure of the cable. Do you know if that’s true or have any thoughts ? Thanks

[@motardmike]

Buy yourself a tub of "Mothers" mag wheel polish (it'll last you years). It's the bomb.

[@toastyrides]

Thanks! Yeah the autosol does really well and lasts me a long time, plus because it’s a tube I don’t have to be too careful trying not to contaminate a $50 tub of polish 😅

[@Cobwobbler]

The guy who built my bike did a second gen with elevated chain stays like that. 531 goodness.

[@toastyrides]

That’s a sweet bike! 👌 love an elevated chainstay bike, happy as with this Alien!

[@kleinking364]

Nice I just restored the same bike. No tell me how stiff that front shifting is!!!! oh wait, you went single ring.

[@toastyrides]

Ooh sweet, same colour too?! The white isn’t the best looking of the old colourways, but it sure looks great anyway. It feels normal on the couple bikes I’ve had it on, just looks weird!ha

[@notpablo8369]

Hear me out Custom titanium frame (Nishiki geo and tube design) But in 29" and got boost thru axles and can fit 2.2"-2.6" and disc brake 160mm-180mm

[@toastyrides]

Ooh hot damn that sounds awesome 🤩 don’t know why there aren’t more E-stays around, really cool looking bikes eh! These frames have heaps of tyre clearance too 👌

[@jofishlee]

lovely build. have been on the look out for an alien for an age, not never seen one pop up close enough ☹️. where did you say the all ass no gas sticker was from?

[@toastyrides]

Damn it, Hope one shows up for you! It’s from the Solar Commuter Club Here’s a link 🤙 t.ly/C1w1U

[@jofishlee]

@@toastyrides Ty!

[@myfreakyvalentine]

That stuff at 6:30 wasn't sticker residue that hardened? Really nice bike, by the way!

[@toastyrides]

Not 100% sure! That’s what I thought at first but it was all over the top tube, goo-gone didn’t budge it (but it could’ve been too old to do anything). So it might’ve been a big long wrap around sticker but it would’ve been awkward to put it on with the cable there? But glad it came up nicely, whatever it was 👌

[@splashpit]

Nice , never seen one in the wild here in Melbourne, how often would you come across one in NZ ?

[@toastyrides]

Thank you! Never seen another in person but have seen a couple others for sale in Nz, but very small. A medium-ish modded one did show up here recently online for sale but don’t know what happened to it 🤔 really cool bikes, ride great too 👌

[@cityproofdad]

hi nice vids where do you take baskets from?? i need one for my build i have ridgeback tempest xl 23" and thinking of respray with rapror 1k bedlining in orange??

[@77lukie]

Such a good build, was the purple cable housing nissen? ++ what was the track playing throughout the end of the vid? 45:53

[@toastyrides]

Thanks heaps! Yep Nissen, it’s one of those things I snatch from BlueLug when I order a handlebar or something but otherwise just use local stuff haha. Really nice cables though, great feel considering its coil wound too. Song is a royalty free track “George's Lament” by Go By Ocean / Ryan McCaffrey, nice sound to it 👌

[@KitVonRadical]

I know what you mean about size. I've got an Alien in a 17" frame which really is not quite big enough cuz I'm 5'11" but with a set of BMX bars on I can just about get away with it. They come up so rarely I can't bear to let it go until a bigger frame comes up but nothing in the last couple of years 😬 Pro level cursing btw 😂

[@toastyrides]

Smart move! I couldn’t let it go in that situation either haha. Bmx bars are handy as for undersized frames, good use on a cool Alien though 👏 Hahaha glad you enjoyed the video 😂🤙

[@jdcolnago3]

Do you still have the Healing Micro bike?.....I have one that I restored but I got the frame painted blue...It looks as though they only made them with a silver frame......I love your stuff!

[@toastyrides]

I don’t, I sold it a while ago but was heaps of fun to ride! Yep all of them were silver, really weird bikes but a lot cooler to look at that the Raleigh20 I have a 20 build coming up though! Quite a modified Raleigh20 folder

[@DangerAmbrose]

Flexy frame

[@toastyrides]

No it feels about the same as a similar level diamond frame, not as stiff as some but not as flexy as others either. If my previous alloy AlpineStars AlMega E-stay was a 10 stiffness this would be a 7. 👌 feels very nice!

[@oreocarlton3343]

Really nice tires, where have you found them?

[@toastyrides]

They are! I found them used, they’re not in production anymore that I’ve seen unfortunately. The Specialized Kickr 26 is a sweet sounding 26” tyre though, don’t have any but a mate of mine quite likes them so I’ll pick some up 👍

[@thenormalberries6767]

A guy at the oldest LBS in my town told me that the steel Alien has so much compliance that it could be classified as a softail. Is there any truth to that?

[@mangus8216]

What size frame do you usually go for ? I'm 6'1 but unsure on what i should look for ?

[@toastyrides]

20” and above works for me, some 19” are ok too. Depends on setup, 19/20 with a riser bar feels good but this Nishiki is a couple sizes bigger and the backswept bar feels great. 18-20” if I’m going to dropbar it otherwise the reach on most larger frames gets too long for me 🤙 hope this helps!

[@mangus8216]

@@toastyrides Amazing thanks mate ! moving back to nz later this year you've inspired me :D

[@WelcomT0TheWorld]

whatcha doing with that old trek there?

[@toastyrides]

It’s been on the wall for a few years but will build it up this year 👍 I have a couple other road bikes to build too, a purple Raleigh Dynatech, red Bianchi Veloce(early 2000’s), red Cannondale Cad3 Saeco and an old brown Carlton in 531 tubing! One or two will be rat bikes but will do some period-ish builds for some of them I think.

[@DorkDiscFanClub]

No love for the dork disc? Bogus

[@toastyrides]

The amount of nuked derailleurs on bikes with dork discs has withered my hope 😩 A steel one did come into my possession this week though 👀

[@Donovangulya]

Just wanted to let you know I’m first 😏 (give me a million dollars)

[@toastyrides]

Hahah so quick, I made it public then changed it back as I had to edit a couple things in the description 😂 👏 thanks for checking it out!