I picked up another Koga-Miyata again. In fact, I got my hands on a large stack of brochures and I have started digitizing them in
this thread. Somebody help me.
Background info & history:
1999 wasn't the greatest year for Koga-Miyata.
Sure, they celebrated their 25th anniversary but you could tell they were innovating for innovation' s sake.
Their
FullPro-C had a weird bent downtube for no clear reason, the
SuperWinner was a Y-frame roadbike and their
TerraLinerAlloy-S had a rear suspension system that explains why there are no examples alive today. And we don't speak about the
SilverAce commuter with its 3.5kg (
7.7 lbs)
boat anchor Sachs Elan 12-speed hub...
Still it wasn't all doom and gloom. By the late 90's butted aluminum frames were starting to take over the higher end lugged steel frames for their weight savings. Which meant higher-end butted steel frame technology was coming down to the lower end models.
In that era there was the Koga-Miyata Adventure. A midrange (
insofar Koga-Miyata had any midrange bikes) hybrid designed for long days in the saddle in hilly to mountainous terrain. A 17.8 - 105 gear range. Some light touring perhaps? Basically the kind of bike you would take with you on vacation.
The 1999 model comes in a men's, mixte and stepthrough model with double butted tubing, Shimano Nexave groupset using a Megarange 11-34 cassette, V-brakes, fenders, bottle dynamo lights and a chainguard that covers the front derailleur for the mountainbike triple.
60cm frame size and a stated weight of 15.5 kg (
34 lbs). Price was €1031 at the time or about €1538 (
$1836) in today's money.
It wasn't always like this though. When the Adventure model was introduced in
1986 it was a cross between a mountainbike and the randoneur/touring bikes of the time, though one could wonder if the narrow 28-inch 28-622 tyres were the right choice for off-road adventures. The
1987 year took it to the other extreme using 26-inch 50-559 tyres. And the
1988 model year is one of the first (
and only) production bikes I've seen in that era that came with 650B wheels. No clue how wide they were as "
Wolber New Profil 650B with reflective stripe" really isn't enough to find anything nowadays. Google draws a blank at least. My best guess is a 37-584 tyre but that isn't based on anything but a hunch.
Then there are a couple of years where there are no new models by this name. Until 1994.
The bike is reintroduced as a Trekking/Hybrid with Hardtlite FM-1 STB triple butted oversized tubing. First with 32-622 tyres but later with 37-622, which is a very common size in the Netherlands.
It's basically your standard hybrid with a wide range of gearing that gets the yearly update in components and a new paintjob.
But now in 2021 we realize hybrids are excellent candidates for gravelbike- or light touring conversions. Sure they might not be as stiff as full-blown tourers but a (hopefully) lighter frame can serve me in what I have planned for this bike.
The bike:
As found
It's a hybrid. Still a pretty nice one though and in excellent condition. I don't think I have had the pleasure of working on a bike where the paint was still this nice.
My mind was triggered once it was pointed out to me on another forum I frequent that an 8-speed rear hub can fit an 11-speed cassette and even some 12-speed models. I've always wanted to try building a 1x setup but thought 11-speed was not enough. Not enough range or steps that are way too big.
Compared to the 2x11 setup on my
Koga-Miyata "Graveller" a 12-speed 1x drivetrain comes really close though:
So my plan is to strip it down, clean it and see where my mind takes me. Especially in this time of hard to come by components I'm in no rush and it wouldn't be for me either. It's too small for me.
Anyway, let's strip it down!
My other threads/projects: