# VISTA Islena...say what?...



## HARPO (Jul 19, 2019)

OK, here's one I never heard of! 

I bought this because it was only 6 blocks from my house and it was still with its original owner since 1982! Bike was given to her (yes _her_) as a Graduation gift from college, and she used it to tour Italy and England that summer. Considering the miles its seen, pretty nice shape. Its been sitting for years, she told me, so it was time to let it go.

Components are pretty cool...Suntour...Dia-Compe...Araya (considering they made the frame and 700c rims)...631 frame tubing...???. I haven't even gone over it thoroughly yet, but the story behind it was cool as was the *final price...$40...*

In anyone has any insight into the bike, PLEASE let me know. Not much on the interweb about it!


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## HARPO (Jul 19, 2019)




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## CavemanJoe (Jul 19, 2019)

That Araya 631 sticker looks a little like the Raleigh USA 555 stickers from back then, which look alot like the Reynolds 531 stickers. It seems that if it were other than hi-ten they probably would have/should have said so on the sticker. Just common sense marketing. That Jim Blackburne rack was almost worth the $40. Nice project! How many miles on that cyclometer?


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## CavemanJoe (Jul 19, 2019)

BTW, check out the $7.80 gum wall Kenda tires online at Bikesmiths in Milwaukee. They would work!


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## HARPO (Jul 20, 2019)

CavemanJoe said:


> That Araya 631 sticker looks a little like the Raleigh USA 555 stickers from back then, which look alot like the Reynolds 531 stickers. It seems that if it were other than hi-ten they probably would have/should have said so on the sticker. Just common sense marketing. That Jim Blackburne rack was almost worth the $40. Nice project! How many miles on that cyclometer?




Bike doesn't weigh as much as it looks like it should, so maybe it's something decent...until someone can find out for sure. And yes, Bikesmiths usually always have the best prices on tires. Usually the 700c tires are so much more anywhere else.

Oh, and the Cyclometer shows *649.2* miles...


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## HARPO (Jul 20, 2019)

The model name of the bike sounds like it belongs on an island near Jurassic Park...


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## PCHiggin (Jul 20, 2019)

Is that the same VISTA that made the Schwinn middleweight knock offs?


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## Mr.RED (Jul 20, 2019)

I had a Vista Silver Shadow before all Shimano 600 AB group cool bike and from a distance the tubing decal looks like a Reynolds 531 sticker .


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## HARPO (Jul 20, 2019)

Cleanup is coming along quite nicely. Check out the difference in the front forks... a Peugeot chrome fork would have been toast. Have to love the 80's frames from Japan!





Also, to my surprise, the spokes are stainless steel. I'm going to assume that the bike was at the higher mid-range grouping.


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## HARPO (Jul 20, 2019)




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## juvela (Jul 20, 2019)

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Looks like you got all of your questions answered over "at the other place."   

Looking forward to enjoying all of the post-lavandation _imagini._

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## HARPO (Jul 20, 2019)

juvela said:


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> Looks like you got all of your questions answered over "at the other place."
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"The Other Place" seems to have a lot of people like you there.


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## juvela (Jul 21, 2019)

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HARPO said:


> "The Other Place" seems to have a lot of people like you there.




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Onleigh waaaaaaaaaay mo' schmartuh!  :eek:


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## HARPO (Jul 21, 2019)

juvela said:


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Nah...You’re the biggest smart ass I know...


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## Scott1963 (Sep 8, 2019)

I have this bike! Same color, I got it new in ‘82, yours has the original seat and bar tape! I haven’t found anything online about these, $40 is a steal. I rode this daily for two years in the eighties, it’s light, solid, and fast. Fully lugged    frame, I loved the brakes and shifters when I was riding this. I think it was $400 then, in Conn. SO cool to see this,


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## HARPO (Sep 10, 2019)

@Scott1963  Bike was sold after I detailed it. Didn't last long, but it was to small a frame for me to keep. Yours looks Beautiful!


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## Jeff54 (Sep 10, 2019)

Although I haven't checked nore the means to do so. As Japan probably made the 1970's 'Vista 'Schwinn knock offs and was where Schwinn's lugged lightweights came from in 70'-80's. And Accordingly, Japan quit Schwinn or upped the Annie,  once they'd acquired the rights from Schwinn. Give odds that these later Vista's are the same as Schwinn's super LeTour,  potentially, as for the lug striping  ( Upscale) possibly Voyagers too. Schwinn's higher end but, below the Paramount  type.


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## dtbvett (Jan 24, 2022)

HARPO said:


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I have the same bike that I bought new in 1983. I still have it. It hangs in the garage now days lol


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## Scott1963 (Jan 25, 2022)

Ha! That’s pretty cool, of the twelve plus complete bikes I have, this is the one I will have until the end.


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## CavemanJoe (Jan 28, 2022)

2 1/2 years later, and I stumble across a deal on a Vista Silver Shadow with a Shimano 600 (Ultegra) group. A very nicely made bike with exceptionally nice forged ends.  They seem to have been made by Araya, and you will note the serial number starts with "ARY".  I had once passed up another Vista (Silver Shadow) because I associated them with their knockoff Schwinn Varsity.  I am kicking myself now!


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## bulldog1935 (Feb 27, 2022)

Vista was the sleeper quality Japan bike of the late 70s.  
My buddy Stevo sold his Silver Shadow when he thought it was passe in the 80s, and has kicked himself since.


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## CavemanJoe (Feb 27, 2022)

I recently bought a Silver Shadow that really changed my mind about Vista. It appears to have been made by Araya. It has Shimano adjustable rear dropouts, Shimano 600 components and bar-end shifters. Like many things, sometimes you have to pay more attention to the product than to the label.


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## bulldog1935 (Mar 31, 2022)

Blackburn racks rule.


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## Arnold Ziffel (Apr 1, 2022)

That VISTA is a good bike.   I would lose the drilled brake levers.  I don't trust them as the lever would tend to break in use after they were five years old.  After 40+ years,  I wouldn't want to have part of the lever crack and break off while riding it.  It wouldn't cause you problems unless you were hauling down a steep hill full blast in a triathlon or something and needed to brake.  Other than that if the lever cracked, you'd likely have enough with using the other lever for rear wheel to ride home from anywhere if you didn't challenge any downhill runs.
No kidding,  I would seriously install vintage non drilled levers ,  pirated from some other ancient bicycle.   Those were just a dumb factory idea to look cool and to pretend to show prospective 10 speed buyers that this Vista model was concerned with reducing overall weight.   Lots of idiots seemed to find that those stupid drilled levers sealed the deal for them ,  in buying such a bicycle.
Other than that, it is a pretty good old bike with Japanese Maeda SUNTOUR stuff which is far superior to anything from Campagnolo, Simplex, or Huret from that time.    

I think that the folks that marketed VISTA bicycles simply  copied ( stole)  the names from automobiles of distinction in the same way that many American bike manufacturers of the fifties and sixties copied (stole) the names of popular automobiles.
ROLLS-ROYCE produced the SILVER SHADOW from 1966 through 1980.  It had to be the most popular Rolls-Royce of all time, during that era,  as  more Rolls-Royces were produced and sold during those years than during any other before or since then.
I may be wrong but Lamborghini made a model called the Islero, in the mid to late sixties, perhaps Islena was a name VISTA marketers thought would sound like an Italian sports car's name,   who knows.
I seem to recall that the first VISTA models marketed were targeted at the Varsity and dept store 10 speed buyers.  Their ads seemed to suggest that you'd get Schwinn like durability & quality  at nearly the ordinary typical dept store 10 speed's pricing.
They purposely designed a white Schwinn like headbadge that wasn't oval but said V I S T A  in vertical fashion in a badge of approximately the same size as the iconic Schwinn oval white badge with SCHWINN in black letters.

Unfortunately,  most VISTA bicycles came in factory paint colors that were mostly  bland  and unmemorable.  I often wondered if the marketers of VISTA  saved money and found it more cost effective,  or just got a better deal on bland, basic colors that weren't very snazzy.   Perhaps the marketers of VISTA just lacked style & imagination in ability to choose paint coloring,  but those folks marketing the VISTA line of bikes did do an excellent job of putting together very decent overall bikes for the price that they sold for.

Many various brands did subscribe to that fad with the drilled levers being visibly indicative of a higher line, more sporty, lighter bike.     All of those alloy drilled levers  will BREAK.     It is beyond ridiculous because the weight savings from those holes is really about nothing.     It does look cool,  but they don't improve braking in any way,  but they almost guarantee breaking at sometime while you're riding it,  and that is never too fun.    REPLACE THOSE WITH NON DRILLED LEVERS BEFORE YOU DO ANY SERIOUSLY FAST RIDING OF THE BICYCLE DOWN HILLS,  OR  BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO RIDE IT IN A SPRINT TRIATHLON JUST FOR THE HECK OF RIDING A NEAT OLD BASIC VINTAGE BIKE JUST TO SHOW IT CAN BE DONE WITH RESPECTABLE RESULTS IF YOU'RE IN FIT ATHLETIC SHAPE FOR YOUR AGE.   You'll likely get more attention from being the person who rode the really antique bike to a respectable showing,  than  the attention that many folks riding bikes with five thousand dollar wheelsets will get.


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## bulldog1935 (Apr 1, 2022)

horse hockey.
My parts bin has the drilled Weinmann levers that came on my '76 Raleigh Grand Prix.  No question they worked through 10,000 hard miles.
(actually, they're on a really nice Maes cockpit with GB forged stem and leather wrap)
The broken Zeus lever I have as a souvenir from a fall, didn't break at the drilled holes, but at the solid tip - it also had ample opportunity to break.

As much as I loved my Raleigh Grand Prix - especially for the paint, and it was built to fit me - my buddy's Silver Shadow was a better bicycle and cost $40 (20%) less.   Tange butted tubing, Shimano 600 components, allloy rims, a usable saddle.  Fuji didn't offer a bike of that quality.  Vista was the good buy in the late '70s bike market that Miyata-built Univega was in the '80s.

If you bought a Vista, your money bought a bicycle, not a name or a badge.
The same money would get you a Varsity, and you could be like the rest of your sorority sisters.
Also pretty sure you're yet another log-in for the same perverse poster who already posts as two different forum iconoclasts, argues with your other log-ins, and wouldn't know how to ride a bicycle -   still an asswhole after all these years.


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