1987 Miyata 512
Part Diary, Part Technical Manual, Part Tips & Tricks

I've been buying and working on bikes as a hobby for myself for about a dozen years. Now that my daughter is 9 years old, she is starting to outgrow her BMX bike, so she is almost old enough to ride serious bikes with higher quality components. So for the first time I'm thinking about what kind of bike I can build up for her. Kids grow so quickly, so you don't want to build anything too nice, as they will outgrow them almost as quickly as a pair of sneakers. Then I saw this 46cm Miyata for sale and figured this would literally be the smallest road bike I could buy. I've always been a fan of funny bikes with a 650c front wheel, so this would be a micro-funny bike with a 24" front wheel for my daughter. With a high-quality triple-butted Miyata frame, this can be a frameset to build up a very fast ride. The bike appears to be mostly original and the paint is in excellent condition with only some minor marks. The bike still has the clear cellophane wrap around the right chainstay and the "Miyata Cotterless" dustcaps on the crankset. So on January 16, 2017, I bought the first road bike for my daughter. I'll have a year or two to build it up nice, before she is ready to ride it.

1/21/2017 - The bike was stripped down, cleaned, and mostly reassembled. Just waiting on a 80mm stem, platform pedals, and a pair of new tires, then it should be ready to all come together.

4/24/2017 - Since my daughter is still too short for the bike, this was a very low priority build. But starting a bit over the weekend and finishing tonight, the 512 is now complete. Overall the bike is a really fine time warp bike, in all likelihood, a poor choice as a young girl's first road bike. But then again bikes are meant to be used and not just preserved, so if it gets scratched and dinged over time, it only means that its getting good use. I'll just keep telling myself that...

Here are the specs:

Frame: 1987 Miyata 512, 46cm, triple-butted cro-mo tubing, investment cast seat lug, 16mm seat stays, oval chain stays, H.B.S. stays. Serial Number: OU57047. Team Blue and white.
Fork: 1987 Miyata cro-mo fork for 24" wheel, 1" threaded steerer tube with AC-2 crown and TF ends. Team Blue.
Rims: Araya, 24" and 700c, aluminum.
Hubs: Sansin CE-60 sealed low-flange, silver.
Front Tire: Schwalbe Durano, 24" x .90", black.
Rear Tire: Schwalbe Durano, 700 x 23c, black.
Freewheel: Shimano MF-Z012 Brown, 6SP, 14-28T.
Crankset: Shimano FC-B126, 165mm, 52 x 42 Biopace, 130/74 BCD.
Bottom Bracket: x
Front Derailer: Shimano FD Z206.
Rear Derailer: Shimano RD-L525 SIS.
Shifters: Shimano SL-S434 SIS.
Headset: Hatta Vesta 1" threaded, sealed, chrome.
Chain: Shimano UG, black.
Stem: Zenith 1" quill, 80mm, 26.0mm clamp, silver.
Handlebar: Kusuki Winpista WP-B alloy, 26.0mm.
Brakes: Shimano BR-L490 SLR, silver.
Levers: Shimano Sante BL-5001, pearl white. The original white hoods age horribly, so I was able to buy new hoods for the 105 BL-1055 that fit perfectly onto the Sante levers.
Pedal: Mikashima (MKS) Prime Sylvan Road, silver.
Seatpost: SR Laprade 26.8mm, silver
Saddle: Cinelli Unicanitor, white.

The bike weighs 22 lbs 9 oz as shown.

The following are parts that I am currently not using:

Front Tire: Panaracer Tecnova II, 24" x 1".
Rear Tire: Panaracer Vivezza K, 700 x 24c.
Stem: Nitto Technomic, 1" quill, 70mm, 26.0mm clamp, silver.
Levers: Dia-Compe Junior, silver.
Pedal: Dimension SPD, red.
Saddle: Avocet Touring, black.
Pump: Silca Impero, white.