So... I am at a crossroads here. I bought this 1981 Miyata 210 a month or so ago. After a few years of XC riding on my Jamis hardtail; I decided it was time to try my hand at some commuting/road biking in general. I have replaced the parts that needed attention the most. One of the original pedals was pretty rough so I replaced it with the stock pedals from my MTB. Seat I had laying around and replaced the destroyed one that it came with. Seat bag and rack were added for utility.

The bike works wonderfully, but now to the hard part.

I am feeling the up-grade bug, but do not want to stray from the time period of the bike. Basically what I am looking to do is lighten it up a bit and improve the bike as a whole. I want to upgrade to some aluminum rims ( lightness, better braking performance, etc ), brake levers ( dia-compe with safety levers removed, and re adjusted ), pedals, seat, and possibly handle bars ( they are steel, the better models were aluminum ).

Is this worth doing, or should I just leave it as-is? Can anyone suggest any brands for any of the parts I Listed, or even suggestions of parts that would help my goal?



edit: Ignore the rust behind the bike, its just my beater truck

Welcome to C&V -
If it suits you and you plan to keep the bike, the most pressing upgrade are the rims. A set of Sun CR18's would be a most worthy addition, along with some DT shifters.

I would love to put some down tube shifters on it, but have always been unsure if I could mount them since it does not have the braze-on mounts. ( it does however, have a little triangle 'knock' on the underside of the frame where the chrome cable mount is on the downtube ) Any advice on what to look for in these?

I definitely plan on keeping it for quite a while. Seems like a solidly built bike with many years of service left. I have already put a little over 200 miles on it and it has done great.

The Fuji Palisades is a bike that I did upgrades. I removed the safety levers and replaced them with gum hoods; replaced the stem shifters with downtube shifters, replaced the Suntour AR components with Suntour BL, and replaced the cranks with nicer ones. I really liked the changes! You could do likewise, and it really enhances the looks of the bike.

If you have a stop brazed onto the downtube, likely it was intended to take a standard clamped-on DT shifter. (Modern bikes have brazed-on pivots instead of a clamp).
Look for Suntour Power Shifters on eBay. These are probably the best shifters you can buy. (Except perhaps for Simplex Retrofrictions)

perfect candidate for an upgrade!

if it were mine, i'd upgrade:
wheels/tires
shifters to DT or barend (DT wayyy cheaper)
brake levers to tektro aero
crank/pedals

I'm working on an identical bike. The brakes have enough reach to swap out for 700c, if you want. A ramped freewheel and chain will improve shifting.

Agree with much of what has been said- aluminum rims, especially if you ever commute in the rain, are a very high priority. I would also get rubber hoods for those brake levers. You will find riding on the hoods much more comfortable.

If it fits you, go nuts. Perfect bike to upgrade at will. Keep the old parts in case you ever want to revert it to stock. The original parts aren't worth much anyways.

Finally got the downtube Power Ratchets and installed them today. It definitely improved the overall shape of the bike. Cleaned up the stem a bit and I have less cable running to the handlebars.

Off with the old (but still perfectly functioning)...



On with the NEW (NOS actually; had never been installed and still in the bag)





Ignore the backwoods looking bike stand. I need to purchase one; but this seems to be working wonderfully in the meantime

edit: In the background in the picture above; you can see one of the used aluminum wheels that I picked up locally. They are a little crusty and have a few rusty spokes; but I figure a bit of steel wool and elbow grease can fix them. I have pulled the front hub apart, cleaned it and am going to put it back together tomorrow morning.

i am gonna go against the grain and caution you about putting too much money into it. those aluminum rims and DT shifters look nice, but upgrading anything else is not worth it as the 210 frame was made of straight gauge tubing.

I have some suggestions for realatively simply upgrades. Change the brake pads to new Kool-stop or fibrex. Also put a new six speed hyper glide or similar freewheel on the the bike with a new KMC chain. As for the DT shifhters a set of clamb one Suntour power shifters should work fine and can be found online realitavely I have a set I would sell cheap just PM if interested. Other than that it seems just fine the way it is.

Thanks for the honesty; not planning on running any races on this thing, and the upgrades that I am planning on will be transferred when I find a lighter frame

For now though I am just planning on upgrading the brake levers and riding the crap out of it.