So far I love it. I’ve never seen, let alone rode a bike with suicide shifters either, which has been fun and novel. As a side note and newbie question, are there any good indications the frame is too large for me? I’m 5’11” and the store employee told me it might be on the big side, but it feels pretty comfortable so far.
by FriendOfTheDevil2103
11 Comments
Fantastic bikes, if you can stand over it easily I’d say the major concern you should have for the frame is if the reach to the handlebars is comfortable for you. This can be largely compensated for with component choice (bars, stem, seatpost), but there are tradeoffs to each , and there is still a limiting factor in the length of the top tube.
I would say that your seatpost seems a tad low from the traditional “fistful” of seatpost reccomended in the classic era, but at least it is not slammed. I’m guessing this is a 60cm frame, and perhaps ideally you’d have a 58cm, but it’s the reach that I think is ultimately more important.
Edit:
Also that seatpost should not be all the way forward on the rails like that. Not good for the rails and potentially another sign the reach is too long. If it really needs to be in that position you would at least want to use a 0mm setback seatpost so the rails are being clamped more centrally.
Ha, well, those are very much *not* “suicide shifters,” [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkWGAcGDX7A) is.
It probably is big for you, which is why the saddle is fairly low. How is it in terms of the reach? When you’re riding that’s more important.
That frame looks to be a 58 or even 60cm so yes, probably a bit large for you. I like the Rivendell method of determining seat height – [https://www.rivbike.com/pages/pubic-bone-height-how-to-measure-your-pbh](https://www.rivbike.com/pages/pubic-bone-height-how-to-measure-your-pbh)
As for “suicide” shifters, they’ll work fine. We raced them for years & I don’t recall a single accident due to a rider reaching down to shift.
Score on that Miyata! That thing looks really clean. And I dig your shirt too! I just got tickets to their show in November.
Dude awesome. My favorite road bike ever is a 1987-8 512! I started on one, fell in love with the sport, sold it (regretted that) and bought an identical one 7 years later because I missed it. Great bikes, good find. If you don’t like those shifters, there’s solutions to get modern brifters added. Talk to your local bike shop.
congrats on scoring a miyata on your first purchase in the vintage bike world and not falling victim to the typical buys a peugeot and puts bullhorns on it trap
Great looking bike!
A couple things, though…
– The front quick release isn’t closed correctly. Make sure you check that before your test flight.
– When displaying your bike, always display the “drive side”, so we can check out the components.
– Remove the plastic “pie plate” from the rear wheel. It does nothing for the aesthetics and isn’t required if everything is set up correctly.
TOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!
Great bike! Lots of folks will say it’s too big (and in standard sizing practice, it may be a little on the larger size) but I prefer to ride larger frames – especially when they are older. Stand over is important, yes, but go by feel. If you are comfortable riding it, I’d say it fits!
I turned one of these into a fixie. solid frame
A 512 was one of my first road bikes as well, Great bike! Enjoy it. Looks to be in really nice shape!