Miyata Project

I bought a Miyata Triton frame, and I'll take you along with me while I build it. These were lower-end bikes that were only made in 1987. Regardless, the frame is cro-moly steel and very light.

 

I've built lots of bikes with Shimano drivetrains, but never a pure SunTour build.  I have a 6 speed freewheel, a pair of derailleurs, and some stem shifters. Let's make a bike out of it.  After touching up the paint, cleaning, and polishing I was finally ready to start assembling. First, the headset bearings were cleaned and packed with grease:

Fork reinstalled

Original steel handlebars

 

Brake levers and front brake caliper

Rear brake

I'm guessing this bike was previously converted to a single speed.  It came without derailleurs, shifters, missing a cable guide, and had a short chain.  Thankfully the rear derailleur hanger was still intact. I had to get some parts from the bike co-op, like a saddle and seatpost.  I also found a 700c rim and a Suntour XC Pro front hub (noice!). I built them into the nicest front wheel ever:

Time to reassemble the bottom bracket:

Tightening the lock ring:

And bolting the cranks back on:

Now it needs a drivetrain.  I have a SunTour 7 front derailleur and an Alpha 4050 rear:

 

I re-laced my Schwinn Traveler's old rear rim to a freewheel hub so I could use my 6-speed SunTour Perfect freewheel.  The Traveler then got my Fuji's rear rim, and I then made another slightly nicer wheel for my Fuji.  I'm not sure why I went crazy with all the wheelbuilding, but it's winter and there's not much else to do.

Here's the chain installed:

I found a set of SunTour Power Ratchet stem shifters at the co-op.  These has a fine ratcheting mechanism inside that makes the shifting super light and precise.  They are the best friction shifters I've ever used:

With the cables installed and adjusted, it's a bike again:

Finally, some celeste green handlebar tape gives it a bit of personality:

This bike rides super nicely with the lightweight frame, 700c wheels, fancy tires, and SunTour drivetrain. I originally wanted a cheap urban commuter, but I ended up with something pretty special.

Preventing Frame Corrosion

Steel frame bikes are corrosion prone if you ride in winter with salt on the roads.  In an older post, I showed what happens when water doesn't drain out of a frame.  For better protection, you can spray cavity wax inside the frame tubes to ensure it won't rust from the inside.  My Miyata could definitely use this treatment:

My favorite product to use is called Fluid Film, and there is another bike-specific option called Frame Saver.  For my Miyata frame I am just using an old can of 3M Rust Fighter (I don't think this is available anymore).  With my bike completely disassembled it was easy to spray inside of the tubes. However, you can do a good job by just removing the bottom bracket and seatpost.  Here's how I did it:

 

You can also spray the top tube through the opening in the seat tube when the seat post is out of the way.  With the bottom bracket out, there is easy access to the chain stays, seat tube, and down tube:

There are also small holes in the frame near the dropouts, these are very good places to spray:

 

Don't forget the fork: