kross57

I spent many years handling vintage shotguns, a number of them irreplaceable. I believe these objects were meant to be used. The joy you get from it will outweigh any normal wear. However, there is a line that crosses from use to abuse, with conditions that could possibly destroy what you love. That's when the spare B-class comes out. Otherwise, go for it.

jade408

gugie 

The Miyata 1000 is a nice bike, sure, but you could always find another one.

Here are a few bikes that have done extensive touring. First, my Peter Weigleized Raleigh Competition. The wet paint job cost me more than a used Miyata 1000 on the open market. It's been on three separate week long credit card tours.



Next, Bob Freeman's Jack Taylor, a show quality bike, on the three day Last Winter Tour of the Willamette Valley.



Finally, there's @northbend's Woodrup, also on the trip mentioned above, and ready to go cross-country on a fully loaded trip later this year. This picture shows it in credit card touring mode:



Bikes get sad when you don't ride them. Giddyup!

OTS 

Amen brother!

79pmooney

My Peter Mooney is a far rarer bike than your Miyata. Never stopped me from piling the miles on it. It now has nearly 50,000 miles, has had several hard crashes, chipped paint, well used dropouts. etc. I have never backed off from riding it "to protect it". Yes, it had years where it was barely ridden but that is because other bikes were in my favor than. It has also been ridden in pouring rain, on dirt roads, when in a state of perfect tune-up and when it was ready for attention but I needed to ride.

Ask yourself, is this bike in your possession to serve you or are you here to serve it? Is your place in life as one who has been tasked with saving Miyata 1000s or has this bike been tasked with being your primary ride? If the bike is in your life to serve you and you don't ride it, you are not serving it well.

And as far as Miyata 1000s being a dying species, consider - you could take your bike to a framebuilder and have him document all the dimensions. Do the research as to the tubes used. Now if something awful happens to your prize, you can have near replica made.

Ben

gugie 

^^^ Wisdom

nomadmax 

I'm with him ^^^^^^.

Find another one and buy it; keep the nicest one nice and really get out there and enjoy the other one.

noglider 

Experiences are more valuable than things. Go have some experiences on your bike.

carfreefamily

I know exactly what you mean. Once you find your dream bike, you have to find a bike to ride so your dream bike doesn't get damaged or stolen. In 2000, I bought a custom Rivendell that was supposed to be my last bike. I actually have ridden it a lot, but I do think about it when I leave it locked up downtown whenever I'm going to a movie, or to dinner, or wherever. I get peevish when someone parks their bike recklessly in the bike rack, and their bike is leaning against mine. (Why do some people park their bikes right next to yours when there is plenty of room further on down the bike rack?)

You'd think it's just about being custom or vintage or expensive, but any bike that I start to fall in love with, I also begin to worry about. My regular commuter is a somewhat beat-up 1978 Schwinn Super Le Tour that has been set up as a three speed. I think it might be among the least attractive bikes to a thief out there, but I still worry that I might come out of the store and find the lock snipped. (At least I don't worry about scratches on the paint.) And right now I'm working on a '52 Raleigh three speed that I want to put to regular use as a commuter, and I'm already thinking - maybe I shouldn't ride it when it's rainy. Maybe I should avoid days when they've put cinders down on the ice. The bike is old, you know.

But as has been said, a bicycle that sits inside and is not used is hardly a bike.

ryansu

Who are you calling old -whippersnapper ?

Ride it, enjoy it, take care of it, I will wager you'll still be riding it in 30 years when your my age

carbomb

I trick myself into allowing everything to get used, heavily.

Imagine a long enough timeline, many, many decades or a century or more from now. Odds are everything you have will be binned, scratched, destroyed, heavily modified, re-purposed, forgotten, etc. if not by you, by someone after you.

Embrace the impermanence, it's really not going to last forever, no matter how careful you are because it's not entirely up to us... ride the piss out of it. It's basically a rental

crank_addict

Yep.

With respect and extra care.

Of course, monetary and valuation means different things to each other. That in itself sums it all.

I've also loaned things and if something ever happened, I have to remind myself -its my risk. As for bikes, the ones I have are enjoyed with passion but most are welcome to ride and enjoy. If the worst happened, well then that's life.

But interesting enough, last Summer I refused to loan my new carbon mtb to a fellow who ASKED if he could take it for a day. He had no intention of buying one, nor could afford and just wanted to have fun on it at my risk. My meter pointed to say, sorry no go.

Elevating a bit further;
If someone tosses you the keys to their 'super performance or rare' car and the track is warm and clean, both parties need to realize risk, regardless how minute. I rarely decline but first and foremost think of risk. Also know of folks who are kind enough to do such and encourage one to take hot laps without worrying. They can afford it.

gugie 

Just reread the OP, saw this:

"...somehow get the frame to break (I have this notion that it's very frail)

Ha! Steel frames are tough. Japanese built frames have very few defects. Miyata didn't use ultrathin tubing on their touring bikes.

Even then, it is quite possible you'll crash and bend the frame. In that case, it almost certainly can be repaired. I've had several frames come through my shop that many on this very forum thought were toast, but were recovered, usually with some simple cold setting. If it gets scratched up, repaint it if you're concerned about appearances. If it gets dented, you can have it filled and repainted.

Steel frames are much much more durable than what most people think.

RobbieTunes

Wait....you stopped aging?

garryg

I had a friend who bought a brand new chevy pickup.He was so OCD he would lay awake thinking about possible dirt being on his truck. It was so bad he would not drive his new truck,he eventually sold it. He needs help.Ride your shiny bike,life is full of dings and dents.

Piff 

This is what Marx would call the 'fetishism of commodities' and how objects can begin to control us by our social relations to them. It's a bike, man. Ride the bike! It's fair to be worried about breaking it, or someone stealing it, but not to the point of paralysis.

dddd

I've had a couple of Miyata tourers (Six-Ten and Gran-Touring) that I used mostly for off-road adventures.
I retired the first one after doing years of singletrak mountain biking on it (eventually using an arc'd flat bar), only because I suspected it had taken near one too many downhill, rock-strewn fire roads. It held up to it all just fine, even as I had bailed off feet-first over the handlebars many times. I donated it to Trips For Kids when I found my Six-Ten and had resumed my off-road efforts on the new bike.
I'm confident that Miyata made some of the toughest frames, but that's just my anecdotal contribution to the subject, my opinion.

I added strips of finishing tape to cover the rows of blemishes to the top tube and prevent further damage, but I spared it not as I continued beating on the thing as my own skill set allowed. I nearly won a B-class CX event on it after riding the 15 miles to the event, but had the pictured cheap rear derailer come apart on the last lap after gapping the field. The memories are part of the bike's appeal at this point, it weighs quite a lot (sporting a downhill saddle, lol, and a suspension seatpost).
I broke a couple of freewheel rear axles over the years, likely in part to the severe climbing while in the smallest chainring over mountain-rough terrain.
I still have it, though I use my Trek 7500 hybrid with it's Bontrager SPA front suspension for most of my adventuring lately.

SurferRosa

"Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."
- Andy Dufresne

"HTFU."
- Noglider

"N+1."
​​​​​​​-Lemond1985

jethin

ryansu

I should have said my age now

The Golden Boy 

There's a bunch of ways of looking at this-

The main thing is that there's a difference between riding a bike, and being responsible about the bike you have and beating on it and being irresponsible with it. You know what you have- take care of it. It'll be fine.

But like Chr0m0ly said- that first scratch is the hardest...

I think there's a trap in looking at something that's 14 or so years older than you are as an "antique." It was probably bought by someone who listened to Duran Duran. They had some weird "punky" haircut, or they wore Twisted Sister makeup and Members Only jackets and Jordache jeans... It's from another time that's not actually real to you.

But it's a bike.

A few years ago on a guitar forum, a guy was talking about his new 1958 Les Paul reissue. It was actually comical the shock and terror this guy had about not only playing the guitar out- he couldn't even comprehend even taking it to band practice. Don't get me wrong- $2800 is a lot to spend on a guitar (I've had a few RIs and some pretty nifty guitars and $2800 is still a lot of money to me)- but in terms of "grail" guitars- that's barely a dent. But this guy was treating a "nice" guitar like some sort of holy relic. There's always much better, nicer, more expensive, more exclusive, more irreplaceable...

Now- it's a Miyata 1000. There's literally thousands of them out there- the model was made for at least 10 years, and I'd guess there were more than 2,000 made every year. It's a cool bike- but a lot of artificial cool-ness was brought by Sheldon Brown's recommendation. There's a bunch of differences between model years, tubing, paint, braze ons, components...

The Miyata 1000 was meant to be ridden hard and long, with a **** ton of weight on it- it's not frail- compared to any vintage racing bike, it's relatively stout tubing- it's meant for business.

You're only 23- you've got a lot of time to learn and find and acquire... You do learn that you don't know everything at 23, 25, 30, 40... You'll find other stuff to love, and you'll also find things that you appreciate about the things you have. You've got a nice bike but you're not at endgame-

Slightspeed

I've been "enjoying" my '64 Legnano for 55 years. I was a teenager not much younger than you are when I got this bike new. I'm 69 now, and still enjoying the ride. Get out there and ride, lots of miles, lots of smiles. Sure the old bike has a few battle scars, but do does the rider.

Funny story. I built a Raleigh Super Course from a frame I found in the trash. I posted a picture of my new proud creation here on Bikeforums. When I looked at the picture, I noticed a paint chip on the right chainstay. It bugged me so much that I ran out to the garage with touch-up paint (at 10 o'clock at night) and "fixed" the chip. The first scratch is the hardest.

My Raleigh, paint chip fixed, till the next time.

belacqua

It's easy to say "relax" if relaxing comes easy to you!
@BikeWonder, I think you should get a beater--maybe the Grizzly will work, or you could look for a well-used voyageur, trek 520/620, etc, or why not both.

Now, from the outside, it will look like you acquired the beater so you don't have to ride the miyata and all these relaxed folk will think you're crazy, "wasting" a grail bike.

But the deeper truth will be that the Miyata abides, pristine, serving the important purpose of letting you ride the other bike worry-free.

RiddleOfSteel

I've had this thought for a book title for a little while: All My Favorite Bikes Have Top Tube Dents.

I encourage you to ride your 1000! Had an '82 myself and it was very very nice. Well made (and well-repaired) with a sublime ride quality. Light enough, but never fragile, and I had a 63cm version. It takes a lot to ruin steel, or to even get to a point of Ship of Theseus. Easily repaired, and for not that much. It can be repainted or powder coated (for a lot less).

Most of my fleet very much outclasses my ability to ride/race. I mean, I can hustle and climb and sprint alright for a short amount of time, but still. A Guerciotti Super Record??? How do I own one of those? Or a Davidson, or a Masi or a Paramount (or two) or anything else? I hop on a bike and we partner in wherever we go. We get to know each other and become friends (yes, an inanimate object!). Get to know your Miyata. Not that it will make you care less about it or care less when it gets scratched, but man, man and machine is really cool.

I am beyond over the whole collector car craze and old cars being sold for a zillion dollars. Practically speaking, you could make that $12M Ferrari with newer and better metal, more accurately, with more durability and safety, for a lot less than $12M. That old car could burn to the freaking ground, and all it's done for the last four decades is be driven (or pushed) from storage to a trailer and back. Another title transferred, another owner who stores it some place else and never drives it. That is sad as can be. Drive something that is meant to be driven. Ride something that is meant to be ridden. W.O. Bentley-era Bentleys get very much driven by their owners, and those things are priceless. Repairs? Maintenance? Yup. Par for the course.

paulb_in_bkln

I kind of wish I had your problem!

This is an interesting thread especially as it can be equally relevant to other possessions and even possessions that aren't things. I'm thinking of Steve Carrell's character in The 40 Year Old Virgin; he's got a collection of action figures still in their unopened packages. Someone asks him why he never unwrapped them to play with them and when teased about it he has an outburst, and it mirrors his nervousness about the pressure to have a sexual experience, taking himself out of the package, so to speak, with the fear of subsequent damage and reduced value.

But that's enough armchair psychology BS. Speaking for myself I would want to put some hours and distance on that bike, assuming it's comfortable and satisfying to ride, so that it would have a story and I would have memories associated with it, the more exotic and unusual, the better.