auchencrow

- What do you suppose a (cleaned & overhauled) little Miyata 310 is worth?

It has a 19.5" Miyata Chromolloy straight-tubed frame, 1024 Hi-ten forks, Suntour Vx DRs, 165mm SR Cranks, Araya alloy 27"wheels.

It is in pretty good shape, with just a few scratches, but I'll need to find a seat and buy a new seat post for it. (Sheldon Brown's chart and the original catalog spec's both call for a 26.7, but I'll order a 26.8 and sand it down if need be).
-On top of that, the owner had installed Northroad bars with Weinmann touring levers, which I feel compelled to replace with drops.

- I was thinking I got a pretty good deal on this bike - but now I am having second thoughts, since I need to buy some parts to make it right.

wrk101

Returned to its traditional form, you could get $150 to $175 for it in pristine, ready to ride condition around here. Even though I don't care for it, financially, you will probably do better leaving it with the Northroad bars and touring levers.

I did a similar rehab on a Franken'd 19 inch Trek 330. I am pretty sure I did not break even on the money spent on restoring it back to its original form. But I sure liked it a lot better. And I controlled my costs by using mainly parts from donors. The largest single cost I had was indexed Suntour DT levers. Assuming you have the right levers already will help lower the cost quite a bit. And your bike is all friction, friction Suntour levers are quite a bit cheaper.

So if you are doing it solely to get a good return, I would clean it up, touch up the paint, polish it up, and sell it in its current configuration. It it was a higher level model, I would spend the money on drops.

Here's the Trek 330, in as found (thrift store) condition. Picture taken before I understood to take bike pics from the drive side.

that_guy_zach

Toss some drops on it. I got 245.00 for one that was a tad newer.

auchencrow

Thanks, wrk101 and _zach - I should have a little wiggle room even at the lower end so I think I will do the drops and look for a used saddle.

It already has really nice Suntour (friction) power shift levers, and the brake levers are not a problem since I have a few old Diacompes, so I can do a turkeywing-ectomy and put on a pair of hoods, along with the usual tape, housings, cables and bearings.

The tires look newer so I will save some money there. I'm thinking of getting a bottle cage for it just to make it look a tad more finished, but I'll keep the 150-200 dollar figure in mind so I don't go too far overboard.

wrk101

Sounds like a great plan. Niagara sells the lever hoods for about $6. To get over the $200 mark around here takes indexed shifting, a touring bike, or a really high end friction bike. But every market is different.