sovende

On the return home from a camping trip in northern Wisconsin, we stopped at a "hot mess" (the best kind) permanent flea market/resale place on the outskirts of a small town. Lots of stuff in cardboard boxes on tables in what used to be the parking lot of the building holding more of the same 😬. We were a bit short on time so I was scanning the area quickly. I spotted what looked like bike wheels sticking out from beneath a plywood sign that had fallen over and lodged up against the side of the building. On closer examination, I found two bikes. One was a "big box" mountain bike. No interest, so I moved on to the second bike. It was a Miyata Two Ten. First thing noticed (beyond the brand) was a totally rusted chain. Otherwise, besides the tires being flat, no major damage. Asked the proprietor if the bikes were for sale and he said yes but he hadn't spent any time checking them out and making them ready to sell. Next asked what he needed to get for the Miyata. After some thought, he said $15. Thought he might have said $50 but he said no, $15. I didn't spend too much time thinking about it (and giving him a chance to change his mind) so I bought it! For $15 it was pretty much a "no brainer" 😎. Wife wasn't pleased, "you have too many bikes already!" but I was a done deal 😜.
While securing it to the camper's bike rack, better lighting revealed the bike to be in darn good condition (other than the totally rusted chain). No major issues with the paint on the frame (I'll stop short of saying pristine) and the wheels (alloy rims) looked like new. While I'm sure that this bike had been ridden, I'm thinking not too much. It should clean up nicely.
The ND prefix to the serial # tells me it's a 1985 model made in early March. I'm having some issues with my IMGUR account, so I can't post any pics at this time. I hope to do so though, once I do the necessary rehab on this bike.

kross57

Nice find! I love my Miyata. For original specs go to https://www.ragandbone.ca/Miyata/miyata_selector.html

SurferRosa

You don't need an imgur account to upload to that site and imbed here.

jamesdak 

Sounds like a good deal. I finally got my hands on an old 914 and am pretty impressed with it even though I'm still sorting it out. I'm also going over a friends 312 and I've been pleasantly surprised about how nice that is. I bet you're gonna love yours.

sovende

I looked at the bike a bit closer this morning and I'm liking it even more than before! I aired up the tires and they seem to be holding air just fine. The brake cables are fine but the shift cables have a near complete coating of surface rust. Will prolly replace them on "general principles" but some steel wool and WD-40 will likely make them stay serviceable for a while. I put some penetrating oil on the seat post to let it soak in and release any "seizing" that may have occurred. I have plenty of new chains available but could try to refurb the rusty chain just to say I did so. It's my belief that a good "fluff & buff" will put this bike in riding condition in short order!

dddd

Great find, the 210 of that year should have Canti brakes and relaxed 72-degree frame angles, at least for the middle-sized frames. So it's a true tourer, moreso than the six-ten.

Don't bother "fixing" a rusty chain, they break and this is dangerous. A decent new modern chain is cheap and is better than any chain that this bike came with.

You might want to just "oil can tune-up" the bearings so as to be able to do evaluation riding, making sure no bearings are running tight.

What color is your 210? I found a couple of gold ones from that era about 15 years ago at the thrift store.

sovende

I'll take the hint and ditch the chain 👍. I have a drawer full of NOS parts to include several chains! Just a bit ago I thought that doing an "oil can tune-up" (but haven't heard of the phrase before &#129300 might be better than doing a tear down and rebuild not knowing if it's necessary. If this bike has the low mileage that I suspect, re-vitalizing the lubricants may spare me the consequences of improperly adjusting them when reassembled. For sure if any components do need R&R, I will do so but not if it isn't necessary 🙂.
RE: the color, I think it's called "Sandstone" kind of a quartzy gold color. I like it 👍.

polymorphself 

Amazing for $15! Any Miyata would be. The 210/610/1000 touring models are awesome and around 85 is where the sweet spot starts in my opinion. Looking forward to pics.

sovende

As suggested, I replaced the chain (the original was a hot mess)! I lubed the pivot points of the rear derailleur and cleaned off most of the accumulated grime and now it shifts perfectly 👍. The brake pad definitely need to be replaced. Prolly going to do so using some Koolstops. Not OEM but more readily available (perhaps better too!)
The frame is a bit on the small side for me (bike is 21" and I'm about 5'8" +/-). With seat post at minimum insertion line, saddle isn't quite high enough. I do have a longer seat post from a mountain bike that I could use if I need to do so. (I only need a little bit more altitude with the saddle &#128580. I also have a Miyata Seven Ten in a 21" frame and I was able to get my proper saddle height 🤔. I may have to check to see if the post is far enough into the seat tube 😳.
As I said before, I'm liking this bike more and more! The only thing that is missing is a Miyata branded crank arm nut cover on the drive side 🙁. Since it is considered a true touring bike, the 1985 catalog shows it with a rear rack. IDK if that is considered standard or optional but this bike doesn't have one. Fortunately, I have two or three that I can install if I wish.
I did check out the catalogs at the ragandbone.com site to see if this bike still has the OEM components listed on the catalog's spec sheet. There is one discrepancy. The catalog lists the chainwheels as 50-44-28 but mine are 52-45-28. The spec sheet only lists the spokes as 14G while several others have SS also indicated. While there are a few signs of rust other places on the bike, there's not a speck of rust on the spokes, perhaps these are SS too!

67tony 

Easy to tell, just stick a magnet on them. SS spokes will not attract!

sovende

Not always. Low grade SS will allow a magnet to stick! Nevertheless, I will try that. Thanks. I guess I didn't even think of it. I've seen too many SS items fail that test :-(!

67tony 

Good point. Coincidentally, my wife's Miyata Three-Ten has spokes that attract only slightly, making them an alloy of some type as opposed to pure stainless steel.

jamesdak 

The spokes are the only bad thing on the 312 I'm working on. The rest of the components are pretty much mint once cleaned up. Even the rims look great. But the spokes are corroded and so are the nipples. I cleaned then and even took steel wool to them but you can still see a lot of corrosion on them. Not sure what kinds of spokes Miyata was using.

sovende

The definitive answer RE: steel vs stainless steel, is that the spokes on my '85 Two Ten are NOT SS just regular steel. My magnet is strongly held to the spoke. Somehow, the have managed to not become rusted 😉. They do has a slight layer of some sort of oxidation but it doesn't appear to be rust 👍. The spokes seem to clean up nicely with some steel wool and a bit of "elbow grease" 😎.

viperocco

Noce find and good price. Would love to see some pics too!

sovende

I'll try to get a couple of pics up tonight!
Here you go-

Hobbiano 

Thats a nice 210! You could easily sell it for a 1000% profit! To me!
I would replace the chain and get some fresh grease in the hubs, and remove the kickstand. Getting a little oil in there may allow you to test ride it but I wouldn't risk riding very far without taking apart and cleaning and regreasing the hubs. Definitely remove the wheels to make sure the bearings aren't adjusted too tight before riding it. Then you could ride it and grease the headset & bottom bracket & pedals later, but not too much later. The spokes are either cadmium plated or galvanized. They're never as shiny as stainless. Make sure your not too aggressive cleaning them so as not to wear away the protective coating. It's got a 40 spoke rear wheel. Nice that they did that even on their lowest cost tourer! That's a well built bike. It looks great.

sovende

It is indeed a nice Two Ten! The posted pics are before anything was done (except raising the saddle). I've already replaced the chain. The OEM brake pads are rock hard so I've purchase replacements but have yet to install them. The kick stand will be coming off soon too! I've ridden it a bit to check the shifting after installing the new chain but that was just out the driveway, down the street and back. Prolly less than 1000ft. I'm a bit hesitant to disassemble and repack the wheel bearings but will have to take a closer look to examine those areas.

polymorphself 

Yep, definitely worth doing the wheel hubs, headset and bottom bracket. It isn't worth doing much of anything else before those things are done. Great bike, cool color scheme. Throw the kickstand in fire.

viperocco

I did about the same on my 215. Cleaned and repacked BB , evapo rust on the chain, etc and took her out for a ride... Sounds like a good bike you got there.

viperocco

Nice!

viperocco

Good point, I did find some rust (minimal) and moisture on the non drive side of the BB .

viperocco

This is not as bad as it seems. RJ bike guy has a video on this somewhere. Just be careful removing the bearing cap and make sure you have the wheel over a towel incase bearings start popping out.

sovende

To be completely honest, I would imagine that nearly every single bike that I have would benefit from a bearing repack of the hubs, headset, bottom bracket and freewheel! I guess I can't say that I don't have anything to do during this coming Winter .
The kickstand came off this morning. As suspected, there was some paint damage to the frame where the mounting plates clamped on. May need to touch up those spots as well as a few others. RE: the OEM kickstand, it looks very much like the "it's not a kickstand, it's a Greenfield" branded stand. This one was made in Taiwan. I have a box full of take offs! Some made in Japan AND at least one Greenfield. The fact that Greenfields are sold at some higher end sports stores (REI, Performance, Sheels) lead me to believe that there is some level of demand for them. IDK 😐.

Hobbiano 

I would prioritize repacking the hubs. If you let the headset or bottom bracket go too long you can just replace them fairly inexpensively. You can flush the freewheel out with WD40 and re-oil. But if you let the hubs go too long, and they may not have had fresh grease in 35 years, you may be looking at a new set of wheels, or at least new hubs, and labor to lace them to your existing rims, with probably new spokes. It may not be easy finding a 36/40 hole hubset, either. Not inexpensive. You might be surprised how quick the bearing cones and races (which generally can't be replaced) can become pitted or scored due to neglect. It would be a shame if that happened, because your bike has a decent set of wheels. If you have a decent bike shop nearby. you could just bring the wheels to them and let them do it, and tension and true up the wheels at the same time. The key here is "a decent bike shop" that knows how to work on old bikes.