Alan S.

Hi folks, this is my first post and I know very little about bicycles, especially "good" ones.
My neighbor, a widow, is moving out of state into a care facility and we were cleaning out her shed yesterday and among other things, I came upon an older (what I call a road or touring) bike. I was very surprised how LIGHT it was !

I did a brief examination of it and looked on Google and discovered it was a fairly rare bicycle that may fit the Classic/Vintage description above..

Some details:

MIYATA "ONE THOUSAND" on crossbar and "Grand Touring" written on seat post part of frame. It is a light gray metallic color and looks "all original" and is in what I'd call very good condition-could use some cleaning up and two new tires (side walls of old ones heat damaged by sitting in an Arizona shed for many years)..It has some minor wear marks on the fork paint (rubbing against "carrier"?)

From center of crank to top of seat (frame) post is 21.25" so is that a 54MM frame ?

"CRO/MO" forks and frame
WEINMANN concave 700C wheels
SUGINO AT crank
SAKAE RANDNNER ROAD CHAMPION bars and seat post
DIA COMPE Brakes
SHIMANO Shifters
KASHIMAX saddle

Black fenders have been added.

Ser # M514XXX (M= 1984 ?)

We will be selling the bike and this lady will be moving in a month.. I'd like to get her the $$ before she goes so what I'm wondering here is:

1. should I try to "clean up" the bike or leave it Original ?
2. what is the approxomate value ?
3. would it be better to advertise it on Ebay or perhaps on a Forum like this so someone that might appreciate it more would get the first "crack at it" ?

I'll try to post some pictures if I can figure out how..
Alan

Alan S.

I guess I should have added this one too "One Thousand"

Sixty Fiver

The Miyata 1000 is a very desirable touring bicycle due to the high quality of the workmanship in the frame and excellent ride qualities of what is a medium duty touring bicycle.

This is a pre 1985 by virtue of what appears to be a 15 speed drive train and the Shimano Light Action derailleurs also point to the early to mid 1980's and that it is a later model as earlier Miyata touring bicycles were fitted with Suntour parts.

They have often been described as the finest off the peg touring bicycle ever made.

Prices can vary by markets... if it was priced at $500.00 it would probably sell very quickly and have seen many examples sell for much more.

When we receive these at our shop (co-op) they do not last very long at all.

KonAaron Snake 

I had a rather nice one and was able to get around $550 in rider shape.

Don't clean it up unless you know what you're doing or are willing to learn. Cleaning it lightly with some water can't hurt, but don't start doing anything drastic as a newbie. You should expect less money since you are less knowledgeable about bikes and are not able to overhaul it...you won't get top $$$ on eBay as a new bike seller. If you have a local community bike organization you might want to consider taking it there for help...but my honest opinion is that you should sell it at a (relatively) low price and let someone else do the work. I think $350 is a fair price for what I'm seeing.

I consider $500 to be the rough amount where it might make sense to use eBay...unless you have a proven track record on eBay as a bicycle person, I don't think you should expect $500. Keep in mind you'll have to ship it...which involves some work if you don't want it to get damaged (or using an LBS with associated costs).

wrk101

+1 Do you know how to clean up a bike? If not, leave it alone. Of course, in as found condition it will go for a discount. But the discount is less than what it would cost you to fix it up/clean it up.

A few things I would do: I would raise the saddle and tilt it forward. I would put on new bar tape. I would make sure tires are fully inflated.

I love buying bikes with flat tires, as it scares away other buyers, and I get a nice discount. But your goal is to maximize return without doing a lot of work, not providing me a hefty discount.

What you get depends on where you live. Around here, if you are patient, with the few changes I mentioned, $400 to $500.

ebay will be more, but unless you have the ability to pack and ship the bike yourself and a perfect feedback record, forget it. Sellers who offer to "take it to a nearby shop to have them pack and ship at buyer'e expense" get a poor response.

Actually, like most touring bikes, the 1000 is on the heavy side.

Chrome Molly

Hmm, what years did these have the stag heads?

Alan S.

Two things that have arisen since I made the original post:

1. The 21.25" (what I call seat post length - FRAME SIZE ??) wouldn't be 54MM but it might just be 54CM.
2. The SHIMANO derailleur is Model RD-Z505.

A

FastJake

Since you don't know what to do fixing it up, just sell it as-is. I would clean it with soap and water and leave everything else alone. Let the next owner rehab it. It will sell for less this way, but the cost to you is $0. To properly rehab it (having no tools or experience) will cost you at least a hundred bucks and could easily be much more depending on how much a bike charges fr stuff.

Around here you could easily get $300-350 as is.

Yes, it is definitely 54cm not 54mm. This dimension is the seat tube length. The seat post is the thing that slides into the frame, also attached to the saddle. In your ad you should mention whether you measured the seat tube center-to-center or center-to-top. You should also measure the top tube (center-to-center only!) and include that in the ad.

The rear derailer model isn't terribly significant, but it would help to include component models in the ad (front derailer, rear derailer, shifters, hubs, rims, crankset, brakes, etc.)

j3ns

This one would be great in the shed at the side of my ´82 "nine twelve", it's the right size too. Budget won't allow it though...
Here is the catalog for your bike, see pages 9 and 24 (the component list in the catalog may be inaccurate).
Good luck with the sale!

Alan S.

I've now aired up the tires, its been ridden and a couple of friends have checked it over..nothing seems to be amiss except it could use a new tape job on the handlebars, new tires and a cleanup. As asked previously here, the front derailleur has the STAGS HEAD on it and the WEINMANN (Belgium) concave 700C wheels are F: 36 spoke and R: 40 spoke. Its now listed locally on Craigslist and ALL the other details are there.
https://tucson.craigslist.org/bik/3636934391.html

Thanks for all your help,
Alan

billnuke1 

Out of curiosity, what do you ride for a bike yourself now? What did you think of the ride of this bike? I collect this bike type. I love the way these bikes ride! Fast and stable! Good luck with sale! Ride it a couple of more times before it sells, if it hasn't already!

Alan S.

I ride a 20 Y.O. Gary Fisher MTB so this one isn't my style but I can see why it was highly rated. It will make a great acquisition for someone that is looking for a high(er) end classic road/touring bike.

I just need to get the best purchase price I can for the "little old lady next door on Social Security" in whose shed I found the bike. She's moving out of state to some sort of care home soon and I want her to have some $$ in her pocket when she goes.

Alan