jtgotsjets

Miele bikes, anyone? There have been a few threads on these (mostly bike ID threads, as Miele was terrible about putting model names or serial numbers on their bikes), but no consolidated photo/discussion threads. General opinion seems to be quite positive on these bikes, so I wanted to get something started.

A very brief history of Miele... Jim Miele was an Italian immigrant to Canada, and I guess he picked up the cycling bug while still in Italy, because once settled in Toronto, he started a bike company with bikes heavily inspired by Italian design. Lots of Columbus tubing, Campy parts, etc, on the high-end stuff. The middle-tier stuff was more typical Japanese fare. (Overgeneralizing here...) It seems like they never really released a truly "low-end" bike, but they did have a few with lower-end parts (the frames were still nice, though, so even if you bought something cheaper, you could upgrade it). When Jim died (in the 90s?), the company name was sold and they became department store BSOs.

Anyway, outside of Canada, these bikes are practically unknown, it seems. Even inside Canada, they can be somewhat uncommon (as evidenced by the lack of posts about them on the forum). If you live in Toronto, however, where the company was based.....WOW! They're all over the damn place. Seems like every second vintage bike here is a Miele of one sort or another. It's kind of a shame they didn't get better distribution, because these are quite fine bikes. Even the lower-end bikes tend to be nice, utilitarian rides and usually have "perks" only seen on nicer bikes (forged dropouts, fancy paint jobs, etc). If you see one, check it out!

So there we have it! Denizens of Toronto/Canada/the world, let's see your Mieles!

jtgotsjets

I'll get things started.

This first one is a 1988 Miele Azsora. I use it for getting to work en the weather is nice, and for just having fun and going fast around town. It's Ishiwata 022 tubing with forged Columbus dropouts. Lower-end Shimano parts, but everything works well and I'm not trying to shed weight. It's middling enough (and has enough patina) that I don't have to worry about locking it up around town, but it's fancy enough that it's still an absolute joy to ride.





This next one is my wife's, I just picked it up yesterday for her. It's something of a time capsule find, looks like it was once around the block then put into storage. It's a 44cm ST 48cm TT Terry geometry bike with the 24" front wheel. There's no model name or serial number I can find, but the cranks have a 1988 date code. Kind of a weird mashup of parts, not sure what's up with that (non-aero levers in 1988?). I also can't tell where in the lineup this bike might have been, it has some really fancy touches like the fade paint and the internal cable routing, but the tubing is Tange Infinity and the parts are a bit lower end. Either way, it's a pretty awesome bike. My wife rode it once and realized she's never had a bike before now that really fit her.






Just for fun, the two Mieles together. 58cm vs 44cm.

randyjawa 

I have been lucky enough to have a few Miele bicycles come my way, over the years. The most exotic, of which, was this special built machine that I had for many years...



For those interested, this brochure might help a wee bit with model identification...

jtgotsjets

Ah, nice, that's your bike! I've spent some time at your site while googling Miele stuff. Quite a fine steed there, I love the look of it.

clasher

Here's mine!



It's a Latina 'road issue' model, made of columbus tubing. I bought the frame on ebay; I have another one that's a bit smaller in purple it but it has a cracked dropout and no fork... was just looking for a replacement fork and decided to just buy the whole frame. I built it up with a mix of 6400 and 6500 stuff, I had a standard road double on there but my knees can't handle the tall gears so I swapped it out for a sugino triple and a new FD. It works well with the brifters if I don't cross-chain too much. I just put on a new pair of vittoria corsa tires and they are pretty nice. I've used the bike on a few brevets even, 200k and a 300k. The saddle is a bit of a beast though and I did put a brooks c17 on it to do those brevets.

T-Mar

I strongly suspect the OP's girlfriend's bicycle is a 1989 model. None of the 1986-1988 models came with a 24" front wheel nor had internal cable routing for rear the brake cable. I have no 1989 literature but in 1990 Miele offered two Infinity models, the Tournet and Volta, with Exage Motion and Exage 300EX respectively. Neither was offered with a 24" front wheel but both had internal cable routing for the rear (though by this time they were using the plastic inserts). The process of elimination suggests that 1989 is the best candidate, which corroborates well with the crankset date code. The tubeset suggests it may be a Tournet or Volta. The components do seem quite low end, especially the deailleurs, but this may have been frankenbiked to a degree.

Miele Man

A few of mine.

Miele UNO

Miele Uno L.S. by Miele Man, on Flickr

Another miele UNO I repainted and rebuilt.

MIELE Uno Repainted #1 by Miele Man, on Flickr

A Miele UNO I converted to touring nad repainted.

#04a Miele Uno L.S. Rebuilt 4 Touring - Added Bottle Mount, Canti-brake Studs & Bridge by Miele Man, on Flickr

#04b Miele Uno L.S. Rebuilt 4 Touring - Added Bottle Mount, Canti-brake Studs & Bridge by Miele Man, on Flickr

This is a Tange INFINITY Miele i repainted and rebuilt.

Miele Road Racing Bicycle = 27 Gears Drivetrain Side by Miele Man, on Flickr

A Miele Latina Columbus SL frameset I rebuilt.

Miele Columbus SL Frame by Miele Man, on Flickr

A Miele Team ssue (Jim Miele signatures on top tube) Columbus SLX frameset I rebuilt.

IMG_3525 by Miele Man, on Flickr

A Miele MTB I repainted and rebuilt.

Miele Montain Bicycle converted to Cyclo-cross = 24 Gears by Miele Man, on Flickr

Another Miele MTB I converted to dropbar.

IMG_3433 by Miele Man, on Flickr

Cheers

Miele Man

Thanks to a forum member I also have a pair of Miele Shoes.

The shoes go really well with the Miele jersey and shorts I bought form Pedlar Bicycles on Avenue Road, Toronto, Canada back in 1986.

IMG_3685 by Miele Man, on Flickr

IMG_3687 by Miele Man, on Flickr

IMG_3686 by Miele Man, on Flickr

Cheers

jefnvk

Hmm, I like that black Miele Uno Tourer. Maybe I need to poke around the SW Ontario craigslist pages...

Miele Man

It used to be a different colour. I had it modified by TRUE NORTH (custom bicycle builder) of Bellwood north of Guelph Ontario. It's converted to look similar to the Miele TOURISTA which had cantilever brakes but otherwise was nearly identical to the Miele PRIMO. Both were a charcoal brown/black when I had them.

The TOURISTA seems to be a pretty rare listing. I've only seen one and that was one that a friend of mine was given. i've never seen one listed on Kijiji. I don't watch Craig's List.
Cheers

jefnvk

Hmm, never seen Kijiji before. You just like it better, or is it the more commonly used site over there?

I've been wanting to dig up an old CCM one of these days, too, and have occasionally watched the Windsor/Sarnia CLs. Might explain why they never seem to have much on them.

Miele Man

Forgot about this miele that i converted to a single speed.

#1 1980's MIELE = Columbus SL Frame Single Speed #3 by Miele Man, on Flickr

Since then it went to True North and had brazeons added to it to allow me to rebuild it with a Dura Ace AX groupset. I'll post an image of it after i reassemble it.

Cheers

jtgotsjets

You could very well be correct! I stopped investigating once I saw the crank date code; it was February 88, so I assumed 1988, but maybe it was a leftover part, or I have a frankenbike as you mention. The weird mix of parts makes me think Frankenbike, as do a couple of paint touch-ups I've since noticed, but then the tires were vintage and *brand new*, and the owner was telling me a story about how it had never been ridden.... Weird to make up a story like that if you spent the time to restore it...

Either way, not too concerned. The frame is where the value is when it comes to mid-level Mieles, and we already have some upgrades in mind (aero levers and a new saddle!). Everything seems to be working cleanly, despite the mix of parts, so anything that doesn't need immediate work will probably stay till it breaks.

I'll try and do some more research on those models you mentioned, see if I can tell what parts used to hang on them stock.

And I know my wife doesn't care what year it was made, she's just super-happy to have a bike that fits!

jtgotsjets

Yeah, kijiji is, for whatever reason, the preferred classifieds site in Canada. I usually check both CL and Kijiji. If you're in the states I wouldn't bother with it.

markk900

You need another ATB on this thread, so here's mine:

jefnvk

I certainly wouldn't for something in Michigan, but if I'm willing to run across the border for ice skates, I can't see why I wouldn't add it to my morning internet browsing for fun things like CCMs and Mieles!

top506

Gara re-painted by previous owner.
I acquired it as frame and fork, and built it up with a mix of 1050 and 600, with Tourney brifters.

Top

mongol777

Had several Miele, none at the moment. I think I liked Gara the most, I had Gara 88, pic below is just after I bought it and changed cables, put new tires and tape.
Had full Shimano 600 tri-color group if I remember correct.

jtgotsjets

I'm loving the lugged MTBs. I'm used to seeing so few of those, but in Toronto, they pop up quite often. I almost bought for myself, but it sold before I could grab it (bought my Kuwahara a few weeks later).

The road bikes so far are faaaaaancy! I'm loving it so far. That's one thing you don'tsee that often in person in Toronto; the mid-range models must have sold like crazy, but the high-end stuff seems more rare (or probably people don't lock them up/commute on them as much, which limits my ability to spot them in the wild).

Miele Man

The thing with a lot of old lugged steel frames MTB and Road is that they're getting mutilated into fixed-gear or single speed bicycles. People acquire the frame andthen they saw/grind off the shifter and cable bosses and the brazedon front derailler mount in order to "CLEAN UP" the lines of the frame. Then they often repaint thae frame but don't add any maker's graphics.

Beware that someone has bought the MIELE name and are making MIELE badged bikes again.

Cheers

jtgotsjets

I honestly don't find that very common. There was a period of time about 7-10 years ago when it was a lot more common because track bikes were getting trendy, but weren't generally available and certainly not available cheaply. It was easier/cheaper to massacre an old road frame to get the clean track bike look.

Nowadays, though, track bikes, fixed gears, and single-speeds are manufactured by every major maker and a whole boatload of smaller makers, and there's plenty of budget models around. It's now way easier to get the fixie look by buying a fixie, so nobody really bothers chopping up the old frames (which are trendy in their own right these days).

Miele Man

I've s een a LOT of really nice old steel frames with the downtube shifter bosses, the cable guides and the derailler hanger cut off and ground smooth by people who've turned them into either a fixie or a singler-speed. I've also seen ads by people looking for a steel lugged frame to do that so they too can have a fixie or single-speed. THAT'S why steel lugged frames are getting more expensive too - the supply of them is getting scarcer.

Cheers

jtgotsjets

I've seen a lot too. But steadily fewer and fewer over the last decade, for the reasons I gave above.

jtgotsjets

For whatever reason, the weird story I was given about this bike, and the weird assortment of parts on it has been niggling at me.

One idea I had: did Miele ever sell framesets? I feel like a lot of things about this bike would make sense if it was bought as a frame and built up by a bike shop before being transferred to the owner, and eventually put into storage.

That, or the guy that sold it to me just likes to fix up bikes and tell tall tales about them.

Miele Man

I think that a lot of the EXAGE stuff performed quite well and even looked good.

The EXAGE clipless pedals are a case in point. Remove the annodizing, then remove the castings seams from the pedal body and then polish the pedal and you end up with a VERY nice looking pedal. When I did that to mine the shop that sold Campy stuff marvelled at my pedals and hought they were Campy at first look.

Shimano Exage Clipless Pedal Refined & Polished 1f by Miele Man, on Flickr

Shimano Exage Clipless Pedal Refined & Polished 1e by Miele Man, on Flickr

Shimano Exage Clipless Pedal Refined & Polished 1c by Miele Man, on Flickr

Here's an EXAGE crankset I polished up

#6 Exage Crank - Polished by Miele Man, on Flickr

i also think that a lot of the EXAGE stuff had performance that matched some of the high-end 1980s stuff.

Cheers