I guess his mailbox wasn't as full as his penpal thought. The Miyata 610's became much better in the mid 80's. This may be an '81. I don't know if they were manufactured earlier. However, this version is not exactly a full-on tourer, let alone one of the best tourers of all time. It's hardly worth $500. It doesn't have cantilever brakes, a standard feature of loaded tourers. It only has one set of bosses for a water bottle. It only has one set of fender eyelets fore and aft. The chainstays are only 43cm (which some loaded tourers had, but which isn't ideal for large rear panniers). The fork is high tensile, which drops the frameset down a rung.

So, no, I don't think it's worth $220, and especially not if you plan a loaded tour on it. It could make a decent rider, but I wouldn't pay more than $100-$150 for it if it's in excellent condition. And that's if I really wanted it. However, if you're in a hot market, you may not have much of a choice on price.

Here's a catalog scan for the '81 610, and you can browse the rest of the site for other years:

http://www.miyatacatalogs.com/2007/1...alog-1981.html