My first Miyata.
 

Picked up an 86 Miyata 912 today.It's in very nice shape but needs cleaned up and a few things done . This bike seems to have seen very
little use. It still has good tread on the original Miyata tires although the rear tire has a small tear in the sidewall. The tires held air so I could test ride it
and everything worked as it should. Shifts well and breaks well. I did notice the rear wheel has a slight bend to it and I'm wondering
if it may have hit a curb because thats the wheel that has a tear in the sidewall. It needs brake hoods and I want to change the pink bar tape.
The bar tape thats on it is very thin and transparent so I'm wondering if I have to take it off or could I just put tape over the top of it?
Here's a photo of it I posted in another thread. I'll post more after I get it cleaned up and all together.https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4680ae4f55.jpg

Miyata makes terrific bikes and this is a good one in terrific shape. The tape is benotto tape which is so-so. It did come in colors. It will be easy to remove and replace with some decent handlebar tape. There are reproduction hoods you can buy that should work pretty well. I like Cane Creek hoods and they come in black and gum. There are lots of great choice on tires but the go to tire if you want a gumwall is a panaracer tire. They're good tires and reasonably light.

By the way, a bike that old needs more than just a cleaning. You should take it apart so you can overhaul the hubs, bottom bracket, headset, and pedals. You will want to replace the consumables (chain and cables and cable housing). You will likely want to change out the brake shoes as they tend to get hard over age; replacement brake pads are available.

Agree with what bikemig said. Looking at your other thread, this bike needs the components disassembled and degreased. That will give you a chance to clean and wax the frame. You definitely want to open up the bottom bracket, hubs, and headset and clean/regrease (and replace if damaged). These are sweet bikes, with nice components.

If you want to use those old tires a bit longer, you can put a piece of duct tape inside the tire with the damaged sidewall, otherwise the tube may push out and you might damage the rim. However, those tires are dried and hard and you should get rubber. You probably can't go bigger than 25mm tires (lack of clearance, esp. in the rear), but I wouldn't go any smaller (25mm will ride a bit better, esp. if they're decent quality - it probably as 23mm on there now, and they probably measure less than 23mm)).

Check the spoke tension in the spokes around the "bend" in the rim. If the rim is really bent, you should post back here and get better advice. I've never built a wheel, but I did get a spoke wrench and have found a couple of old rims that were out of true, and each time there were a couple of very loose spokes on one side. Carefully tightening them (there are threads about this on BF, use the search function) brought the wheels back to true.

That pink Benotto tape is hard to find now. One day you might want to put it on another bike, since it looks pretty cool and is very vintage. If it's in decent shape, I'd take it off, roll it up and put it in a baggie. It should not have adhesive under it, and can be used again if it's not too dirty or torn. You might also find a polished aluminum bottle cage to replace the red one, which doesn't fit that bike I think.

Oh, and in the other thread you asked about year. Miyatas are good for having meaningful serial numbers. If this is an '86, the serial number should start with an 'N' or an 'O'. 'N' would mean an '85 build, and 'O' an '86 build. They started building the next year's frames late in the year. Check under the bottom bracket to find the number.

Edit: Most of the Shimano components will have 2-letter date codes (inside surface of cranks, back side of FD, etc.). I'll bet the first letter of many of them is 'J' for 1985, or maybe 'K' if your bike was built in 1986.