t1k

Good day to you fine ladies and gentlemen.

I'm thinking about picking up a 1989 Miyata 618gt as my bad weather/winter commuter. I already have 700x35mm studded winter tires (Schwalbe marathon winter plus) that hoping to use on the Miyata. I would also need to put on some fenders.

So I have a few questions to the fellows Miyata lovers
- what fenders do you run on your Miyata 600sh?
- will the 35mm fit with the fenders
- the 618gt comes with Suntour XCM accushift derailleurs and bar end shifters. It also has the 6 speed Suntour freewheel. I'm wondering whether the indexing will still work if I put the Shimano compatible 6 speed free wheel on.

Thank you for the help guys. This forum taught me everything I know about bike mechanics.

John Nolan 

I'm not sure how they compare, but I have Pasela 35s on my 1986 610, and I haven't been able to fit fenders on it with them. (Both models had 32s as original equipment.) I think you might have trouble with the Schwabes.

I don't think Suntour stuff is going to index well with a Shimano cog. Do you know if the bar ends can be switched to friction? Many Accushift ones can't.

t1k

Thank you for sharing your experience John.

The bike comes with Suntour SL-BC00 barcons and they do have the friction mode.
I read here on the forum that the 6 speed freewheel spacing is the same for Shimano and Suntour. Not sure whether that's true though.

John Nolan 

Yeah, this thread indicates it will work. I spoke too soon. Maybe someone else who has actual experience will weight in.

sd5782 

I have a 89 1000LT which looks to be similar geometry. With the 35 Paselas there is 1/2” clearance to the rear brake bridge and 3/8” to front. No fenders, but mount up your tires and see. It will probably be close enough for you to try it.

ZudeJammer

I have suntour a3000 indexing an 8 speed shimano reliably

pcb 

Suntour and Shimano 6-speed freewheel spacing isn't the same, and derailleur geometries and cable pull are different as well. So shifting a 6spd Shimano fw with Suntour 6spd levers/rder isn't supposed to work, but in actual use it might work OK. Or not.

Suntour indexing was pretty finicky even when everything was correctly spec'd, and it had very narrow tolerances for out-of-spec anything. Any time you want to mix and match, it's a try-and-see situation.

XCM was at the lower end of the line, so rder pivots weren't as tight and got a little sloppy faster than the higher-end mechs. That might work for you, or against you.

If the Shimano freewheel you use is a later twisted-tooth design, like Uniglide, that should help. The teeth are more aggressive/active at catching and releasing the chain. That's an advantage when the shift lever might not be precisely positioning the rear derailleur where it should be.

The Golden Boy 

I would normally completely defer to pcb , but I use Shimano and Sunrace 6 speed freewheels with XC Comp (and have used XC Pro) Accushift Plus derailleurs and 6 speed Command Shifters and indexing is as perfect as it's going to get.

As long as it's 6 speed- and you're using Accushift shifters and derailleurs, a regular 6 speed Shimano or Sunrace will do swell. I think I knew there was a minuscule difference in spacing- but Andrew Muzi told me "The Suntour Accushift Six freewheel is nearly identical to a Shimano Six SIS freewheel.
Suntour Perfect was a pre-Index freewheel, lousy in either system."

Fuji1986

I have the '89 618GT and can run 700x35 Paselas with fenders (Esge I think, the black rubbery ones). The clearance is such that I purchased a pair of 700x38s, which should fit at least without fenders. I've seen several photos online of 615s or 1000s running 38s.

No comment on the indexing, sorry.

John Nolan 

To report back: I previously said I couldn't fit fenders on my 86 610 with 35 Paselas, but since then I manage to fit some on—mismatched black plastic front fender, with aluminum rear fender.
Both were picked up at the local co-op a couple of years ago, and had been lurking in a corner ot the basement.

t1k

Wow. Lots of advice and information. Thank you gentlemen, I really appreciate your help.

I ended up buying a bike and I like it a lot. It's a 54cm frame and it feels better than my 57cm 1988 Miyata 615 (I'm 5'9").

I've put on the Planet Bike Cascadia II Hybrid Fenders and they fit well. They are plastic fenders and don't look as good as a set of metal fenders would but they were available at LBS, easy to install and accommodate 35mm tires. The only problem I've run into during the install was the front fender top mount interfering with a headset. Solved it with an extra long screw and nut + washer.

Today we had over 3" of snow - great chance to test the fenders and the studded tires. The set up worked wonderfully - no rubbing, no creacking noises and as good traction as one could expect from 35mm tires in that much snow.

There's, however, a quite noticable toe overlap issue with fenders. It was pretty bad with toe cage pedals. After swapping to flat pedals, the toe overlap became manageable but still annoying and dangerous at times.

I'm happy to learn that the Suntour indexed shifting will work with a shimano 6 speed freewheel. I was going to test it by swapping a wheel from my Miyata 615 (which has a Shimano drivetrain). But I switched the 618 to paraffin chain lube and don't want to contaminate the drivetrain by oil from 615. Will switch 615 to paraffin as well before the test.

Here's a few pictures of the bike and fenders (sorry for ugly bar tape, didn't get to putting a new tape on yet).

t1k

My bike came with some cheap tires marked as 700x38C (622x40). Not quite sure whether they are 38 or 40 mm wide. They fit but just barely, too close to chainstay for my liking.

John Nolan 

NIce work...so the Cascadia's fit. Good to know.