Picked up a bike today
09-24-05, 08:53 PM
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Picked up a bike today
I bought a Miele Doral for 90 bucks from a neighbour.
The bike is in very good condition and quite light.
I can't find much info on this particular one.
It has Exage sport components and 2 Biopace chainrings.
Does anyone have any information?
Thanks you.
The bike is in very good condition and quite light.
I can't find much info on this particular one.
It has Exage sport components and 2 Biopace chainrings.
Does anyone have any information?
Thanks you.
09-24-05, 09:53 PM
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Yes they were Canadian made for Jim Miele's shop
in Toronto.
One of our past forum mods worked in the shop before
Miele died and he said there were alot of them in the
basement. IIRC they were quite the bang for the buck
bikes when they first came out.
As there were different models of Miele
its hard to say where yours fits in.
More detail would help.
Pictures I've seen of Miele's shop show what appears to be a conveyor line process. The picture clearly shows 3 different people brazing frames, though there are at least 5 brazing stations visible, with the possibility that two brazers are just out of the picture. The jigs and frames appear to have the capability to move from station to station, so it's not clear if each brazer manufactured an entire frame, or if he handled only one operation before forwarding it to the next brazer.
I don't know if Jim did any brazing himself, but I do know that his previous industry experience was in distribution for his father's company and most Miele models were mass produced, so I doubt it. Most early Mieles were manufactured in Japan and Taiwan, though I've also seen one that, if I recall correctly, was manufactured by Rossin. In 1985 he enticed Guiseppe Ferrara, a reknowed designer and framebuilder, to come to Canada. the following year they opened a new, state of the art Canadian facility with capacity for 30,000 bicycles annually. The company eventually folded in the early 1990s, with Procyle resurrecting the brand name in 2002. Jim passed away, early in 2003.
There's definitely an Italian connection. Jim was born and grew up in Italy, until he emmigrated to Canada at age 14. His father's distributorship handled Italian bicycles. He apparently had a business relationship with Rossin and he employed an Italian as his head designer.
I bought this bike when I was 13 years old, I'm now 29, so I guess that would make it 1989. I remember it costing at the time just over $500 canadian, a lot for a kid working in corn fields to pay for it. I've taken this bike on many, many long journeys - used it for racing one summer, but mainly rode to keep my legs in shape for the winter hockey seasons. In other words it got a lot of use but I've maintained it very well. I even still have the original tubes in the tires. Last year I took the bike to several cycle shops around Toronto, and the average appraisal I got was a worth of about $900 canadian - after cleaning it thoroughly the bike looks brand new, it's unbelievable.
Have a look at the serial number of your bike (underneath the frame where the crank is attached). Mine is a 3 digit number, I don't think many of this model were made....I've never, ever seen anyone on the road riding the same bike as me.
Good luck in your search for a new bike. If you're selling this one, be sure to get what it's worth....I don't think there exists a better bike in the $500-$1000 price range (but of course, I'm very biased).
in Toronto.
One of our past forum mods worked in the shop before
Miele died and he said there were alot of them in the
basement. IIRC they were quite the bang for the buck
bikes when they first came out.
As there were different models of Miele
its hard to say where yours fits in.
More detail would help.
Pictures I've seen of Miele's shop show what appears to be a conveyor line process. The picture clearly shows 3 different people brazing frames, though there are at least 5 brazing stations visible, with the possibility that two brazers are just out of the picture. The jigs and frames appear to have the capability to move from station to station, so it's not clear if each brazer manufactured an entire frame, or if he handled only one operation before forwarding it to the next brazer.
I don't know if Jim did any brazing himself, but I do know that his previous industry experience was in distribution for his father's company and most Miele models were mass produced, so I doubt it. Most early Mieles were manufactured in Japan and Taiwan, though I've also seen one that, if I recall correctly, was manufactured by Rossin. In 1985 he enticed Guiseppe Ferrara, a reknowed designer and framebuilder, to come to Canada. the following year they opened a new, state of the art Canadian facility with capacity for 30,000 bicycles annually. The company eventually folded in the early 1990s, with Procyle resurrecting the brand name in 2002. Jim passed away, early in 2003.
There's definitely an Italian connection. Jim was born and grew up in Italy, until he emmigrated to Canada at age 14. His father's distributorship handled Italian bicycles. He apparently had a business relationship with Rossin and he employed an Italian as his head designer.
I bought this bike when I was 13 years old, I'm now 29, so I guess that would make it 1989. I remember it costing at the time just over $500 canadian, a lot for a kid working in corn fields to pay for it. I've taken this bike on many, many long journeys - used it for racing one summer, but mainly rode to keep my legs in shape for the winter hockey seasons. In other words it got a lot of use but I've maintained it very well. I even still have the original tubes in the tires. Last year I took the bike to several cycle shops around Toronto, and the average appraisal I got was a worth of about $900 canadian - after cleaning it thoroughly the bike looks brand new, it's unbelievable.
Have a look at the serial number of your bike (underneath the frame where the crank is attached). Mine is a 3 digit number, I don't think many of this model were made....I've never, ever seen anyone on the road riding the same bike as me.
Good luck in your search for a new bike. If you're selling this one, be sure to get what it's worth....I don't think there exists a better bike in the $500-$1000 price range (but of course, I'm very biased).
