First post here after much lurking.

Wondering if anyone can shed a little light on a bike that I have owned for almost 20 years now (although I have used it only sparingly in the last decade).

In 1990, I bought a used Miyata from my LBS in Chicago. It has an aluminum frame painted pearlescent white with red Miyata decals and a red decal that says "Runner." It has indexed Suntour Cyclone components, DiaCompe brakes (IIRC), and a Dura Ace head set. A bit of a mishmash, so I think the previous owner had tinkered with it a bit.

I always said to myself "it's a Miyata Runner," but then I decided to do some research on it. I found a site that has all the Miyata catalogs from that era, and there is no such model. Furthermore, the aluminum frame is unlike any other aluminum frames shown in their catalog -- the catalogs show all of their aluminum frames to be lugged, and my frame simply has welds -- and not particularly smooth ones, either. Also, the catalogs show the aluminum tubes to be pretty narrow, while the ones on my bike are clearly oversized, like Cannondales of that era.

I don't think it's a repaint, because the pearlescent paint is quite beautiful -- it looks factory. It came all white, with white tape and white hoods.

I wish I could take pictures and tell you more about it, but it's at my family's summer home so I don't have to trek my current daily rider up there. I'll see if I have any old pictures lying around to scan in.

Anyone have any ideas?

I can almost guarantee you won't get any useful help here without pics. It also doesn't help that the components have all been replaced (or so it seems). The name and frame details you provide make it SOUND more like a mountain bike and nit a road bike, but that's just me, and based on little info.

If you couldn't find it in any of the catalogs, pics will be the next step here.

what style of brakes does it have? Not worried about the brand, just wondering if they're cantis, sidepulls, or..? And, yes, and shnibop says, we need some pics.

-rob

Miyata had about 8+ "Runner" models, all mountain bikes. They were named stuff like Ridge Runner, Path Runner etc, the first word probably just got worn off the top tube. Any pictures or details on components would help narrow it down.

i think you have an 87 sky runner, and someone put drop bars on it...

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...0-h/img131.jpg

hth
-rob

edit: they even sold the frameset separately
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...0-h/img143.jpg

There it is; pearly white paint, red decals, aluminum tubing, hideous welds... i think we've found our man, assuming your guy has canti-posts

Alas, pics will not be forthcoming; it's in Wisconsin, and I'm in Northern Virginia. I found a few pictures of me riding it in a century (about ten years ago), but they only show the bike from head-on and would provide no useful information to anyone.

That said, I went back and looked at the catalogs that someone kindly posted above (they are the same ones I had looked at earlier).

On closer examination, the Sky Runner piqued my interest -- but the "Runner" decal is in a different location (the back of the top tube instead of the front on the Sky Runner) and the font is completely different (block letters instead of the script shown on the Sky Runner). Also the Sky Runner doesn't have braze-ons for downtube shifters, which mine has. Mine also has side-pull brakes and the fork has no canti-posts (although the fork could have been swapped out).

Looking closely at this page https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...0-h/img110.jpg however, makes me think it's a 1986 Omnium with components swapped out. The frame shown in the background looks exactly like mine (ugly welds, white frame, little hole on the inside of the headtube) -- only the graphics and color scheme is all wrong (mine has the red decals, a silver stem with white handlebar tape, white brakehoods, and red cable housings).

I think I have the right frame, but nothing else seems to add up. Guess my bike will remain a bit of a mystery.

Thanks for the help!

are there canti-posts on the rear?

-rob

Nope. Meant to put that in my earlier reply, but got distracted while I was writing it and forgot.

weird. every miyata referred to as a "runner" that i've ever seen reference to was either a mtb or a hybrid-ish/city bike type thing with strong mtb dna. My terra-runner has a chainstay-mounted u-brake, and could take calipers or s\center-pulls. Any chance you have u-brake posts on the chainstays?

-rob

Pic

And you're seeing why I'm kind of stumped myself. I'm afraid I can't remember if there are U-brake posts on the chainstays, but I doubt it.

I had asked my father to take pictures of it before he left for the summer, but either he didn't remember or didn't care to bother. Either way the end result is the same -- I can't be much more specific until next year. Guess I'll resurrect this thread then!