Peek the Geek

So I've got this steel beast sitting in my basement right now:



It was my first mountain bike, though I used it mainly as an around town bike in high school and as a commuter in college. I bought a Trek 6500zx at some point and gave the Miyata to my older brother so he had something to ride with his kids. It sat neglected for many years in my brother's garage, and I had forgotten he had it until he was cleaning out his garage recently and asked if I wanted it back.

So I took it back and stripped the parts, most of which were barely functional, heavier than heck, or just plain effed up. Now, I've got this frame, and I'm not sure what to do with it.

Is it worth building up, maybe as a singlespeed/fixed, just for kicks and running around town? Should I sell it for the few measly dollars I'd get for it? Or should I keep it tucked away in the crawl space under my house and pray fluorescent green and pink never come back in style?

dminor 

I'd roll out the oxy-acet rig and have a little fun. Can you say 'chopper?'

Peek the Geek

Unfortunately, my welding skills are, well, non-existent. Good thought, though.

muteseh

why would anyone ruin a perfectly good bike?

dminor 

I prefer to think of it as 'reconfiguration'

gattm99

IF it was mine I would give the paint a light sanding then paint the sumbich up with some neon green and florucent pink, or maybe do a Dario Peggoritti style handbrushed modern art paintjob on it.

taylor p

or you could start a scrap metal pile

I_bRAD

Make a bootin' around town bike! I have my old Miele Mountain bike (circa 1991) set up with slicks, a rack and milk crate and lights/horn etc. Its a great utility vehicle and I can lock it up without too much worry

What's wrong with the old components? What did it have on it?

dminor 

Too bad - - I see some great possibilities. How 'bout this little number? A keg and some ice in that tub and you could take the party anywhere

TimJ

If it's made out of miyata's splined, triple-butted tubes then it would, 1- make a nice singlespeed or city bike or whatever, or 2- sell for more than you think from ebay. Miyata made great bikes and their road framesets allways go for decent money. Since that looks like it has semi-horizontal dropouts, it would probably do pretty well on ebay, there's always someone looking for a nice steel frame to make into a singlespeed. Unless of course it's hi-ten or something, but it would still do OK, I'd bet. My first mtb was a Ridgerunner. That was splined, triple-butted but it was a higher up model.

It's a nice frame that someone out there would be happy to use if you don't.

ViperZ

No Problems, if you can handle a hacksaw and a hammer, you're set.... Do it old skool by cutting the forks legs of a old/spare fork, and tap the new cut leg/extentions on to the bottom of the frames good fork.

ALA-Instant Chopper


That's how we did it when I was 10 years old


Seriously, if you have the parts, build it up to be a mule of some sort. You can never have too many bikes, and it's always good to have a different way to ride I say.

Peek the Geek

Apparently the frame is spline triple butted, but I don't know much about it or where it stood in the model line. I've tried Google, but can't find any info on this particular frame.

Maelstrom 

Pure joy. If he has a "good" bike already whats the harm in playing.

TimJ

It was comparable to a hardrock, I'd say. I had a slightly older model Trailrunner and that was about rockhopper level. I think the countryrunner was right below the trailrunner. That's nice steel. Not the lightest, but good stuff.

If you asked in classic and vintage there's a dude there who could tell you exactly what it is.

pinkrobe

SS conversion, make it into the bar bike, with a sticker that says "This bike is a pipe bomb" on one side and "My other ride is your mother" on the other. I'm only half kidding.

kemmer

It's a nicer frame than a hardrock. IIRC Hardrocks are either straght gauge Cro-mo or maybe double butted main tubes at best. Miyata made a great bike for the money and this was likely much better than a similarly priced Specialized or Trek.

Keep the frame, that would make a really good single speed and/or city bike. You could even do some touring on it, it's got all the braze ons you need!

tmar is the guy on C&V that could probably tell you more than you want to know about it.

TimJ

It was about the same price point and component group as a hardrock. You'd compare a country runner to a hardrock and a trailrunner to a rockhopper.

kemmer

Right, and in general, with Japanese bikes in those days the same money got you a nicer frame. I'd take that frame off the OPs hands in a heart beat but I wouldn't look twice at a hardrock. (or a rockhopper for that matter) That frame probably as nice as a stumpjumper frame. The Bridgestones MB-5 (also Japanese made) I had was made of triple butted tange chromoly but was the bottom of their line up. It was an extremely nice frame for an entry level bike.

Hanzo

I'd build it into a city commuter. Run a 8 x 2 drivetrain, hookworm tires, rack, etc.

S. cerevisiae

B=N+1

Let's all chant...*fixie, fixie, fixie...*

Diggidy_Dylan

This would be a PERFECT bike to set up as a S/S or even... fixxie mountain bike.... https://www.63xc.com/

evanatorx

you could always mail it to me...

Peek the Geek

I think what I've decided to do is build it up as an offroad tourer. There are some extended trips I've considered, and I could inexpensively build this up into something I wouldn't mind exposing to the elements. I've already got a singlespeed mountain bike (Gunnar Ruffian), and doing a fixie conversion wouldn't be worth anything more to me than temporary novelty. At least an offroad tourer would serve a purpose not already covered by the bikes I have. Now if I could only equip it with a giant bug net to keep away the deer flies that are so awful in the northwoods of Wisconsin.

Nickds7

All you need is some super skinny tires

dminor 

Maybe you could capture a bunch of them and devise some sort of deer fly turbine to power it