Old Yet New Miyata Commute/Brevet bike

I finished putting together the Miyata, can't wait to take it for a real spin! I've had it for a while, with the original Shimano "Exage" group on it, and it had some old busted wheels too.


I took all the old parts off of it, and the bike shop built the rear wheel & installed the fenders, and cranks. I'm still using the original Shimano "Exage" cranks & front derailleur, but everything else has been replaced with newer parts.

After some trial and error, the bike now has brakes, downtube shifters, derailleurs, and a chain on it. The downtube shifters are really easy to deal with, which is part of the reason I'm moving away from the STI-style shifters I currently use. (If they break on the road, it'll be easier to fix)


"Spline triple-butted" it says - I'd think that would be super-light, but I guess not. Although back in the day this was probably equivalent to my Bianchi Eros from '05. This wasn't their top-o-the-line bike, but it wasn't the lowest-grade one either. (As gauged from here)









The finished product, sporting a Brooks saddle & dynohub/halogen light:


In total it's got to be a good 25 lbs or so, without the carradice saddle bag & water bottle mounts... But when I took it for a test-ride earlier tonight, it felt solid, and actually felt decent on a little climb in front of my apt, even with platform pedals!

And check out the extensions the LBS put on the fenders! It's a length of tire, quick-tied to the fender. Talk about full coverage, can't wait to take this thing out in the rain.


















Oh and the bike has great accents on it, like art-deco triangles like this one, and little yellow squiggly lines on the top tube too, it reminds me of Miami Vice.


(Sorry for the wacky formatting in this post, but the main thing here is the pictures, the pictures!)

My Winter Ride - Miyata Fixed Gear

Last night I finally got my rear fender to fit on my fixie, but just barely. With maybe a few millimeters of space, it's a tight squeeze, but it worked for the 25-mile commute today.

After a few seasons of trying to use 'race blades' that cover 1/4 of the wheel, I'm trying out something hopefully dryer. Now that it's so wet outside, I figure I might as well dedicate a bike to the current season: crappy. The full rear fender with the race-blade on the front (complete with diy water-bottle extension) keeps the bike, and me, much cleaner than before.

So here it is, my Miyata 305 fixie:



The 14x40 (~77 gear inches) is kind of tough up some of the steeper hills around here, but big enough to make downhills fun. Going up the paved trail next to 520, my rear wheel was sliding on the wet leaves on the ground, but somehow I kept riding up and up. The rolling hills on the Eastside aren't so bad, and the trail is decent enough to keep you off the busy roads for most of the way.


Here's today's commute profile - just goes to show you really can't go far in Seattle without hitting sizable hills:

So bring on the rain, bring on the winds! I'm prepared, finally.