Touring - Older Miyata any good for touring.

I have owned this bike since about 1990 with the intent on doing some touring. It's a Miyata 1000LT which I'm pretty sure is not being made anymore. Miyata in general I mean. 15 years later (kids are a little older now) I may actually do some touring. Would this be a good bike for touring, or should I sell it and upgrade it to something more modern.

Searches on this forum for information about this bike came up with pretty much nothing. Not surprising since the internet wasn't as widespread 15 years ago.

This bike has Biopace chain rings. My guess is that since you don't see these around anymore they were probably not very popular.

Curious if anyone has any knowledge of this bike?

If you should sell it depend on how much you want to sell it for and if it fits me (53 or 54). Seriously... its got a full set of braze ons, cantilever brakes, three chain rings and you currently own it. Sound like a touring bike to me. Miyata was leaving the game when I was getting into it. If would sound to reason that if my bike still rides well then your bike should ride pretty good as well. BTW... Miyata is now Koga/Miyata and getting back into the US market. There is abolutely no reason why it wont work. The saddle looks like crap, replaceable; the rear cassette is a 7 speed (maybe 8?), since the frame is steel, it could be replaced with an 8 or 9 speed easily, or it may not need to be repaced at all; the tires and inner tubes should be replaced for safety reasons. The only reason why it would need to be replaced is if you realy want a new toy, and if thats the case, then please give me an email about selling your old one. Its very old school, and that is realy cool in my opinion.
Scott
BTW... Just because biopase was not a marketing success, doesn't mean they do not work. My first bike was biopace equipped and I did not remember any difference between that and my second bike.

I have owned several Miyata road bikes and still own one that I rode last year including a century. Miyata was a quality all Japanese bike that was founded in 1899. When the Japanese currency and stock market crashed in late eighties they fell on hard times and were sold to accompany in Netherlands called Koga and are now marketed under the name Koga Miyata and were unavailable in this country until this year
The older ones like yours are limited only in that they are behind the time in modern components.The picture looks like you have a great start on a nice touring bike. I would seriously consider using your bike to begin touring before I would drop a bundle on a new one. Nothing wrong with a Miyata. The new Koga myata makes a touring bike that looks to be one of the best in the world though expensive.Do a google and you get info on it. I am no touring expert though and am now just researching getting into it. I plan to build up my own touring bike., The only drawback I see in yours is that it is probably a twelve speed with a double ring in front.The rear dropouts will probably not readily accept larger capacity freewheel cassettes.I will be using an older steel mt bike frame with 135mm drop outs and a shimano drivetrain 26 inch mt bike wheel etc. Looks like you have a good bike to me.

The Miyata 1000 was/is considered to be one of the best non-custom tourers of its day (check the Classic/Vintage forum or check Sheldon Brown's pages...I think you will be happy with what you read about this bike. Heck, yes, it is a fine bike for fully loaded touring...especially if it fits so that you feel comfy for hours on it at a time.

- Jon B.

that is a sweet looking bike, all tricked out!
a 6 or 7 freewheel is likely enuf for touring
Don't know what the chainring size it, but if you could get a compact set on there,something that would give you a better hill gear, it might be fine.

it's funny how we hem and haw about is this bike good enough for touring... most of the touring I did (from 1970 until 1980) was on 10 speed steel frame bikes like this -- Dawes Galaxy, Azuki, Schwinn Varsity,,, and we weren't complaining.

I have owned this bike since about 1990 with the intent on doing some touring. It's a Miyata 1000LT which I'm pretty sure is not being made anymore. Miyata in general I mean. 15 years later (kids are a little older now) I may actually do some touring. Would this be a good bike for touring, or should I sell it and upgrade it to something more modern.

Searches on this forum for information about this bike came up with pretty much nothing. Not surprising since the internet wasn't as widespread 15 years ago.

This bike has Biopace chain rings. My guess is that since you don't see these around anymore they were probably not very popular.

Curious if anyone has any knowledge of this bike?

I have a 1983 vintage Miyata 610 that is the baby brother of the 1000. I've used it for touring for several years and it is an excellent bike. A bit whippy if you are heavy but still ridable. You can upgrade to a 130 mm axle on the rear and use it with current 8/9 speed components. I've done this on mine a few times and it works well.


Ditch the biopace and get new chainrings (should be a 110/74 mm bolt circle diameter). The Biopace was just weird to ride.

i toured x-usa (1982), x-pennsylvania (1983), all Nova Scotia, (1985) on a steel frame atala reconditioned to sugina 32/40/48 x 18-32 (5sp), full fenders, randonniere-swan stem handlebar. currently, i tour with a 1996 nashbar 6000t, after atala was stolen.
you'll see, after you get the bike tweaked to conform to your "farfignuggan", your drive for tour parts, (tent, stove, sleepbag/pad, raingear, cookwear...), could pleasantly take an interestingly twist towards planning for that next tour!
have fun and spin safe,
tomg

I never had any problem with the Biopace rings. The very early ones were more oblong and tended to feel more different than later ones. Yours look pretty moderate to me. I rode a 1990 Canondale for years with Biopace and didn't change them until they wore out, which took a surprisingly long time.

It's all up to individual taste I guess.

Sweet bike BTW.

I would say keep your Miyata if you're still happy with the frame configuration of your LT1000. New set of rims (e.g. Mavic CXP33) and a set of double pivot brakes will do the trick.
I've recently bought a 1988 Koga Miyata Valley Runner (MTB) myself and I'm a very happy man
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/levensnevel/Snapshots/2Cycle/050818A1176R2.jpg
Will use the bike as my daily commuter (40 km each workingday)

You have yourself one beautiful touring bicycle! Old Shimano DX good quality stuff.Your rear end spacing is probably 130 mm, if you want to upgrade use a road hub, they are 130 mm. Modern Mtb stuf is 135 mm. My advic is to keep everything but the chainwheels and the brakepads, ( new inner tubes/tires may be wise). ask your LBS what they have lying around from the good old days. I found a Syncros 48, an XTR 38 and an xt 22 when I replaced the chainwheels on an 87 xt biopace crank. It may rust but steel does not age !

keep the bike...miyata made great tourers. upgrade/recondition, but keep the
frame if it fits you.

why go more "modern?" just because something is new(er) doesn't make it better.
snazzy auto-shift clicky free-range suspension doodles may be really cool on the
showroom floor, but try to repair out in the boonies.....

It's a great bike.

I bought my Miyata 1000 in the mid-1980s, and for 18 years used it for commuting, running errands, short tours, and multi-week adventures. Over the years I upgraded parts as they wore out. I have since purchased a custom machine, and keep my Miyata as a backup. It is still a pleasure to ride.

If it fits your body, upgrade whatever components need changing, and enjoy this fantastic bike!

At the time, Myata was one of the premier frame manufactures and produced some very nice tubing. They pulled out w/ Bridgestone when the dollar lost value to the yen. This is a fantastic bike and if it fits you well, you would do a lot better to pay for a few upgrades than to sell and buy a new one because you won't get much for it. Even if you could get a lot for it, I would still keep it. It's a classic and w/out paying a lot of money for a nice frame, you won't do any better. I don't mean to sound biased but a friend of mine was a Myata rep back in the early 90's and I road across Canada on a Myata Mt. Bike. Really, take a look out there before you decide to get rid of it becuase you will have to spend a lot to come close to what you have, framewise. Newer isn't always better.

That bike is a real piece of crap. I'll tell you what, I'll do you a favor and take it off your hands for $50 which you can use towards the purchase of a real bike like a Trek 520.

I don't know why everyone else wants you to risk life and limb on such a substandard touring machine. ;)

PS: My touring bike has a 20 year-old frame and trailing edge componentry.

And it even has fenders. How can you go wrong. I dont know if that older frame is as good as my new Koga/Miyata frame (a bunch were sold by American Cyclery in San Francisco on the web, couple years ago.) but if it is, it should do fine. It even has braze on points for the front fork, which many of the new so called touring bikes dont have. One thing I would do is buy panniers, load up the bike and try it out fully loaded. I mean with everything you would think you need for a tour. That includes front low riders. Yes tent, sleeping bag, food, etc. The front fork looks light towards the bottom and the frame looks as if the front tubing is 1 1/8" while the rest is 1" tubing. The trek 520 has larger tubing. Take it riding and make sure the front wheel does not shimmy, which is what may happen with a lighter frame. I had that happen on an old REI randonee, which REI took back and gave me a full refund. The mfg put a light fork on the front of the bike. The newer ones have a stiffer fork. If everything goes well, you have a fine touring bike. If it does not, which it did for one of my bikes, I got a BOB trailer to carry most of the load. And that worked out fine. I have toured 12,000 miles with panniers and 6000 miles with the BOB trailer. Both systems work and have their pro's and con's. And if the bike does not work and you dont want the trailer, you will be all the wiser when you pick out a new bike. You will already have panniers, rack, etc. and will be in a better position to evaluate a new one.

My touring bike has a 20 year-old frame and trailing edge componentry.

trailing edge componentry... what a refreshing sounding concept.