Classic & Vintage - Japenese road Bicycle.

I just picked up a old "Ming Cycles" vintage road bicycle off the side of the road. The tires are junk and the rear casette is bent. I heard about the japenese road bikes and how yall' like them [I think] so I dicided to post here. Does anybody know what this ming brand is? It seems like a very high quality bike for how old it is. And my other question is about the seat. It has NO padding, and is extremly light. I am thinking this is a racing seat or something so I should save it. I have a spare casette, so for christmas I might restore it. This would be the 3rd vintage road bike in my collection! [My sig is just my daily riders]

My guess is what you have is a Chinese bike...Ming was a Chinese dynasty, and the word is Chinese. dunno tho, can you post a picture?

I would, But I have no camera! so Chinese you say, hmmm. . . . I'll give some more details though. It has a 2tone paint gold-silver [not sure about the silver I'll check in the morning] the handlebars are covered in a foam type grip. the tires look like a really old cyclocross type tire. it has a thread design but not that agressive. The tires has brown sidewalls [they look brown now]. the seat is metal and has a very thin layer of leather on top. the seat is in great condition. The gears are VERY nice but the casette is bent. The pedals are plastic. The front fork is not very curved foward but is a little curved. There is very little rust.

I have some more updates: the paint is black-gold. the seat is covered in plastic not leather. the side says "Shimano 10 speed" on the top bar and "ming cycles" on the main frame bar. On the front it says "ming bicycles" and there is a big red M

I have it on good authority that Ming Cycles is the Chinese maker of the "Quest" bikes sold by Dick's Sporting Goods. No idea what they were doing twenty years ago, but they're definitely still around.

so it's basicly like a 70's x-mart bike. Hehehe. well, it's still good to me.