bicyclelove

I am working on my first full restoration project. I spotted this Miyata 210 at a second hand shop on my way to line up for a mountain bike race. It looked my size and was marked $50, I went inside and offered $40 because that is all I had on me and they accepted. So I rode my MTB back to my Jeep while guiding this bike with two flat tires, secured it on the truck and hauled a** back to start the race on time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at the time, I guess it was just my C&V addiction showing itself again. LOL
I decided this bike needed a full resto, including stripping and repainting it. So I completely dissassembled it and glass bead blasted the frame and fork at work. I cut a deal with a body shop owner we work with to get it painted for free! I chose Viper Red because everyone knows that a red bike is way faster than a brown one.
Here are a couple of shots before and up to now. I know this isn't a high end or valuable bike, and probably not worth restoring to this level, but I'm having fun doing it. Plus doing everyting myself and getting the paint done for nothing makes it pretty cheap. I figure I will have less than $200 total in it. I don't think that is too out of line.


As found


Stripped and on my basement workstand (sorry for the crappy view I should have taken more bare frame pics)


A pile of parts


Back from the body shop!


Bottom bracket installed


Starting to look more like a bike


I will post more pics as it comes together.

PedalTraveler

It looks like it's going to be beautiful! Looking forward to the updates!

gt eunuch

I have a soft spot for my build, an 81 Miyata 210 was my first C&V and it is responsible for getting me hooked!

Can't wait to see it finished.

bicyclelove

Thanks! I really like how the paint turned out.

bicyclelove

Like I said this is my first complete resto of a C&V too!
I can't wait for it either. I've had little time to work on it lately , today I plan to get some parts polished and put on.

RiseAlways

Good stuff!!!

eschlwc

just refurbished my first miyata, an entry level 312. i'm pretty happy with it. really only had to replace the steel bars and consumables.

dt shifters would be a nice upgrade to yours.

if you can relate any tricks about your free paint job, please do.

bicyclelove

I loaned a body man friend of mine my engine crane for a few weeks so he could swap engines in his truck. I had been talking to him about the bike and he said he had a couple of different colors of paint left over from various cars and told me to pick the one I wanted and he'd paint it for me!
So just get in good with a body man and do him a favor

bicyclelove

On the DT shifters, that would be a nice upgrade but I'm going to keep it as original as I can.
I'm keeping the stem shifters, turkey levers and I'm even putting on the dork disk!
While cleaning and polishing parts today I found the rear spokes are in bad shape. I have a nice set of aluminum Araya wheels that I'm putting on to replace the steel ones, so there is one upgrade I am doing.

bicyclelove

Here are a couple more pics of my progress today. The back Araya wheel I decided to use has some messed up spokes too, so I have decided to rebuild the wheel. Tomorrow I'm off to my LBS to get some spokes and nipples. I guess I could rebuild the steel wheels too but I think these are far better wheels while still being a sort of period upgrade.

Got the cranks on

Here is a close up

Stem shifters and turkey levers

Only a few more bits, plus I still have to build the rear wheel

Monkey D.Luffy

Nice, I like your sign that says Bicycle Room in Chinese.

bicyclelove

You noticed and knew what it said! The girl who made it for me told me it was Japanese. Do you know it is Chinese?

Monkey D.Luffy

I can read Chinese and some Japanese. Japanese uses some of the Chinese letters so it wouldn't surprise me if it was in Japanese, but yeah, that's how it would look in Chinese as well.

Monkey D.Luffy

The three words on the right say bicycle, and the single character on the left says room. Fitting for a Miyata.

bicyclelove

That is just how she showed me it read. I was at a festival of cultures and the Japanese students were writing out people's names. I told her I like to work on old Japanese bikes and would like a "Bike Shop" sign, she thought that was pretty cool and made me the sign. It makes sense that characters would be shared. In western language we share most of the same letters.

bicyclelove

Well, 1/2 of the spokes I needed were not in stock at my LBS so they are on order and will probably be here tomorrow. I was just messing around and putting together whatever I could. I put on some old bar tape I had from another bike and put on the front wheel.
I just can't wait to get this together, it looks so nice. I want spring to get here soon too so I can ride it. Right now there is too much salt on the roads to even think about riding this one. I then decided to wash my fat bike, it was just filthy from all the salt and crap on our roads now!
Tomorrow I plan to do a long, or at least longish, ride on the fat bike and I'm sure I will have to wash it again after that!
Here's a pic of what I did on the Miyata today.

bicyclelove

I have been way too busy to work on the Miyata lately. I finally got the rear wheel built yesterday. I'm not totally happy with the way it came out; I asked about it in the mechanics forum already. Next step is to make up the cables. This is always the hardest part, they have to be long enough to work ok but not so long they look stupid! I hope I get some time soon for that. It's still pretty crappy weather here in MN for riding this bike. I will just stick to the fat bike or salt bike for now. I hope we get some rain to wash the salt off the roads soon, that will for sure get me motivated to finish this project up!

skyrider

Thanks for sharing your story, she looks good, great job.

bikemig 

With those center pull brakes, you should be able to get some fat tires there. This could be a great gravel grinder.

bicyclelove

I don't think I could bring myself to use it for gravel with all the paintwork I put in. I have a Miyata 615GT with cantilever brakes that I have thought about making my gravel grinder. But I hesitate with that one because the paint is very nice on it too. What a dilemma, I may just have to get another bike!