Recently converted an old Miyata and I'm liking it so far, I just want to paint the frame. It has these two plastic "vents" on the top tube and they look like they are actually built in to the frame and not just stuck on. Can anyone confirm this or not? I don't want to crack them off if they are structurally part of the frame. There are also these two square nut/lug things on each side of the down tube. Any idea what they are for?

The square braze-ons on the downtube were originally for downtube shifters. I can't speak to the vent-looking things. I believe the 714 model was pretty high end (compared to the 210 and stuff).

i'm gonna guess the 'vents' are for internal cable routing. don't hack anything off, please. there's no real reason to do it, not even for aethetics. people will just think you're a jackass.

I'm no jackass. I don't even really want to paint it because it's this awesome white to purple fade that no one else has. It's just beat up and could use a fresh coat.

what's with all the ****ing braze-on policing?