picked this up for $50

It's going to (hopefully) be a touring bike for my girlfriend. We're doing 700km through Korea in September, not camping, mostly smooth paths.

The plan is to modernize it for speed and reliability.

I am undecided about a repaint or not. Thoughts? There is a lot of paint missing, but what remains is good and has a lovely sparkle in it.
Someone in another thread suggested the missing paint might mean a front end collision but to my eye the tubes are straight and i think it may have just been stalled rust removal.

It has made its way down to New Zealand via Freewheeling Bicycles, Austin, San Marcos, and I bought it off a very nice guy, with a very interesting shed, up in the rural North, Kaikohe

so many cool little details on this bike

They are nice riding frame sets. That looks to be serious corrosion in the front area and BB bracket. That needs a good inspection before decision making.

I’d certainly suggest a respray or a beadblast and powdercoating - I think your GF would be happier on a bike that doesn’t look so rusty. (Adage “happy wife, happy life” comes to mind.). The 1000 was an excellent touring bike, worth the investment.

Yes, no reason at all to keep this one original in the paint department, it would be worse off for it.

They are a highly regarded touring bike, but first I would see if you van get the seat post and steering stem out. Make sure the rust is on the outside only. It would be a shame to have break in half after a refirb. Might be better to start a little higher up the food chain.

Normally, I would say it's a steal at $50, but to be honest, my eyes were immediately drawn to the wrinkled paint on the fork crown. I'm not an expert, but I would want to be able to explain why the paint failed like that. Has it been repaired? Any other cracked paint like that on the front triangle? Have it inspected by a frame builder if you can, because your plans for it are pretty serious -- not a coffee-gettin' bike.

Interesting (to me anyway) the square stickers on the bottom bracket. My '82 Univega Gran Turismo (Miyata made frame) had the same thing, and I assumed it was something the previous owner had put on. Seems like maybe it was factory applied.

If you've bought it for $50, it's worth a total strip down to the bare frame to assess. Won't cost you a bomb and worth the peace of mind.

Worried me too , but I think those are marks from sanding

Wait. Does it fit, and is it comfortable for her? Answer these before proceeding. I rebuilt several vintage bikes for my spouse, and she didn't like a few of them.

Haha yeah I know how it is.

Pretty similar to getting a bike for yourself really

This one is an informed guess and it's really hard to know before it is finished and given some decent rides.

I had the same year bike in a 57cm. It was wonderful, just a tad small. If it fits her it could be a wonderful ride.

The photo of the bottom bracket shows fresh grease on the spindle, wonder why the crank was later removed unless the photos are out of order. The rust on the front area is consistent with a trainer bike sweated on and never wiped down.

I wouldn't repaint it. I don't know where in Korea you are touring but it's better to have a bicycle that blend's in on a foreign tour. I know that first world people want to impress others on their social media with their blingy bike's in foreign places. But I've found that it's safer and people are more open and welcoming if you look like you belong. I've been to places where even having $200/US is more than most of the locals made in 6 months to a year. Just my two cents...

Edit; also 26" is probably the best tire size if you get off the beaten path a bit. 26'ers are only dead in first world countries.

Previous owner had serviced the bb i guess. I removed it as i will probably change the crank and also probably paint it.
true. odd bike for a trainer but yeah

My partner is Korean. Also their median salary is not significantly lower than in New Zealand.
I take your point about not having a flashy bike. My touring bike has rim brakes and downtube shifters. It's not cheap but to most people's eye it looks like a crappy old road bike, which is good. The vast majority of cycle tourists in NZ now ride pretty flashy modern gravel bikes.
A lot of people overthink gear for touring and could do much the same thing with far less gear, but there's also a lot of ridiculous grouching in the other direction against modern/nice stuff when that is also what you can simply buy and not think so much about. Many of the new things are nice.

Option B for her bike is that 26" old mtb in the first pic, so yeah, maybe. 26" isn't exactly dead here either, a lot of people ride 26ers.

Also if you're really worried about signalling wealth, or, your footprint, don't fly to another country. Our flights far outweigh the cost of a powdercoat.

Cool. I didn't mean to sound like I was talking down to you. I'm on a sport touring bike with friction barends for my USA touring and an old 26" mtn bike for my foreign tours. I also think people get carried away with stuff like this and think you need hydro disc's, 700x55 tires and $400 front racks that can carry a small child's weight for overnight "real" touring. Either way, I hope you are able to go and have a great time.

The bike doesn't "need" to be repainted, but I can assure you that you are leaving a door wide open for her to not like it from the start, and that - even if she does accept it - she will find other, unrelated "reasons" to not like the bike. Presuming this is an option, I would involve her in selecting the color(s), and then ensuring someone with adequate skills and facilities performs the painting and any finishings. While it might not hurt to have a couple suggestions in mind if she's drawing a blank, let the process (at least as far as selection goes) be hers, and she will have an attachment to it - possibly even before actually giving it a test ride.

If she does give the frame a test-ride before you get it refinished, be sure to put better tires on once it's been painted, as this gives a built-in advantage when the ride quality of the finished product is assessed.

Wisdom 👍

I too have a 1981 Miyata 1000. It is one of my favorites, rides very nicely. It also has the letter stickers on the bottom bracket, F C in my case.

Ok there is a definite bulge in the steerer tube 🥲

And I can feel a dip inside the steerer at that point

Ah well, that's how it goes with old bikes. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes the scrapper gets lucky.

Yep. All good. On to the next one