Make: Miyata
Model: 912
Year: 1979
Obtained: April 2011
Found: Garage Sale
Paid: $25.00
If there is a bike I can point to as the start of my old 10 speed obsession it would be the Miyata 912. I had spent the winter and spring pouring over Randy's excellent
Mytenspeeds site and I think by that time I had discovered
OTSG and
Hugh's bicycle blog as well. Yes I had come down with the old steel 10 speed bug
big time. In April there was a local garage sale where a block had got together to raise money for the Japanese Tsunami disaster relief. I thought it might be a chance to try to find a bike and practice my garage sale skills. I arrive and find myself in a big backyard with wall to wall "stuff" none of which is a bike, so I wander into the garage where there is even more stuff but again no bicycle...until I look up. Hanging from the rafters is what appears to be an old 10 speed! I was so excited I didn't really even inspect it (Dumb) but found the lady who appeared to be in charge and asked "
So is that bike in the garage, the one in the rafters, for sale?" she says "
its my husbands but he told me I could sell it, how much?" I answer with the first number that comes into my head "
how about $25?" she gets a great big grin on her face and says "
That's great!". As I am handing over my $$ she explains her husband used to commute on it a "few" years ago. After paying the nice lady I go claim my prize and based on the dust on the frame and the cobwebs in the wheels I realize a "few" years ago might have been 20. Once I am in the light I start seeing things that make my 10 speed nerd heart race; forged not stamped drop outs, gold lug lining, aluminum wheels, and -be still my heart- Shimano 600 Arabesque down tube shifters - YAHOO!
When I got home I did a bit more research and found that the Miyata 912 was a solid middle of the Miyata range sport-touring bike. (1981 catalog shot -oldest I could find)
In addition to the normal dusty-musty-needs-alot-of-TLC factor this bike does have a few issues.
Its brake hoods are beyond salvation- my neighbor (a cyclist) described them as looking like "old bacon" apt.
While being stored upside down in the garage moisture had collected between the rear brake cable (running the length of the top tube) in spots and caused the paint to bubble and start some surface rust. The crank was a funky triple combo of 48/46/28 which I found out from my LBS was called a mountain triple back in the day with the small ring as a bail out for hills. That wasn't going to fly for the riding I intended, oh I forgot the best part -the bike was MY SIZE! I would discover in the coming months that finding a bike that really fit was not so easy.
I spent the next few weeks very carefully disassembling the bike while referencing
Zinn and the Art of road bike maintenance (my shop manual), Sheldon Brown and Mytenspeeds websites for instruction and inspiration. carefully sanding the rusty blistered spot on the top tube and painting it -thank god for black! I finally had it taken apart cleaned up and ready for being built back up.
I went with a cyclo-cross compact setup of 48/34 using the original Sugino crank. I was inspired to spend some long hours getting this bike together so I could ride it on a fairly flat metric century I had promised to do with a friend in Salem Oregon in early May. The bike rode like a champ and got some nice compliments.
I made several changes over the next year to the Miyata; a longer stem for better fit, wider bars (vintage Cinelli Giro D' italia), a new freewheel rear hub wheel-set from
Velo Orange (the original rear came with an odd freewheel/cassette hybrid that started to fail), a nice brooks saddle and some spiffy whitewall red tread Panaracer tires. Its probably a bit over the top but the least I could do for the bike that got me hooked on old steel.
Ride.Smile.Repeat
