What a delightful find! An old Miyata 210 of this exact model year was my first “quality” bike, acquired at the secondhand bike shop near the university back in December 2004. I made a couple small changes, mostly removing the original levers and padding for aero levers and vinyl bar tape, plus adding a set of fenders and some new tires. I otherwise kept it in stock condition when my friend and I set off up the Maine coast the following summer. We got most of the way to Mount Desert Island but my knee paid the price for the gearing and we had to abandon the trip a week in. It was indeed a very nice, lively ride that behaved fairly well when loaded (it was a bit flexible for the weight I had loaded up on both ends) but was plenty of fun when unencumbered. Sadly I only got about a year and a half out of it. First the original fork rusted out and failed - only the front rack held it together. It took me a day or so to realize why it was vibrating so badly under braking! Luckily the cranky old guy at the local bike shop had an old Nishiki fork that fit, and he liked me, so I got that fixed up. But not long after that, I ran into the back of a convertible at a traffic light when I had my head down and bent up the front end. I replaced it with a Surly LHT - a good bike, but it was a little like going from a Honda Fit to a Chevy Suburban. Similar cargo capacity, but a rather different driving experience. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Kittery, Maine, 2005.