I found the photos of my Miyata 312 that I'd posted in another thread. The year is 1989 and it has a nice story behind it. It is almost exactly as bought. The only thing I've replaced is the crankset. I even left the previous owner's bar tape on it because some of my kids thought it looked really cool. After awhile it grew on me and I decided to ride it until it craps out. Now to the story. I saw an ad on Craigslist for the bike and it was located about 1 1/2 hours from home. No problem because I used to travel a lot for my job and I could justify going there for business too.
The lady who greeted me at the door was extremely nice. She said her husband had recently passed and she had been selling off his bikes. She said he was an active racer back in the day. Unfortunately this was the last one to go. All of his geared bikes had sold. She said this one was one of his favorites and that he used it in the "off season" as a trainer. Being a fixed-gear, that made perfect sense to me. I looked it over and it was in perfect condition with very little damage to the paint and all of the components in great shape. I forget what I paid, but it was cheap for what it was in my opinion. I didn't haggle, that's for sure. Especially given it was her late husband's bike. Anyway, I brought her home, the bike, not the wife! I cleaned and polished all the bits and did some minor touch-up. It has become my favorite ride. On flat-to-moderate hills it is smooth and fast. I really do love it and it will probably be the last bike I ever sell. Unless I have to go with a mixte due to flexibility, etc. This is the bike that I often grab when I look in my garage to decide what to ride. Even when I've ridden it several days in a row it calls to me.
P.S. After looking at the photos I remembered that the previous owner hadn't put any covering on the downtube shifter bosses so I put some Shimano cable stops on there. I might invest in some Problem Solvers, but probably won't. I also kept the faded yellow bottle cage. I think it just "fits" and it does match the yellow in the decals, so there's that.