MarkKBike
Finally riding a big boys bike
I picked up this Miyata Three Ten about a month ago, but stashed it away in the garage until now.
I used to own a new Miyata Cross Bike in the late 80's. After it was purchased I still had a late growth spurt left in me, but held on to that old Miyata until last year even though it was a little small for me.
When I found this one at a resale shop, there were already two other guys looking at it speaking some foreign language. The only words I could understand them saying is "No Schwinn". I new I wanted the bike the instant I saw it, and was hoping they would not purchase it. After they walked away, I checked it out and saw a 10$ price tag, I couldn't pass that up even if it was "No Schwinn".
I've mentioned this before, but my best fitting street bike I rode last summer was a Schwinn Letour.
This Miyata matches the Schwinn in frame size at 58cm, but has a shorter wheel base. The slanted back seatpost makes it fit almost identical to the way I had the Letour setup. On the Schwinn the tires are about 13 1/2" apart, on the Miyata they are a little closer at 12 1/2" apart. I also weighed the two bikes on my Grandfathers ("Vintage High Tech", but maybe Inaccurate Scale), and found the Miyata to be about a pound lighter coming in at 26 pounds as opposed to 27 pounds, the difference is most likely in the wheels.
All the snow in the Chicago area melted last night for the first time since Christmas, I just pumped up the tires and took the Miyata for a quick and short wet ride. I think I'm going to like this one! It might just be enough to force me to sell my beloved Letour. It will need a little work to ride smoothly, but not too much. So far I replaced the seat, and put my time pedals on. The cables have a cracked housing and will need to be replaced, and the wheels will need a slight truing.
I'm surprised those other guys didn't pick it up, but am happy to replace my old Miyata.
I used to own a new Miyata Cross Bike in the late 80's. After it was purchased I still had a late growth spurt left in me, but held on to that old Miyata until last year even though it was a little small for me.
When I found this one at a resale shop, there were already two other guys looking at it speaking some foreign language. The only words I could understand them saying is "No Schwinn". I new I wanted the bike the instant I saw it, and was hoping they would not purchase it. After they walked away, I checked it out and saw a 10$ price tag, I couldn't pass that up even if it was "No Schwinn".
I've mentioned this before, but my best fitting street bike I rode last summer was a Schwinn Letour.
This Miyata matches the Schwinn in frame size at 58cm, but has a shorter wheel base. The slanted back seatpost makes it fit almost identical to the way I had the Letour setup. On the Schwinn the tires are about 13 1/2" apart, on the Miyata they are a little closer at 12 1/2" apart. I also weighed the two bikes on my Grandfathers ("Vintage High Tech", but maybe Inaccurate Scale), and found the Miyata to be about a pound lighter coming in at 26 pounds as opposed to 27 pounds, the difference is most likely in the wheels.
All the snow in the Chicago area melted last night for the first time since Christmas, I just pumped up the tires and took the Miyata for a quick and short wet ride. I think I'm going to like this one! It might just be enough to force me to sell my beloved Letour. It will need a little work to ride smoothly, but not too much. So far I replaced the seat, and put my time pedals on. The cables have a cracked housing and will need to be replaced, and the wheels will need a slight truing.
I'm surprised those other guys didn't pick it up, but am happy to replace my old Miyata.
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