1988 Koga Miyata ValleyRunner

[Elev12k]

This is the bike I ride the Schoorl trail most often with. I bought it for 50 euros a few years ago. I gave the bearings new grease, made some adjustments and I had to buy a new Campy Centaur headset which doubled its price :roll:

The bike has to stand a lot abuse, I definitely don't slow down for washboard style sections or so. It hasn't had a single minute maintenance since when I bought it (except for cleaning of course), but it is going and going and going......

I couldn't have more fun for the buck!

Lugged Miyata frame out of Miyatas own FM-1 HardLite tubing. It is triple butted and 'spiral spline' butted tubing. Spiral spline = spiral shaped butting at the ends. Toptube:

Finishing is of great quality, but no sealed tubing or so.

Exage Mountain components. Six speed with indexshifting, U-brake under the chainstays. Sakea stem was also original equipment.

Brochure pic. The ValleyRunner was the most economical Koga mountainbike in the '88 line up.

Just finished the Schoorl trail

In Belgium last summer

The ride is pretty comfortable due to longer stays, not really oversized tubing and blades and the upright position. I do have alloy bikes with suspension in front that are much less enjoyable on bumpy sections.

 

[cchris2lou]

I like the colour .
Is this brand dutch ? If so how come Greg Herbold ended up racing for them .

 

[rutteger]

Another fine bicycle from the Elev stable.

I think miyata were Japanese. They sponsered Herbold when trying to crack the US market. I'm sure Elev can explain further...

 

[Elev12k]

cchris2lou,

Rutteger is right. Miyata is Japanese and started building bicycles/frames in 1890. Miyata originally was a rivel manufacturer and they thought it would be only a small step from slots to bicycle tubing.

Koga is Dutch and was founded in 1974 bij Andries Gaastra. Koga is a substraction of Kowallik (the familyname of Andries' wife) and Gaastra. Andries thought there was room for an upscale bicycle make in Holland and he were of the opinion that Miyata could supply him the frames he considered appropriate for that.

The Gaastras are a true bike family. Andries' grandfather was the man behind Batavus and Andries' son Gerrit the man behind idworx. Today both Batavus and Koga Miyata belong to Europes largest bicycle group, the Accell group.

During the H-Ball era Miyata tried to break in the US market. Miyatas were available back then in the US, some Scandanavian countries and of course Japan. In Europe (except for Scan.) only Koga Miyata was available. Thus in Europe Herbold raced for Koga Miyata and in other parts of the world he raced for Miyata.

Greg with Koga jersey on '89 Koga Miyata RidgeRunner bicycle. Greg wun the '90 DH Worlds in Durango on a similar Miyata RidgeRunner, see bellow.

 

[cchris2lou]

Thanks for that , I have always seen Herbold as a one of the legend of mountain biking and assumed that Koga was american .

 

[donpedro]

New U.brake for my 1988 Valley Runner

Just traded a mint 1989 Miyata Terra Runner for one of these that had been "used and abused". Couldn't be bothered asking for money on top as I was happy to get a frame of the right size.

Only problem is of course the crappy U-brake under the rear stays.
Any got some advice as to witch replacement brake to get?
I rate a well sealed internals higher than stopping power!
Can old XT Deore II U-brakes or similar compete with modern versions like the Tektro FX570CR, Odyssey Evolver 2 or Dia Compe AD990?
:?

 

[Senri]

Actually, I think it can. I have the U-brake on my 88 Giant Escaper and the stopping power is fine. As with all mechanical brakes (except discs), you need power (and therefore often the big brake levers) to brake, but locking up is no problem and they are still very sensitive. They are certainly no less then any of my canti's.

 

[donpedro]

Thanks Senri, that sound reassuring! My impression is that much of the effectivness depends on the position of the brake mounts, cable routing, pads and other factors that has little to do with the design of the brake it self. But the limited ways to adjust u-brakes compared to a cantilever brakes result in a greater loss of power when some factors are less than ideal.

I actually had a U-brake on my second mtb that I bought new in 1988. It was a Diamond Back Arrival and I figured that since it just won the unofficial World Championships that it had good parts. It got nicked soon after that so I didn't get to use it for long. But I do remember that I had issues with the stock set up of the XT u-brake. After that I styed away from them so when I was offered this Miyata I was kind a hesitant let it in to my home.

Just got a Shimano Deore BR-MT61 U-brake from 1988 so at least it match the year of the bike. But it lack the Power Plate introduced the year after. Would be interesting to know if it ad any noticeable boost in power?

 

[Elev12k]

I can say I am happy with the performance of my U-brake It is one without the booster.

 

[donpedro]

Great! So what brake pads do you guys use?
Have some wheels with Mavic Ceramic rims and matching V-pads.
But I wonder if they'll fit ok?