Somehow I got fixated (heh) on the idea of a sweet vintage mixte for our 18 year old daughter who's going off to college next month. Bless her heart, she's been riding a Huffy to school for the last few years without complaint, while her very bike-y friends have spanking new single-speeds and (in one case) a very cool Bianchi. (I should point out that they get around on these bikes or public transit, the Bianchi owner's family doesn't even own a car.)
So I've been studying up, with an immense amount of help from this forum, and scouring eBay and CL. I missed a nice looking Motobecane and a Univega due to not being able to get out to see them quickly enough, and at that point I wasn't 100% sure it was even the right kind of bike for her. Finally we tried one out at a bike shop, a Raleigh Marathon, and found the style was ideal for her, though that bike had a bent fork. Back to CL!
A couple of days ago I spotted a likely mixte, a Miyata 100, in southern Michigan, and had just started emailing back and forth with the owner when I got a friendly PM from cb400bill about the same bike. What a friendly gesture from someone I'd never met! It turned out the bike was just a few minutes from him, so he offered to check it out and secure it for me before someone else swooped in for it. As it was priced at $75 it couldn't have lasted long even in that area.
That worked out just great, and I'm still knocked out by Bill's generosity. We only got to hang for a short time the evening I came to Michigan to pick up the bike but I hope we'll sit down with some leisure (and maybe some beer) sometime. Also I hope I can repay his gesture sometime and 'pay it forward' to others on this board.
The bike is beautiful, I can't imagine there's a cleaner one anywhere. It may be an entry level bike but as a Japanese product from the heyday of their manufacturing, there's nothing cheap about it. Cro-moly frame, alloy rims, original Miyata branded tires, though the tubes are leaking a bit. It was being sold by the original owner, whose dad, an avid cyclist, had bought it for her. She was a little sad to let it go, but very happy that it's another dad-daughter gift. Daughter is thrilled with it, it is bright and unique (as she is) and I think she'll have no trouble keeping up with her friends now.
Thanks again, Bill!
PS: extra bonus is that we get to say we 'got her a Miyata' as a graduation present!
