Drew strikes again
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-63cm-Miy...3A1%7C294%3A50

It was probably a perfectly nice Miyata 912 to start with, now "urbanly distressed." Odd that the guy somehow neglected to saw off the derailleur hanger, though.
JV

He's got a sticker from the bike co-op in Vancouver on it. Looks like it ws just spray bombed over the original light blue, at least he finished the job, wait till you see the kuwahara I have hanging in my garage.

It looks OK to me. Why all the fuss over a Miyata? They're pretty run of the mill bikes IMO.

I love the half-wrapped handlebars with the MTB brake lever.

Because you really aren't going to need a secure grip if you have to stop suddenly.

Well, I like my Nine Twelve. Run of the mill, maybe, but nice. I just think it's comical that the guy talks about the perfect patch job where he pulled off the shifter bosses, then proudly notes that he also beat the mortal **** out of the bike with a chain, if that's what "urbanly distressed" means. Hell, I don't know, I live out here in the woods. I'm rurally distressed.

Nothing about Miyata is run of the mill IMO.

"Urbanly Distressed" - Pre vandalised so no-one else will bother damaging it any more **********

Graffiti and decals included?? Wow. I liked it from a distance, then I clicked on his Flickr page for it. The dude really just took a Sharpie and scribbled on the top tube. Is that really Graffiti? Vandalism maybe. This is the first I have seen of this, but judging by your comments, sounds like it is a normal occurrence. cs1 mentioned it was just a Miyata, and others disagreed, makes me curious as to what older bike would it be ok to do this to?

I think it would be okay to do it to any bike, I suppose, especially rare and costly ones. It's the owner's bike to use as he pleases, yes? Classic capitalist theory would suggest that the owner would be restrained from wrecking a bike because doing so would reduce his value. Unless the owner is an ignoramus, of course, in which too bad for the world's supply of quality older bikes.
I guess I'm turning into a curmudgeon, but it just strikes me as odd that there are people who would pay extra for a pre-vandalized bike. "When I was a lad, we used to have to vandalize our own bikes, by thunder!"
JV

its like distressed jeans. 125 dollars for jeans with holes in them.

one time i was traveling across the country in a normal vagabond style way. hopping trains hitchhiking. I was hanging out with this girl at her dorm and her friend was staying over. He changed his clothes like 3 times a day. I pretty much wore the same pants everyday. he asked me how i got holes in my pants. "umm i wore them everday" was my replay
He wanted holes in his pants, cuz they look cool I told him to wear his pants everyday. he decided he would just buy the kind with holes already in them. I guess not changing his pants was to hard for him.

I like that story. I liked traveling that way, too. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I guess I AM a curmudgeon.
JV

I thought this thread was about the post in the framebuilding section of the forum

Miyata bikes, like Puch bikes, are almost mythical in their appeal. Miyata's were known and renowned for their fast, responsive, and comfortable ride. There was just something about them - they were considered one of the best of the baby-boomer bicycles that flooded the market in the 1970's and 80's.

I guess familiarity breeds contempt, but I never felt too much affinity for Miyatas myself. Granted, they were a pretty big improvement over the cheap European bikes of the '70s.

In '78 some Japanese bike company execs came through Trek on their way to the bike show in New York. One of them was rude enough to say that we should stick to farm implements. Fortunately they didn't say that in my hearing, because there certainly weren't any factory Japanese bikes from that era that I would have paid money for.

A mountain bike lever wouldn't fit those bars. That's an interrupter.

Well, he didn't change any of that, he just made it into a fixie.