Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration in Awesome Orange!

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - After

This is Finbarr's Miyata 912 restoration.  I love Miyata bicycles, they are so well made and its has been a long time since I have restored a 900 series Miyata so I am excited.  The Miyata 912 as all Shimano 600 Arrow components, not the Golden Arrow components, they came a year later but still super cool.  I am a sucker for a orange bike, my favorite color for a bike and the Miyata 912 has a very nice orange!

The Miyata will receive a complete restoration.  Under the dirt, grime and dullness I think there is some pretty amazing paint that will polish very nice.  New brake lever hoods will go on and new synthetic leather handlebar tape.  New tires and tubes will be installed along wit a new saddle and all new cables, cable housings, bearings and brake pads.

It is going to be a mean looking fat bike, I can't wait to see the results and with the weather lately maybe the final photos will be in snow and really pop!

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Handlebars

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Brake Levers

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Handlebars

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Head Badge

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Front Brake

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Front Wheel Hb

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Front Wheel Rim

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Stem

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before - Down Tube

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Shimano 600 Shift Levers

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Saddle

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Tange Champion  Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Seat Tube Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Bottom Bracket Area

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Shimano 600 Crank

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Simano 600 Front Derailleur

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Shimano 600 Rear Brake

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Miyata 912 Chain Stay Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Shimano 600 Rear Derailleur

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Rear Wheel

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Before
Rear Wheel Rim
 With the components stripped from the frame I see very few chips or scratches in the paint, the only rough spot is the chain stay where the chain made a good amount of chips.  The paint should really polish nice after a deep cleaning.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Head Badge

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Top Tube

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Down Tube

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Seat Lug

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Bottom Bracket

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Brake Bridge

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Miyata 912 Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Drop Outs

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Fork

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Fork Crown

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Before
Fork Blades

The frame polished beautifully!! For some reason I can never take good photos of orange paint.  The frame polished way better then the photos.  There are only a few paint chips and the worse part is the chain stay but overall the orange is just beautiful!!


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Head Tube

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Head Tube

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Head Tube Lug

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Down Tube Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished - Seat Lug

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Seat Tube Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Bottom Bracket

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Seat Lug

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Drop Outs

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Chain Stay Decal

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Bottom Bracket

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Fork

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Fork Crown

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Frame Polished
Fork

 With the components stripped from the frame I put the headset and bottom bracket into the crock pot.  The headset is really nice and is in perfect shape after polishing.  The headset looks fantastic with the polished orange paint.

The bottom bracket cleaned well and polished very well.  With new bearings and grease the bottom bracket spins like butter.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset & Bottom Bracket
Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset
Bearing Cups - Pressed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset Bearing Cups
Pressed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset Bearings - Packed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Headset
Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bottom Bracket Bearings
Packed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bottom Bracket - Complete
The handlebars are my favorite Suake Road Champions.  The Road Champions are narrower then today's handlebars but I like the narrow.  The stem polihed just perfect and it will look fantastic against the orange and new handlebar tape.  The handlebars have a few gauges but polished nice.  They both look great installed.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Stem & Handlebars
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebars - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Stem - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebars & Stem
Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Stem - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebars - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebars & Stem - Compelte

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebars
Stem - Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Stem & Handlebars - Compelte
The crank is a Shimano 600 crank, i so do love the early Shimano 600 components, they had such style!  All the pieces of the crank polished very nice and assembled easy.  The crank looks incredible polished and installed.  I love it!


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Crank - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Crank - Exploded
Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Crank - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Crank - Compelte

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Crank
Installed
The derailleurs are beautiful Shimano 600 derailleurs.  The rear derailleuir is one of the most beautiful that was made.  The details on it are amazing. Both derailleurs polished very nice and both assembled nice and with lubrication of the pivot points they function great.  THe front derailleur also has very nice details.  Both derailleurs look amazing installed.


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Derailleurs
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Front Derailleur
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Front Derailleur
Exploded

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Rear Derailleur
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Rear Derailleur
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Rear Derailleur
Exploded
Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Derailleur - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Rear Derailluer
Compelte

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Derailleur
Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Derailleur - Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Derailleur - Installed
The brake calipers are very nice Shimano 600 calipers.  I disassembled the calipers and did a good cleaning and polishing.  The calipers turned out really nice and its hard to beat that Shimano 600 Type Face.


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Brake Calipers
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Brake Calipers
Exploded

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Brake Calipers - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Brake Calipers - Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Brake Caliper
Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Brake
Caliper - Installed
 The seat post polished very nice and will be installed alter.  The seat post is my favorite, anything fluted!

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Seat Post & Saddle
Before
Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Seat Post - Polished

The saddle is a leather padded saddle.  The color and look I think is perfect for the Miyata 912.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - New Leather Padded Saddle

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Saddle
Installed

Here are the details of a Shimano 600 group, look at all the details in the shift levers.  These are my all-time favorite shift levers just on looks, amazing!!  The shift levers polished very nice and with lubricating they function very nice.  They look amazing on the polished orange paint!


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Shift Levers
Before
Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shift Levers - Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shift Levers - Installed
The Pedals are in fairly good shape for pedals, pedals take such a beating.  I will remove the toe clips and clean and polish the pedals.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Pedals - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Pedals - Before

The wheels are mix matched but they both are such nice wheels it does't matter that they are mixed matched.  The front wheel is a very nice Araya wheel.  The front rim has an interesting texture that polished very nice and I am super happy with it.  I really like the front rim.  The rear wheel is a very nice Super Champion Competition, the cleaned the wheel and then polished it.  The rear wheel polished very nice, I am pretty happy with the results.  With new bearings and grease the wheels spin very nice, two very fast wheels.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub
New Grease

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel Hub - Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Front Wheel - Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel Hub
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel Hub
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel Hub - Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel Rim
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel Hub
Polished

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Rear Wheel - Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Wheels - Installed

The Brake lever hoods where rotted and stuck to the levers.  It took some good elbow grease to clean the old hoods off and then some polishing, the brake levers really polished nice.  With the brake levers polished I installed the new brake lever hoods and then installed the brake levers on the handlebars.  The brake levers really look fantastic installed.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Shimano 600 Brake Levers
Before

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - New Brake Lever Hoods
Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Brake Levers - Installed

With the brake levers installed it was time to run new cable housings and new cables along with the new handlebar tape.  The handlebar tape is perfect for the Miyata 912, the black really highlights the orange of the frame.


Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - New Cables, Housings &
Handlebar Tape

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Cables - Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebar Tape
Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Handlebar Tape - Installed

One of the last things do to besides install the pedals is install the new Continental Ultra Sport Tires.  The Continental tires really make the Miyata look mean and fast and being 28 mm the tires will be a really nice ride.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - New Continental
Ultra Sport Tires - Installed

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Continental Tires
Installed
 The pedals cleaned very nice and polished pretty good, best off all this spin very smooth.

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Pedals Cleaned
& Polished

The Miyata 912 is complete and ready to test ride.  I wish it was a warmer day to really give the Miyata 912 a work out but it sure road very nice, very smooth and solid and very fast!!

Whats even better then the ride??  The looks!!  The Miyata 912 is one mean looking bicycle, the Orange is beautiful and just pops!! All the black is perfect and there only to compliment that Orange!!
The early Shimano 600 componets are one of my favorite and they prove why on the Miyata, they look better then most components with all the little details and work flawlessly.  I really really like this bike!

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Front

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Shimano 600 Front Brake

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Handlebars

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Stem

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Stem & Headset

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Front Half

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Shimano 600 Shift Levers

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Drive Train

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Shimno 600 Crank

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Shimano 600 Rear Derailleur

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Rear Wheel

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Shimano 600 Rear Brake

Finbarr's Miyata 912 Restoration - Bicycle Complete
Rear
Thank you for the interest,
John Z.




















































5 comments:

  1. Miyata's, especially the 912 hold a special place for me, when I first started being interested in classic 10 speeds and wanted one to restore I lucked into a 912 at a garage sale (http://ryansrebuilds.blogspot.com/2013/01/1979-miyata-912-may-2011-one-that.html) and really loved it, had it been orange like this one I might not have been able to part with it. Great job on the resto a really beautiful bike with classy components.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm in the process of restoring the exact same bike and I am having a problem routing the brake cable through the shimano 600ex calipers. I'm really confused by how I'm supposed to pull the cable through the caliper in order for it to function properly. Can you explain to me how I'm supposed to do it, or better yet, show me a pic of the cable routed (backside of the brake would be great)? I've tried routing through both sides of the tab on the rear of the brake. It almost looks like it wants me to horse shoe the cable so the end of the cable is point up, which is crazy. I've tried it so many ways but not one seems to get it to brake properly. Either the cable isn't tight enough due to the shape of the tab that's supposed to be pinching it not grabbing it well enough, or it is tight enough, but the cable rubs the brake when the quick release lever is pivoted up/and. I apologize if I'm not explaining this very well.

    I would appreciate any advice you have to offer a great deal. You've done a fantastic job restoring this beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  3. John, great tale of your restoration project. I have the same orange Miyata 912 w Shimano 600 SIS derailleurs. I bought in 1986, used. Hadn’t ridden in at least twenty years. Took it to Southwest Cycle for a refurbishment. New brake cables, tubes, tires, saddle. Mine looks sharp. Rides like a dream. Gearing is too tall for the inclines in the Texas hill country. Have to think my way around to avoid the steepest upslopes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful! I just bought a frameset in near mint condition. I thought about gathering up the Shimano 600 group but decided on the Suntour Cyclone instead. Thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete