Luddite

I did a search for Miyata 912 on the forums and noticed some talk about Miyatas having cracking issues...it sounded bad. I recently acquired a Miyata 912 which appears to be of 1985 vintage. Do I need to worry?

Allan Pollock

yes, a major problem. I'll sacrifice myself and take it off your hands. It's what any kind hearted soul would do.

Allan

Antipodes

I've never heard of Miyatas having cracking issues. They are very well regarded and are known to be one of the better quality mass volume manufacturers, at least around these circles.

miamijim

Not unless you inspect first.....


Yes, very well regarded but, the early 7XX and 9XX with the unreinforced TT cables holes weremost prone to cracking. The higher series bikes didnt seem to have this issue as often but it did happen on occasion. Miyata made a running change and reinforced the holes with gussets.




Persuing catalogs it looks like 1987 models or any other year without re-inforced holes would the ones to look out for. 1985 is safe.

miamijim

I wish searching wasnt such a f'ckg struggle. Its worse than pulling teeth.

Luddite

That's a relief, I paid $75 for the bike and shelling out more (way more) than $150 getting it all fixed up. New wheels, one innertube, cables, had the wrong kind of brake pads on front, those are getting switched out, hub was a little loose, that's getting fixed, it's not shifting into all gears, so derailleur is getting worked on.

I'm actually worried about how much $ LBS is gonna nail me for. Yipes. I would like to get all bearings cleaned and repacked as per suggestion from this board but I dunno how much that's gonna set me back.

Allan Pollock

around here, a complete overhaul should only cost about $150-200 canadian. That includes taking everything apart, cleaning, lube, put back together. Includes repacking all bearings and adjusting deraillers and brakes and should include new cables all arround. new tires and tubes are extra but installation should be free with one of these package deals. Of course, for that money, you can buy nearly all of the specialized tools you'll need to do the work yourself.

Allan

Luddite

Mechanically inclined, I aint. I can install a drink cage and a bell and that's about it.

Allan Pollock

fair enough, but you should know that it's not as difficult as you might think. then again, some of the most costly repairs I've had to make to a bike were the result of bad mechanical work on my part while trying to fix something else.

Allan

Luddite

Maybe sometime later I'll acquire a POS mtb or something and try to learn some of the mechanics/how to fix things. However, some of the stuff is cheap at my LBS (MEC) I'm getting a lot of stuff done for $200 or so. I'd rather let a skilled person repair this bike.

bikingshearer 

Depends on what you mean by "worry." Do you mean should you worry about losing your investment by ending up with a cracked, unridable frame? Can't help you with that one.

Do you mean should you worry about the frame disintegrating out from under you on a ride? That I can address - it is highly unlikely. Some frame materials fail catastrophically Right Now if they fail. Steel ain't like that. If it fails, it fails sloooooowly. What that means is that you will most likely notice a frame crack from handling issues well before the frame collapses or otherwise launches you.

To all the research and written material on this subject, I will add one piece of personal-experience anecdotal evidence. I had a Bridgestone RB-1 develop a crack that involved the seat tube, the down tube, and the bottom bracket lug. (My theory is it started some years earlier from a crash I had, but I'll never know for sure.) On a ride, I looked down to see my chainwheel appear to be dancing a samba. I stopped, looked, and saw the crack. Okay, I know I should have seen it earlier through post-ride inspections, but the point is that the crack clearly was not new had spread - the steel was literally tearing - but it was doing so in such a way as to give me plenty of warning before it causing a crash. So even if your Miyata develops a crack, odds are you will have plenty of warning before it gives way completely.

Luddite

I wasn't even worried about it falling apart underneath me, more worried I would invest $$$$$$$$$$ for a bike that would die soon.

Elev12k

I should worry more about the investment of 200 dollars in a lbs working on your bike.

If they did it free, I would still be worried. I definately prefer to do it all myself.

Luddite

I'm getting it done at MEC, you buy a $5 membership to shop there. The prices are very reasonable but if it eases your mind, labour is $50 p/h.

Tune ups / overhauls etc are a flat rate.

wrk101

Vintage bikes come in two varieties: totally refurbished and ready to ride and projects. Projects are really best suited for owners willing, able and ready to do all the work themselves. Otherwise, an "expensive" ready to ride bike can be a better (cheaper) deal.

You can take a sweet $30 thrift store find and turn it into a $200 bike by either doing the work yourself (and spending about $40 in parts) or paying a bike shop $250 to do the work. The work isn't that difficult, but takes time and some special tools.

As far as the search of this forum, be sure to search by "relevance", its on the left side of the page, about half way down. Then the search works OK.

Luddite

I don't plan on selling this bike. I'd been lusting after a road bike for a long while and I finally got one. Since I got it for such a good price ($75) rather than the $150 it's probably worth, well, I'm not getting ripped off here.

Not everyone can fix mechanical things. I would like to learn how to do basic stuff like change an innertube/tire/??? to avoid shelling out labour charges for that kind of thing. My BF doesn't know to fix bikes though he can install bike computers and whatnot. I actually don't personally know anyone that knows how to fix bikes.

Elev12k

Okay

Maybe this could be of help to you >>> https://bicycletutor.com/

Shows you many basic maintenance subjects on video.

John E

I have had four steel frames crack while I was riding them, and I never felt my safety was compromised in the least. (1962 Bianchi Corsa: back of head tube; 1973 Peugeot UO-8: drive side chainstay; 1960 Capo Modell Campagnolo: front of downtube, just behind the butting; 1971 Nishiki Competition: seat tube lug of bottom bracket. The two circa 1960 frames had previously been crashed and re-straightened, but the Peugeot and the Nishiki evidently died natural deaths.

Sixty Fiver

Posts like this are tiresome.

You can work on your bike and I can work on mine and I'm good enough at what I do that I own my own little local shop where people pay me (I charge less than $50.00 / hr) to make sure their bikes are properly serviced.

There is a handful of people I would trust to work on my bikes and they all happen to be professional mechanics with decades of experience... our local shops do have enough newbs working that I can see why many people shy away from them as too often their work leaves something to be desired.

Most people have no concept of what it takes to open and run even a small shop and the $50.00 / hr rate at MEC is actually pretty low compared to most shops here.

/rant

miamijim

Some of the Tampa shops have a staff of 7 or 8 on hand @ $8/hr thats a minimum of $60/hr just in labor! It aint cheap to have brick n mortar store. There's something like 2000 working hours in a year X 8 people X $8 = $128,000 in salaries!!!

Luddite

Sixty...in what city is your shop located?

Iowegian

+1 I do almost all my own work but there a few special jobs that I take to a real pro and I don't mind paying him for it either.

I only search with google anymore. 'search text here ' site:bikeforums.net Works like a charm.

oh yeah....on topic.... I once cracked a dropout on my 1984 Ridgerunner. Took a second to figure out why my wheel was rubbing against the chainstay when I pedaled. I had to walk back a few miles through the desert but Miyata sent me a new frame.