I just picked up a Team Miyata at the Trexlertown swap.

(if you saw a dude with a beard walking around with this bike...it was me)



The frame and fork appears to be chrome underneath the paint...in the places the paint is chipped off Its very shiny. I'm kinda thinking about stripping the main tubes and forks and stays down and keeping the lugs blue and gold, but I'm really not sure. As it is I want the "Kopps Cycle" team decals off of it and they are taking the paint with them as they flake off.

Here's the biggest issue... the top tube cable guide is rotting...see?



more pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/alario/T...eat=directlink

Its split in half and rusting off. Can I repair this without having a new one brazed on? I'd hate to ruin the paint job...not to mention the frame appears to be chromed underneath the paint and I'd really hate to ruin the chrome.

No just do it a different way, a clamp. I was just pokin' around stores on thr net & saw things that work that I wasn't even looking for. usual places; jenson, universalcycles. you name it. Raleigh clamps look particularly fine.

Teams were among the best ever; messing with the paint.. I don't think so. To do so will bring you well beyond the point of diminishing returns right quick. If your intent is to passs it on someday, fine, let THEM mint it out, THEY can absorb the expense and worries. The expense of of restoration is realized by the owner who restores it, rarely is it recup't. I've seem teams go for less than some may suspect so....

Serial indicates 1984. 81 - 84 similar anyway.

EXCELLANT find ! They don't get much better

I thought about a clamp, but what to do with the rusty former cable guide? hack it off? brush the rust off and touch it up?

Its pokey and I don't want tetanus.

what could be a more classic combination than Kopps and Joisey?

I doubt the front triangle is chrome underneath.

With my Koga FullPros the tail is chromed. They share the frame.

Just finish the job removing the cable guide, and build it up fixed.

Long have I lusted to try out a Team Miyata. I did own a beautiful Miyata 1000 Touring and it was a terrific bike. Why did I sell it?

A Team Miyata is a worthy vintage road bicycle to say the least and, in my humble opinion, I would do what I could to restore it. Not only would you be preserving a piece of velo history but you would also be increasing the value of the bicycle.

Again, and as always, my opinion.

Ok well maybe its best to keep the Kopps Cycle lettering on it... That shop is a piece of NJ History and is one of the oldest bike shops in the country.

For the time being I'm gonna just bend the points so they aren't poking up and build this up real quick before it gets cold and ugly so I can try it out....i'm excited, its my first full cr-mo frame, and its pretty racy.

YES ,.. leave it be, all of it, grind that dacayed vestige. You won't be degrading it. Besides, it needs to come-off either way. Touch it and other spots-up.

I looked at your frame and you got yourself a sweetheart price notwithstanding the fact that the bike was used hard and put away wet and sweaty. More than the pointy parts of the broken top tube eyelet, I would be worried about the rust that was visible. You need to do something about the rust. I would remove what is remaining of the eyelet and then touch it up. BTW, you need a 26.8 seatpost for the frame. If this is your first "real" bike, you will be amazed about the difference in ride if you also fit similar quality components.

Saw you walking around with that and thought to myself "nice score". Still think the same....

This is the one you need to put the Superbe on...

I came VERY close to buying that frame! As memory serves, it was a hair big.

I'd use a small file to dress down the rusted eyelet followed by touch up paint. I also doubt the frame is chromed underneath since there is no chrome visible on the outside.

Hrmm, it is a tough but enviable position you are in. I think that the bike looks to be in very very good shape except for that one small area. Were it me, I would file it down as best as I could and spray a little Rustoleum on it and cover it with blue paint and use a screw-on cable guide. Another option might be to take a torch to it and pop it off which would be cleaner in the end but you would probably lose the decals.

T'were me, it would be repaired and repainted; but I'm not fond of the colors or scheme anyway. I think that if you wanted to keep it going, a piece of aluminum or CF tubing, epoxied to the cleaned-up (rat-tail file used with masking tape) remains of the braze-on would serve well enough, the lateral stresses of the cable notwithstanding.

I was going to suggest adding a "panel" to the top tube (covering braze repair), but the braze-on is a bit too forward for that. Perhaps a short band at the b-o, with pinstriping and a suitable decal on each side to give the anomaly some graphic logic?

Nice score! I'd second the motion to stop the rust ASAP by filing off the remants of the guide. You definately don't want the rust getting into the tube. There will always be time later for a restoration, new paint scheme, or not. For now, I'd just ride it and enjoy it.

Thanks everyone. I've gotta order a stem and a headset to get it going in the immediate future...I'll hack that guide off and make sure the cancer isnt spreading to the top tube at all.

Right now I just want to get it on the road before it starts snowing with whatever parts I can scrounge together. Hopefully I can experience it before next spring...it is my first real bike. My super course is a little taste, but this is the first with a full 531 construction and forged dropouts.

For the sake of getting it on the road, I'd just zip-tie the cable on and paint out the zip tie with your touch up paint. If you use a cable clamp it's going to stick out. You could use all three clamps but that would look kind of funny, too. I'm guessing you'll like the bike enough to eventually get a new guide brazed on and spring for a paint job.

My memory is fading but there may be considerable chrome under the paint. The enitre fork may be chromed (but not highly polished) and both the seat and chain satys may be chromed a few inches (but not highly polished).

Yes, tail and forks chromed and chrome is no mirror shine quality. I learnt it from a friend who stripped his FullPro-L. He got an unpleasant surprise.

I'm attempting to determine exactly that.

I've rounded up everything I need except a JIS sized headset. Gonna check the LBS for one tonight and might even be able to ride it this week!

Are you positive its J.I.S.?

I tapped the old cups out this morning and they measured 30.0mm so I'm fairly sure its JIS...I didn't check the fork crown race though...I just kinda assumed it was 27mm since the cups were 30.

How is the lower race measured? just tap it off and measure the Inside Diameter?

Its possible my measurement was off by .2mm I'm using non-digital calipers that measure in inches, which I convert with google.

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THE BIKE DOES NOT USE JIS !!!

it uses Italian which is practically the same as ISO which supercedes Italian

Only a subtle difference in configuaraton of the lands differentiates the two. So much so that Italian H.S. are more brand distiguishable than anything ( which is nothing)

if a person repairs, changes the h.set a number of times, this might cause an issue due to a fraction of a frational difference in press diameter... So not a problem

JIS is used in Hi-tens. steel and a few psuedo chrmly. type bikes NOT that bike