I remember researching Miyata’s history after buying my first and, back then, not knowing anything about them, started coming across some articles about their origins. I’m just going off recollections; but, my firm impression is that the company we know as Miyata was originally an arms manufacturer, possibly Maeda I’m thinking. Back in the post WWII days when good-hearted America saw the practicality of not repeating what happened after WWI when the ‘winners’ did nothing to support the vanquished Germans leading to the conditions, 25 years later, that lead to WWII. Truman initiated the Marshal Plan that rebuilt Germany by converting their military industrial complex into civilian productions. I know this is getting long, but I’ll try to complete the thought here. I believe there was a less publicized program to rebuild Japan that Miyata benefited from. What products would a war ravaged country be in need of, especially in the devastated Tokyo after the carpet bombing? I’m a company that makes gun barrels that require rifled tubing. I wonder what I could do with this expertise that my country is in great need of. To my knowledge, Miyata is the only bike frame manufacturer that drew their tubing. I think that if one did the research, you could find a similar connection to Columbus. The Italians make some of the best guns in the world. Oh yeah, some of the best tubing too!

Just a stream-of-thought ramble, sorry.