Miyata 210
 

I've been considering a Japanese frame and have come across a mid 80's Miyata Two Ten tourer with triple butted cro-mo frame and mangalight forks. Does anyone know anything about it? Is this a whole cro-mo frame or just the main tubes? Thanks.

I was thinking of bidding on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

My Miyata 710 is too big for me, so I was thinking of swapping the componentry--I listed this issue in my bike fit thread, too. But the short version of the story is I'm alson interested to know if the 210 is a good frame, and if its worth swapping my 710 parts onto it. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure a 710 was much higher on the product line than the 210. I have an old '70s 210, and the thing is a tank--pretty, but a high tensile, gas pipe-framed tank. Obviously, the line as a whole improved over the years, but I'm still going to guess the 210 occupied the same relative spot, i.e. 'low.'

210 was the entry level touring bike. 710 was the middle and 1000 was top of the line. I picked up a 1985 210 earlier this year. It is neither light, nor is it especially heavy. It rides quite nicely (surprisingly fast) even when it's carrying several pounds of stuff. When I want to cover some distance, and want to be comfortable, that's the bike I use.

I'm not sure whether the fork and stays are the same as the main tubes, but unless you're spoiled by riding top-of-the-line bikes, I believe you'll like it (provided it's your size and you get a decent deal).

+1

I have a 1988 215ST, and the frame is triple butted Cro-Mo.. The fork is Mangalight. The bike weighs in at about 27 pounds, and I have 1,000's of comfortable miles on it - it is an "all day" rider. It is a very nice riding bike, and despite being on the "lower" end, is very well built.

Hi - I need to correct myself. 710 wasn't the mid-range touring bike - that would be the 610/612/615 - depending on the year.

I rode a 1986 Miyata 210 from December 2004 until about the middle of this July. The 210 was indeed the bottom of the Miyata 'Grand Touring' line, but by the mid 80's it was an excellent bike - full chro-mo frame, with triple-butted tubing in the main tubes. The differences between it and the 610 and 1000 are mostly in the details, though the 1000 (and possibly 610) had splined tubing, in addition to being triple-butted.

Personally, I loved my 210 and thought it was a great bike. It was around 28 lbs, stock, so it was no lightweight (especially not with all of my additions!), but it was still reasonably speedy and nimble while also being a comfortable ride - lots of fun. Sadly, I rear-ended a Chrysler this summer, and it was enough to tweak the head tube area of the frame, so no more Miyata for me :(. The Surly LHT I replaced it with (SACRILEGE! I know...) is a better bike for loaded touring, but more tank-like. It's really just as fast, but it doesn't feel as zippy. I would say go for it, the 210 is a really excellent machine.