Miyata 610 tourer

[MarkKBike]

In the first pick there are some thin wire gizmo's (for lack of a better word), that attach near the brakes and suspend over the tires, what the heck are those things? The reason I ask is I also had a bike that had them. I ended up taking them off, and was thinking that they might have been used to clear mud from the tires or something. I was wondering if this was indeed the purpose?

 

[Mr.RED]

yeah the wire gizmos I believe are for keeping the tires from getting debris stuck in the threads .

 

[bulldog1935]

yeah the wire gizmos I believe are for keeping the tires from getting debris stuck in the threads .

Tire savers, tire wipers, flint catchers - the idea is a shard of glass or flint will get picked up by your tire, and knocked out by the wiper before you can roll over it a second time (and multiple times after that).
If you've ever flatted kevlar belted tires, it can take weeks for a shard of glass to work its way through to the tube - but it will happen - kevlar belts don't prevent flats, they just slow them down.
Tire wipers really work - especially in the wet, where your tires pick up all kinds of crap they normally wouldn't pick up in the dry.

A second use - I have them on my full fenders where they work as mud scrapers to keep the fenders from getting plugged - not for mud riding, but for intermittent mud patches on road or trail.
They also reject rocks, sticks and chert from entering your fenders under all conditions, and if you think about the consequences of a stick jamming your front wheel, etc.
front fender.......................................................................................................................................................................................rear fender

going to add another tire point here.
I ride the softest, thinnest, lowest pressure, finest casing, fastest tires I can get my hands on, either hand-glued clinchers (Vittoria/Veloflex) or Compass vulcanized clinchers.
Also put a few (thousand) miles on Challenge hand-glued tubulars

Being able to source tires of this quality is the reason all my 27" bikes have been converted to 700c.
(I got tired of riding Paselas, which only handle well at high pressure, and I prefer the soft ride of lower-pressure, fine-casting tires.)
While it goes against most folks' reasoning, I get 300% less flats than my buddy who rides city tires on all his bikes, and rides half as many miles as I do.
I believe it's because the soft tires are better at throwing off small pieces of glass that initially stick to them.
Conversely, small shards of glass get planted solid in the hard, thick rubber on my buddy's city tires, will eventually get through and flat.

 

[cliveforgets]

I've been riding mine for a few weeks now and it might be my favorite rider at the moment. Not sure about the crankset just yet. The whole thing weighed in at 25.2 pounds.

View attachment 707022

hi there, iverider! i have a miyata 610 from 1985 that i've been using as a touring bike, but am thinking of making it more of a gravel bike. did you just swap your wheels to 700c or did you have to get different brakes as well? are your tires WTB raddlers?

 

[bulldog1935]

answering out of turn, there's only 4 mm difference in brake pad position between 27" and 700c rims.

You should have that much adjustment room in your brake calipers.

 

[cliveforgets]

Thanks, bulldog! My Miyata 610 has cantilever brakes. When I look at my current setup, I think I have just enough adjustment. I was also curious what wheelset and tires he had, just to make it foolproof if I bought the same.

 

[Iverider]

hi there, iverider! i have a miyata 610 from 1985 that i've been using as a touring bike, but am thinking of making it more of a gravel bike. did you just swap your wheels to 700c or did you have to get different brakes as well? are your tires WTB raddlers?

I used the MT60 Cantilever brakes with 700c with no problem. I tried using more modern MTB cantilever brakes, but they didn't work up front. I currently have 700x38 Panaracer Gravel King SK tires and Velo Orange Zeppelin fenders. Without fenders 700x40 WTB Nanos fit fine. I'm using Sun CR18 polished rims which look good with the rest of the bike laced to DT Swiss 240 hubs.