I've been out of bike commuting / touring for about 18 months while focusing on restoring a couple motorized projects. I've been missing it, but with most of my hobby money into the other projects, I was on a tight budget.
Luckily, I came across a decent condition Miyata 210 light touring bike for $50, which is perfect for me. High quality, good components, but low enough of a model that I won't be tempted to do a full restoration and sale.
Happy Riding!
Luckily, I came across a decent condition Miyata 210 light touring bike for $50, which is perfect for me. High quality, good components, but low enough of a model that I won't be tempted to do a full restoration and sale.
Happy Riding!
I've been working on other projects for a while, and it was time to put together a new bike for the spring. I recently found a decent condition Miyata 210, which by its serial number appears to be a 1983 frame.
The Miyata 210 was the entry level touring bike in the Miyata line, with straight gauge cromoly frame tubes and a hi tensile steel fork. After working on bikes that fell much higher on the model hierarchy in the Cromoly, double butted Univega Specialissima and the columbus tubed Italvega last year, I was expecting the 210 to feel very heavy. It doesn't. It's a very similar ride to the Univega Specialissima I rode last year, with possibly a bit more top tube length, although I haven't measured. It's a reminder that the improvements these bikes made were incremental, and the actual reliability and performance differences between many of these frames are probably not as extreme as their advertising materials indicated.
The nice thing about this bike is that I've got a nice riding, decent condition cromoly touring bike with alloy components for a very low price, and it's a low enough model that the low resale value will probably keep me from flipping it, allowing me to finally hold onto one of the bikes I build!
So far, I've been able to resist a full restoration; I changed out the seat, bars, brake levers and shifters, swapping for a brooks B17 and old light aluminum drop bars with aero brake levers, vintage ratcheting friction barend shifters, and new cables and housings. The bike works perfectly, so I'll probably ride it out this summer and do a complete disassemble/reassemble next fall.
So far, I've been able to resist a full restoration; I changed out the seat, bars, brake levers and shifters, swapping for a brooks B17 and old light aluminum drop bars with aero brake levers, vintage ratcheting friction barend shifters, and new cables and housings. The bike works perfectly, so I'll probably ride it out this summer and do a complete disassemble/reassemble next fall.
