Originally Posted by
Chicago Al
My first post in this thread! Thanks to the eagle eye of cb400Bill, who has facilitated 50% of my CV bike purchases ever (2 of 4 so far!), I was able to pick up this c1983 Miyata 210 from the garage of a retired gentleman in Indiana. It was an easy pickup, just off I-80, and coincidentally we were on a trip back from the East Coast, and to top it off I'd just picked up another CL find in Ohio!
It was dark by the time we arrived and I could see the bike was pretty dirty and had surface rust--at least. But the seatpost (clearly wrong) came out so I figured it couldn't be that bad, and the price ($25) was certainly right. And the bike even seems to be my size.
I posted below about the seat tube issues; the seatpost that was in was too small (25mm, should be 26.8) and the binder had been cranked down (without proper binder bolt or washers) so the tube was deformed. I was able to get it opened back up enough to accept a 26.6 seatpost I had, and added a generic seat that came off one of our kids bikes some time ago.
A lot of cleaning and a fix of a stuck chain link has yielded a bike that's at least rideable. This is all new territory to me and having come this far I am thinking this would be a good bike to do a first full fixup on. Disassembly, acid bath for rust, clean, repack bearings, etc. I don't want it to turn into a neverending project though---and Mrs Al would certainly agree with that.
The chain and freewheel are both rusty and may be just as easily replaced. New rubber all around of course--tires and brake pads appear to be original! Besides the seat/seatpost, the only change I can find is the RD, switched for a Shimano Exage (off an MTB?) and a cute little counter-computer on the front wheel.
The one thing I may not be able to deal with is the rear wheel which is substantially out of round and has a visible flat spot. I have no experience with adjusting spokes but suspect this is beyond adjustment. I'd be grateful for any advice on that.
Maybe I'd be better off flipping this one for a modest profit and putting the money towards a better candidate, and I may still do that, but so far so good!
You did good for the price..real good. the frame was worth every penny. Nice cranks as well and a factory rack to boot.
If the coin for new rims is a problem but you like the bike otherwise then sit on it and watch for a set of rims to show up on CL or keep looking for bikes with good wheels at a good price. Swap all the good parts onto the 210 and sell the doaner bike as a project. You might even make some coin on it.