Miyata Gran Touring build for a good friend
 

One of my best friends inquired as to whether I would be interested in building him up a bike about a year ago. I told him that I would be more than happy to and I had planned on completing the project expeditiously but alas life and children happen and it was delayed. Fortunately he was experiencing the same life events and also lives in Philly so there was some time between visits. Well i finally got around to putting a late '70s Miyata Gran Touring together for him. He has been using it for commuting, mid-range rides and family spins and is more than happy with it so I am pleased that it worked out.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4185/...7de14f94_h.jpgUntitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Beautiful job; those are probably my favorite non-indexing shifters. One of these days, I'll need to try out the suntour bar end shifters.

Nice bike, nice job, nice gesture!

Glad to read he is actually getting to use it for his style of riding.
@bikemig you should try the Barcons with those Cyclones. I have that set up on my LT II and it works great

that is a very nice bike- what is that crank? its beautiful.

@jetboy It is a Shimano 600 Arabesque and I agree that it is a heck of a pretty crank. Thanks fellas.

Brooks saddle and matching color tape, great drivetrain, what's not to like?

Interesting that the brake pads are different between front and rear. No room for the longer ones up front? I've had that problem on a couple of builds where narrow fork crowns don't leave a lot of room for pads to swing open wide enough to remove inflated front wheels.

What happened to the original crankset, SR Apex?
Is it in a trash bin?

Great build and a great bike. You're a good friend!

Nice. Tell him to get some nice skinwalls when he runs the current ones into the ground. What's the tire clearance on that guy?

Look how advanced that Miyata was in comparison to any of the other big makers. A touring bike- with cantis, a brazed on rear cable stop, dual eyelets front and rear- way cool.

Greg- you did a really nice job of building that up! Love that Cyclone stuff!

What is the bar tape? It looks cool!

@Barabaika The original crank was long gone before I picked this baby up. @gugie Thank you! Honestly these pads were already on the cantis when I got the frame and worked fine so in the intereat of saving him money I left them on. He can switch to matching pairs once these wear out. ;) @romperrr Thanks! I have slowly turned quite a few family members to cycling and more specifically to C&V. @TenGrainBread I would have chosen Pasela PT's but he picked these up from his LBS in Philly and I just showed him how to put them on. @The Golden Boy I almost put the Cyclone bits on another build of mine but they belong on this bike. The tape is actually Brooks synthetic leather which I found at a nice discount.

That is a gorgeous bike and build, Greg!

You've inspired me to try a darker tape than natural cork on my similarly deep red Marinoni.