jpc2001

Hi-ten fork, chromoly double-butted frame, burgundy paint in nice shape, only a few nicks. A few bits of rust and corrosion, notably along the top tube below the rear brake cable. Everything seems to operate well. Weighs 26 lb. Serial M300478 which makes it an '84 model.

Are those OEM tires?!?

Sorry about potato pics.

ryansu

Nice score, Golden arrow bits are cool.

52telecaster

Awesome. Old miyatas are so damn nice.

cb400bill

I had a 312 for a while. Nice bikes.

agnewton

Well done. Like the golden arrow derailleurs.

Golden arrow (associated) question: Are the brake calipers BR-Z57? I ask because, I've seen brake calipers with the golden arrow badge and that model number on eBay, but also have seen that model number without the arrow badging. Just wondering if that's a difference without distinction.

And... I think you're right, those do look to be the original tires. The vintage tire market might be the next big thing, so hang on to those.

2cam16

We need a full shot of the bike.

Lascauxcaveman 

My guess is 'yes.' I've ridden older. (Just very carefully.)

And yes, we need a full shot of the bike. It looks a lot like my '81 Miyata 1000, minus the cantis and a different fork crown.

Pompiere

I have an older sibling to your bike. It has an L serial number, but I definitely bought it in 1984. Maybe it was produced late in 1983? I have replaced a few things for personal comfort, but the drive train and brakes are original.



1984 Miyata Three Ten

jpc2001

@agnewton : Yes, the calipers have BR-Z57 written on the reverse side. Is that good? I have to decide whether to throw new pads and cables at these or just pick up some modern dual-pivots.

I don't tolerate lousy brakes anymore, not after getting right hooked back in the spring (I am ok) in a situation that might have been only a "close call" with decent brakes. So I've been on a quest to upgrade all my bikes' brakes and to try different brake tech -- drums, rollerbrakes, modern dual pivots, disks. On my old Schwinn, a front dual-pivot caliper stops a LOT better than the (possibly damaged) OEM single-pivot it had before. So I'm not keen on single-pivots but I guess there might be way nicer ones than the OEM ones on a '70s boat-anchor Schwinn.

Re: hanging on to the OEM tires. I'll be hanging on, for dear life. :-)

You sure I need new tires? There's good tread left. Don't upsell me, bro.

This bike does not have a ton of clearance to add wider tires and fenders. There's about 9mm of clearance at the rear and 13mm at the front, the OEM tires are about 26mm wide so it should be possible to go to a 32mm or 35mm tire, maybe even 38mm. Swapping the ISO 630 wheel for 622 would add 4mm clearance; swapping for ISO 590 would add 20mm. But the wheels are in beautiful shape and true, it'd be a shame to waste them. So I'll probably forego fenders for now, get a 32 or 35mm puncture resistant tire.

EDIT: The seat tube measures 21.5" (55cm) from crank center to top. This is probably the frame described as a 21" in the catalog.

Tandem Tom

My wife's favorite bike is her 310 mixte. I converted it to 650b and flat bars.

Cougrrcj

By all means, replace the cables and brake pads! Lined housing and 'slick' stainless cables will lessen braking effort, and new brake pads will grab much better than 35-year-old rock hard rubber!

That said, I did convert both my 'lightweights' - the '84 Univega Viva Sport (specced very close to '84 Miyata 710) and '86 Miyata 710 to dual-pivot brakes when I did the refurb after buying them 5-ish years ago. Yes, and new cables all the way around, along with new better tires. The Uni got a new wheelset because the old plated spokes were grungy/corroded. Sealed hubs, stainless spokes, and Sun M13II polished rims. Tires on the Uni are the ubiquitous Pasela TG in 27x1-1/8 and the Miyata got Vittoria Rubino-Pro Tec in 28x700c.

Pompiere

The 310 has a fairly short chain stay, so a larger tire will hit the bridge when mounting the wheel. A 32 mm tire is about as big as you can get without having to deflate it to get the wheel on. I'm using Pasela 27x1" @ 90 psi. I have always thought the 310 frame was pretty compliant, so the ride with narrow tires is still pretty good.

agnewton

@jpc2001 Thanks for checking the brakes. I've seen a favorable comment about them on the forum. I was wondering about the golden arrow genealogy (first generation 105). I think your bike spec'd the golden arrow derailleurs, maybe there were more arrow bits(?). From comments on velobase, it's not real clear what the distinctions were for the brake calipers (and levers for that matter), but there seems to be varieties with and without the golden arrow badge, as well as normal (43-57) and longer reach (up to 67). A pair came on a CL, wheel-less Miyata One Ten I've been using as a fixed-speed conversion. So, they aren't doing all the brake work, but I wasn't planning on replacing them as the bike evolves toward multi-speed freewheelin' -- though I will definitely replace the 30+ year old brake pads at that time.

jpc2001

I inflated the OEM tires to about 2 psi/year and rode 14 gentle miles on the bike this morning. Made it back in one piece. It's my first time on a drop-bar bike since giving one up 10 years ago due to some back pain. In hindsight, maybe that was just a bad fit. I knew much less then and pushed myself too hard.
@Pompiere: yeah the ride is super comfy, springy and lively even on the ossified narrow tires, just as you say. So far the '80s Japanese chromoly lugged frame lives up to the hype. I ordered some continental gatorskins because my commute is littered with nasty debris. My other bikes run Marathons, heavy and bulletproof. Those bikes are two-wheeled trucks. This one is credibly sporty so it seemed like a good time to try the gatorskins.

rjhammett

Here is a 310 I picked up back in 2013. It was way too small so it is long gone.

jpc2001

Whee, the stem is frozen.

Turns out, you don't want to just twist harder at it. I had the bright idea to put a pipe through the handlebars for more leverage. With that, the fork deformed. Oooops :-C

I twisted it back. It looks about right from a few feet away, but the dropouts aren't exactly parallel anymore. :-/

Is there any point in dealing with a stuck stem (with a hacksaw blade, or with lye...) if the fork is maybe done for?

Or if I clamp the dropouts between some wood shims in a vice, and get them back to parallel, is the fork probably still good if it looks good?

jpc2001

Well I got the fork fixed up enough so if you didn't know it'd been tweaked, you might not notice. It's close. The axle bolt is within 1 or 2 degrees of parallel to the fork crown. Live and learn.

That lye bubbles and spits! That is nasty stuff and it makes nasty fumes. Hopefully in a couple days the stem'll be gone. All the spitting and bubbling sent lye where I didn't expect and it looks like some of paint is getting eaten off the fork crown. So it'll maybe need a repaint. But first the stem has to dissolve. One step at a time.

Whoever built this bike must have been in a hurry. There's zero grease on the seat post (somehow, not frozen.) There must not have been grease on the stem. The front axle was over tight, stiff and crunchy. Not worn, not damaged, just tight. With new grease, new bearings, and a proper adjustment it feels fine and turns smooth.

shmuelyosef

I just pulled a Sakae Crankset off a Miyata 710 I'm turning into a single speed...very solid and low wear after several decades of my wife's riding it (original owner).

jpc2001

I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's out.

The process was: remove fork from the frame, soak in lye overnight to take a lot of aluminum off. Then, while holding the fork in the air (not resting it on anything but your hand) you can hammer on the exposed stem as hard as you want without damaging the fork. And that got it to move....further down into the fork. So drill a 5/16" hole across the stem, put a 1/4" allen key through, apply some PB blaster (NOW it helps, once the thing is already moving a little) and twist it on out.

Prior to all that, I'd given it a long soak in PB blaster and about four boiling water / cold water cycles previously. Maybe that stuff helped a little but it sure didn't seem like it at the time.

Maybe the lye was unnecessary. Maybe hard hammering alone would have knocked it out. We'll never know.

tricky 

Nice work!

ryansu

Congrats on the surgery, you should be able to find a vintage stem at a bike co-op, I assume the bars and levers are ok, I like a bit more height with my stem so I go with the Nitto technomic on most of my builds have fun with your rebuild. And if you find the stock brakes with new pads lacking Tektro makes dual pivots with nutted end ( as opposed to recessed nuts) for older bikes the 539 model should work if you stick with 27" wheels look closely when ordering as they make those both nutted and recessed

Pompiere

Soma Sutro stem is another option if you don't need as much height. The stock stem puts the bars about 70 mm above the max height line, Soma Sutro is about 100 mm, and the Technomic is 135 mm.

The 310 has recessed nuts on the brakes, so any modern brake will work if the reach is correct. I use the original brakes with new pads and I have found them more than adequate. I did try a pair of the Tektro dual pivot brakes for a short time, until I swapped them to another build. I'm not sure if it was the leverage or the grippy compound, but they stopped the bike quickly with only light pressure on the levers.

jpc2001

I put another ~14 miles on it today after repacking the headset and front axle, replacing the stem with this, fitting new brake pads, cables, and housings, and a new KMC chain which luckily does not slip on the (likely OEM) freewheel and chainrings. Rides nice! New for '84, it's the Reagan-era rust rocket.

Sorry for not taking your recommendations on the stem; those look nice. This one was cheap and it has the 2-bolt design that lets you swap it out easily, and the geometry seems about right. It's a few cm higher up, and a couple cm closer in, than the original Lance-wannabe hernia-inducing "race" geometry. I'm 39 and I need to sit up just a little bit now.

There's also some new paint on the fork, a "cheap and cheerful" rattle-can job to cover near the crown where the lye ate through the paint. You should have seen that lye spitting and hissing -- the show may have been worth the paint damage.

While out riding I swung by an LBS and picked up a new seat post since the OEM post isn't high enough. This is something nutty about this bike and maybe '80s road bikes in general: the frame sizes are 2" apart, so I must choose between a 21" and a 23". The 23" is too tall, the standover is dicey. That's cool, so I picked up a 21" ... and its OEM seat post isn't tall enough. It's not tall enough to cover someone who isn't quite tall enough for the next +2" size. What the?? Maybe this choice helped them market it on ounces and grams.

agnewton

Congratulations on getting the stem out and thanks for documenting your efforts. I'll be sure to exercise caution if I ever need the lye solution.

The fork alignment sounds like it might be a wild card-- you'll know when you take it for a test ride. A straight frame is a beautiful thing. I found someone locally who would straighten out/ align an old fork for ~$40. It seemed reasonable as it's a skill I don't have and I'm not likely to find a straight replacement (there always seems to be more straight frames than forks).