Tired Wheel Deal II: Miyata 310

I am a big fan of Japanese lugged steel bikes. As a general rule, even the cheaply made ones are strong and reliable. Miyata crafted some of the most beautiful bikes ever made every by anyone, often using crazy firearm technology. This is not one of those high end models, in fact it is an entry level road bike, but a nice all-around rider despite the heavy hi-tensile tubing. I picked this frame up during one of the strangest bike purchasing experiences of my life, when I went to a guy's house in Puyallup to buy a glued and screwed Vitus frame and came home with 8 wheels, endless quantities of random components and handlebars, and this frame.

One unique feature this frame has is the dimensions: If you look closely you'll notice that the gloriously tall seat tube (62cm) is paired to a rather short (54cm) top tube. If you were a dandy, a bike like this coupled with some sweet Nitto bars, bar end shifters and $800 in other accoutrements from Rivendell could make you the envy of all the rando nerds in your "posse."

Since this bike came from that strange era when brazed on cable and housing guides were out of fashion, I decided to build this up as a single speed. Here's a quick breakdown on the build (very cheap, all parts from the bins in the shop):

• Wheels: Suzue Jr. flip-flop hub laced to Mavic MA3 / can't remember the front wheel. nothing special though.
• RX100 cranks
• steel riser bars
• dia compe brake and lever
• this doesn't take very long when it's a fixed gear, does it

PICS COMING BACK SOON, I PROMISE!

Tired Wheel Deal I: Motobecane Mirage Mixte

There were about 4,000,000,000 of these bikes made back in the glory days of French bicycles. Motobecane was the biggest mass-producer of French bikes during the days this was made, but it has since gone bankrupt, so any new bikes you see carrying the Motobecane name are certainly made in Taiwan (not that there is anything innately wrong with that, despite some snobs' protestations to the contrary, but it is certainly quite a different operation than the French production plants).

Fortunately this bike did not suffer from the usual complications that come with being French, however. During the bike boom days of the late 70s and early 80s, all you had to do was slap "made in France" on the side and it upped the value $200. The Mirage was the bottom of the line, cranked out in huge numbers. The heavy straight-gauge 1020 Motobecane steel tubing, original steel wheels and stamped dropouts (among other things) reveal it to be a remarkably unremarkable bike. But it is still lugged steel, and made with the highly functional yet highly misunderstood Mixte design, so bikes of this caliber always have the potential to be spruced up into perfectly decent city bikes for commuting, grocery getting, etc.

When I got this bike it was all stock, and rusty. Suntour drive train (VX if I recall correctly), stem-mount shifters, did I mention steel wheels? I tossed the wheels and replaced them with mismatched alloy-rimmed guys (the rear was a nicer Suzue with an ACS freewheel spun onto it).

Also swapped out the cranks for a set of RX100 (with a single ring of course).

MISSING PICS WILL BE BACK UP SHORTLY