Chris Pringle

Highly recommend one of the iterations of the Schwalbe Marathon tires. For asphalt, I love the Racer’s.

Chris Pringle

After 12 years or so I still have the ‘83 Miyata 700 in my small stable (a very close sibling to the 1000) and I appreciate it for its simplicity. Our guests have commented how much they love its ride traits when they’ve used it for weekend credit card tours. I later tell them it’s a bike from the early 80’s and they seem surprised. But I agree with you. Given the choice, for serious touring, I’d rather go with a modern touring bike.

mrv 

switched over to some Palsaes I had on another bike. I’ll look into the Schwalbes when I need to resolve them …. Which is soon!

79pmooney

Just rode my '83 Pro Miyata up to Bald Peak SW of Portland. (Frame picked up from a BFer last summer. Rusty mess but very well photographed so no surprises. Set it up with almost correct Cyclone derailleurs and brakes. Superbe came with it but salvaging those rusty parts is a future winter project. New GL330 rims and skinny race tubulars. Pure best of early '80s race bike.) Long NItto Pearl stem. Fit is simply sweet.

What a ride! Wonderful bike. Great handling. Race speed corners is what it was built to do. Uphill - stiff and just wants to go at all the watts you have. (I had to discipline myself a hide a few away from it.) Downhill completely behaved (at race quick but perfect steering. (As I get older, the consequences of high speed crashes get harder to ignore and with them, trepidation. Trepidation can be a driving force for speed wobble that hounds one off my bikes. This one is sweet. I backed off a little on the possible 50 mph descent coming home, light braking, light head wind, but not much and bike was fine.

Uphill - not super light. With no bag or pump probably no lighter that my '70s race bike but that had lighter wheels and tires. But this bike simply wants to go uphill. Plenty stiff. Everything I put out is forward energy. Like or a tiny bit better than old bike. Sadly the engine needs a major overhaul and until I see to that, the speeds don't compare. As great as this bike is, that old one was far, far faster.

And Miyata had so much figured out by then. Little stuff. That was the one year window of the SunTour Asymmetric shifters. With the Cyclones, sublime shifting and feel; about as good as DT friction ever got. They put housing stops over the BB to get the cable runs right for the shifters. (Like a cheap '70s ten speed but - they nailed the locations of the stops. I took my time and put in exactly right lined housing. Absolutely perfect!

Last - got one of those nice '80s metal flake painted bikes but with chips?. Want the paint you can touch it up with? Nail polish! Now matching the color is a challenge but I bet every bike out there is doable. It took me three polishes to get the right mix. I didn't always get it right but the bike is vastly better, looks good at a distance, even in bright sunlight and the rust is stopped. $8 X 3 makes the refurb expensive but still, way under 1% of my namesake's last paint job so I think I can manage the less than perfect. (I can always come back with another coat of better matched. The most visible ones are also the easiest to get at.)

79pmooney

Do you mean Panaracer Paselas? If yes and you like the size, well if it was me, I wouldn't change. I love those tires. I have 28s on my winter/rain/city fix gear, 35 and 38 on my geared winter/rain/city and have used 25s on another bike. Great tires as an overall compromise. No real bad points. I've done fairly extreme off road with them and they've done well. Decent city tires. Not armored but they don't attract glass. One caution - be careful with the sidewalls. They don't like brushing curbs or bike parts rubbing - at all. But you can ride over sharp rocks all day. Sidewalls are strong and very thin.

MLyon18

Umm, NO, in the ‘80’s the Miyata 1000 was the pinnacle of touring bikes. I’ve a Miyaya 1000 (for comfortable 30- to 50-mile rides) and a Miyata 615 (for sporty trips to the market and back) in my garage, and I’ve restored, rebuilt, or upgraded about 20 steel, pre-index shifting, road bikes and coaster-brake middle weights. I am old school, yes, and I’ve yet to be on an aluminum or carbon fiber bike, or combination thereof, which rides as sweet as lightweight alloy steel.

The Golden Boy 

Miyata was as good as the other high end tourers of the day- but not "the pinnacle" by any means.

The Trek 720 was always made with premium 531 frame/fork/stays and was always specced "better" than the M1000 during its run.

Until the advent of the Splined Triple Butted Tubing for the 1987 model year, they were just ordinary really nice bikes- the splined tubing added stiffness which really makes those bikes special- however it also adds weight (compared to the normal CrMo tubing or the tubing or premium tubing other manufacturers were using).

I have a 1990 Miyata 1000LT. It's a wonderful bike, it's stiffer than any of my other tourers, but it's also heavier than my other bikes. It easily fits 35s, one of these days I'll get around to seeing how they fit with fenders. If I were to be hauling a lot, I think I would choose my M1000. For either unloaded rides or up to 20 pounds, I'd prefer my 720 (or my 620).

rgvg

What about your Voyageur SP?

Mayhem13

Nice looking ride. Just joined and really amazed at all the Miyata aficionados out there. Thought I was alone.

The Golden Boy 

Ugh, you have to bring that up... ugh...

So, like 5 years ago I went out to the garage and I see a 2x4 sitting on the middle of the garage floor- the little girl had some friends over and I thought maybe they had been digging around, looking for something in the garage... so I grab the VSP, ride to the bike store to pick up some stuff, and I parked the bike and something just looked "off." And then I see the dent in the top tube. What I've surmised is that I had that 2x4 stashed in the rafters, and over a few years of opening and closing the garage, that 2x4 fell square on the top tube of my VSP. It's really just cosmetic, but it sucks the soul out of you- and it's JUST in my peripheral vision. I have had the bike mostly torn apart for the past 3 years just because I'm more crushed than the TT.

That being said, the 2 Voyageurs that I've had, they have a less laid back geometry- it feels familiar, yet weird for the first few miles or so. I've ridden a lot of miles on both my old 86 Voyageur and the 84 Voyageur SP- but I haven't done a lot of 'loaded' riding with either of them.

rgvg

Oh that's unfortunate. Maybe another one will come your way.

I have a small Voyageur I got last year, and I like it a lot. It's very far from perfect, but it's comfortable. Both the rear and the fork seem to have been spread. I can understand the rear but I don't understand why the fork. I like the way the frame seems to have a bit of flex to it, compared to my 1000 LT, which is stiffer. My Pro Tour is also a bit stiffer, but not as stiff as the Miyata. I have never ridden any of them loaded, though since I was/am a clyde, you could say it's always loaded.

I have to say I really like your bikes (the pics at least).

attylah

I've been gathering parts and the wheels in hopes of some day finding an '89 Team Miyata in my size (63cm), and knowing that it just might not happen. Well, just drove three hours away and picked it up! Threw the wheels and seat on as a very preliminary mock-up. It will run 9 speed Dura-Ace, can't wait to get this on the road!!

mattia76

I joined the Miyata cult by way of my 83 Expedition, which was always rumored to be similar to the Miyata 1000.
Alas, my Expedition was a 56 cm—a size too large. I managed, but was never comfortable.
A year later, this beauty came along in my local Marketplace. Bone-Stock, barely-ridden and just my 54cm size!

I LOVE my 1987 Miyata 1000LT a little more every time I ride it.
I can’t directly compare it to the Expedition, because of the size difference, BUT it is every bit as smooth and stable, like a Cadillac DeVille. Maybe more agile, but tough to say.
And it’s DEFINITELY a better looking rig than the Expedition.

attylah

1989 Team Miyata, purchased as frame/fork. Built up with Dura Ace 7700 9 speed. I have a pair of 1000’s and a pair of Centurion Ironman’s, but this, this is something altogether different. This is a pure racer, it just wants to run from the first crank! So fast, so smooth, and that’s just on a short shakedown ride. Looking forward to some miles soon!

georges1

Fantastic ride with Dura Ace 7700