cmdowns

Another Craig's List find. The ad even tells me to consult Bike Forum.

Miyata 310; 1980-1981
--54cm Frame
--31" Stand-over height.

Excellent condition (best on the internet) handmade Japanese Cr-Mo frame, hi-tensile 1024 fork and stays.

The Suntour VXs gruppo dates the bike between 1980-1982, as does the tubing used, single wall cro-moly makes a for a very stiff frame. *(Attention hipster chicks looking to build up a fixie) But it would be a waste of money because this bike is in excellent riding condition already, it has standard Sakae bars with brand spanking new Cane Creek hoods and Profile Design cork tape, on a 1" quill stem that will easily accommidate your bullhorn bars and it has Dia-compe brakes with fresh Jagwire cables and housing that you'll also probably remove because you're totally awesome and don't need brakes.

It has been completely overhauled, the Bottom bracket, front and rear hubs, and headset were disassembled, cleaned, bearings were replaced and packed with grease then reassembled by a professional. This bike was already in radical condition, it was easy work.

< this bike rides better than new, in fact, it's a time machine back to 1981. >

Look around on the internet, Bike Forum etc. etc... This is priced accordingly, but I'm willing to haggle for the right person.


I'm not familiar with the brand. What do you think it's worth?

zukahn1 

Hard to say most mid range Japanese Road Bikes seldom go for more than $200 on cl. The guy seems like kind a flake he writes page worth of meaningless stuff but doesn't bother to mention if it has decent 700c wheels or cheap 27's or the actual price he wants for the bike.

cmdowns

My bad. The price was in the subject line. He (or she) wants $350 for it.

T-Mar

Miyata were arguably the best of the mass-manufacturered Japanese bicycles during this period, which is saying a lot. However, it's a lower mid-range model and while it appears to be really clean and mechanically well maintained, it does seem like a high price, especially at this time of year. However, if you're in a really high priced market, like NYC, it may not be unreasonable.

Capecodder

It has a lot to do with your intent as well. If you plan on selling it then forget about it. If you plan on riding it try and get them down to $250-$300.... That bike if in great condition it will ride better than most bikes costing twice as much. Also location as T-Mar pointed out.

jr59

Here I will agree;

If you are buying it to flip, not a chance!
If you are buying it as a rider, and the add is correct, as in needs nothing.
Then 300 or so would be about right.

That should be a very nice ridding bike.

Capecodder

Are you joking, we agree?

wrk101

Around here, absolutely NO WAY, even as a keeper. The 312 was a low end bike in 1980/1981. Straight gauge cromoly = bottom end of the cromo line and heavy. For $250 to $300 around here, you would expect to get a top end bike from that era, rather than the bottom. A $350 vintage bike would have to be really top end. Out of a few hundred vintage Japanese road bikes I have sold over the last several years, ONE sold for $350, the next highest was $275. Most were right around $200. Now vintage TOURING bikes have brought more, but this is not a touring bike.

The one I sold for $350 was top of the line, Tange 1 Champion double butted frame, 700c Ukiah wheelset, QR front and rear, chrome stays and chrome fork crown and fork legs. It was a beautiful bike, just too small for me.

I have sold a lot of similar bikes to this one, fully rehabbed, $175 to $200 max.

High ten stays and forks = bottom end.

Nutted rear axle, another sign of a low end bike.

One challenge with almost any Japanese bike from that era is that they improved their product quite a bit through the 1980s, often dramatically. So a bike that might have been really special in 1987, might have been bottom of the line in 1980, for the EXACT same model.

The 312 was such a bike. By 1987, it had triple butted cromoly tubing, QR front and rear, weighed 3 1/2 pounds LESS than the 1981 version, etc. Still not high end for sure, but a lot better. I might be able to get $225 for a 1987 version.

r0ckh0und 

Ya.......$350 is pretty steep. I agree with wrk101.........$175 to $200, maybe $225 in Chicago in the Spring time.

FastJake

+1

$200 max. $350 is way too much for 3 tubes of 4130 and hi-ten for the rest. I'd say $150 would be a fair price on that bike.

wrk101

Read Capecodder's 914 thread. There is a Miyata that could be worth $350, perhaps even more.

FYI on how models changed, I just picked up a 1987 Miyata 112 tonight, although it is one model worse on the product line, it is significantly better than a 1981 310.

tmh657

Too much. In SoCal $200 in a hotter month. The ad is annoying. Looks like 27" wheels. I sold a 1984 310 with 700c wheels in Sept 2010 for $240. It was nice, double butted main tubes and some Shimano 105 Golden Arrow bits.

rekmeyata

The 310 was not straight gauge tubing, they were double butted, nor was it the low end bike, it was actually low mid end in 82, the lower end models were the 210 and the 110 in the multi speed road bike line up, they had an even lower end 3 speed called the Commuter which is actually very rare. Try to get facts right before spewing out junk.

wrk101

1981 310 here: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...0-h/img008.jpg

OPs bike is stated to be either a 1980 or a 1981. So the specs of the 1982 bike are interesting, but different.

Capecodder

I'll tell ya what, you just never know......... It's funny how one day a bike sells for lets say $200.00 and the very next day the very same bike sells for $350.00 A week later someone lists the same bike and can't get 50 bucks for it.....

Most often it ride on:

The advertisment
The sellers reputation
Time of year
What two people want it, and how bad they want it.

After all this it's still a crap shoot.

wrk101

Good marketing is underestimated by many. Look at the Motobecane Grand Record posted a couple of weeks ago, sold on ebay for $850 PLUS $150 shipping. It was beautifully prepared, and well marketed. I posted another Grand Record, same era, same color, just not as well prepared on Milwaukee's C/L for $350. No one thought that was a good deal.

rekmeyata

According to the Miyata catalog in 82 they used dble butted, https://www.miyatacatalogs.com/2007/1...alog-1982.html

In 81 they did not, so for the year 81 I was incorrect, but 82 I was right, but as far as the posted question was concerned I was incorrect, so I apologize for the comments, I got my years mixed up. Sorry.

Crap, another correction, the 81 cat does mention that the 81 was dble butted; see: https://www.miyatacatalogs.com/2007/1...alog-1981.html scan down to specs. I was looking at the 110 spec when I said they didn't use dble butted in the paragraph above.

This site does not have a 80 cat for reference if the 80 310 was dble butted. So it appears I was right for 81. But the apology still stands because I over reacted.

wrk101

Not to beat a dead horse, here's the link I have to the 1981 catalog, 310 is straight gauge.

That year, double butted did not start til the 710 model. Very few Miyata models had double butted tubing then. In 1981, only five models had DB cromo tubing.

By 1987, 16 models had TRIPLE butted tubes!

I am probably just misreading it.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_whtVpXkKwl...0-h/img013.jpg

And regardless of the spec sheet, sellers often/almost always get the year of the bike wrong. So if you are still interested, go look and verify. This looks like a pretty savvy sellers, but I find 90% of them are off on the size, year, and many other details. The more accurate the details, often the higher the price (as the seller is more knowledgeable).

There was tremendous variation in specs on Japanese bikes thorough the 1980s. Usually they improved every few years, sometimes dramatically. But there are cases where they got worse (much less common).

I've had the opposite challenge when selling a Miyata. By the late 1980s, the lower model numbers were pretty good bikes. I wish they would have changed their numbering system, as buyers assume models in the 100s, 200s, and 300s were not very decent.

rekmeyata

Naw, you're not beating dead horse just a man that should be beat! Seriously, I made another mistake, I looked at the 81 710 and the pic is not clear on my monitor and I mistook the 7 for a 3, so I'm back again to now agreeing that the 310 was not double butted. Let's see if I can change that again and go for some sort of record for a seesaw battle within one post between "I'm right, I'm wrong, I'm right, I'm wrong..."

wrk101

Rekmeyata: Classy guy to apologize for a simple/easy mistake. Bike specs change so frequently, its hard to keep track of them all.

Well done.

Thrifty Bill

spats

I picked up a Miyata 312 back in the Summer for $50.00 and sold it the next day on CL for $150.00 to a student. I did nothing to it but take a simple pic. Think I sold it a bit to cheap as how quick it sold. I would like to think you could get $200 to $250 out of one. But I would not pay $350.00. Check eBays completed listings for Miyatas. There have been some higher end models sell for cheaper than that.

benlees

I recently picked up an '84 310 for $120. The original owner engraved his name on the stem and cranks. Engraving tends to be a bit of a value killer- if we are talking classic classics and not just 'older' stuff (like the Miyata). Miyatas got better and better as time went on but the mid rangers are, well, mid range bikes! Pay what you will. If you watch the ads another one always comes along...

rekmeyata

Exactly, you need to watch the ads and use a lot of patience. I started looking for used bikes about 9 years ago upon arriving in Fort Wayne, IN; I found NONE until last year, then I found three for a price I was willing to pay. But since my last purchase in March I'm back to finding none. I have seen more then just the three I bought, but they either didn't fit or they wanted far too much for the bike. But the three that I found were a 86 Nishiki Olympic, an 85 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe, and a 84 Fuji Club and paid an average of $100 for each, and the last two were in like new condition, while the Nishiki was in above average condition. A friend of mine has expressed interest in riding a bicycle instead of jogging and he may buy the Nishiki, so that one may be leaving the herd, so I'm waiting for him to decide, he offered me $250 but I told him $190 was fine...I'll make $8 off the sale due to putting on $32 in tires plus $150 for the bike; obviously I'm not going to make money off of the sale, more like doing him a favor. I told him I thought the bike was over priced at $190 but he likes the bike for some reason. The Nishiki looks exactly like this one except mine has the drop bars and not a fixie: https://pbl.gatech.edu/people/cforest...%20Olympic.htm

rekmeyata

Well my friend came over today to take possession of the Nishiki. I really didn't like the bike all that much, liked the color scheme but hated the unlugged smooth sloping crowned fork, and I think I may have ridden it for about 200 miles in the last year. Anyway my small herd is now one less. I did tell him if he decides he doesn't want to ride it anymore to sell it back to me if he kept it in the same shape and I would give him back the money he paid! Maybe the bike will turn into a lease for free bike!

spathfinder3408

I am selling a Miyata 310 right now in the Seattle area for $200, but its kind of scuffed up. While checking CL for pricing i did see a really nice one for around $300. The bike is a good bike, but I wouldn't call it high end. The condition of your bike can effect the price on your bike. Mint will bring top dollar. The weight of a bike is always key. If it weighs 27 lbs and up its not high end. Start knocking the lbs off and the higher the price goes. Miyata has a good reputation, so if you live in a good area for selling bikes try asking high you can always come down.