Koga Miyata '81 Roadspeed - shed find restoration.

[Matisse]

Hi, my names mat and i have a confession to make..... I'm addicted to lost causes.

Specifically, the rattyier the bike, the more i want to make it nice again, anything to keep myself busy.


My latest patient is this;


its a 1981 Koga Miyata Roadspeed that had spent the last few years of its life in the back of a builders shed. The dropouts were bent and the components were mosty rusty, the frame was covered in spots of plaster and paint, but the tubing was in good nick and of good quality being Tange Champion 2.

After a clean and stripping it down, it's ready for powder coating;





unfortunately I checked with the Factory and there is no code for the original colour, so it'll be orange again, just not the same orange, with a fresh set of decals.

Components wise, the original spec was a weird mix of Shimano 600 AX & Arabesque, but i'm moving up a year or two and moving to 600ex, the last of the friction shift Gruppos. I know its not original, but i really cant stand the Arabesque set, bloody awful stuff.

I'll bang some pics up when its back from the painters.

 

[oonaff]

Re:

hi ,there.ive got a similar frame one 'roadracer ' '82.i was surprised to find a few of their old catologue
scans on wikepedia. it has durace hubs with a brass band in the middle.mavic clincher rims and the rest is arabesque . im not sure if the headset is arabesque? its got a transparent plastic top to it .
the part chroming on the rear stays is shot, ive been quoted £60 to rechrome.
look forward to seeing yours completed and your comments on the ride
[hopefully i will get mine done one day]

 

[Diamant_Don]

Re:

I'm the same with lost causes! There's something really appealing about saving a sad old racer... Keep us posted with this one!

 

[oonaff]

hi chaps,here's mine i was talking about.

 

[oonaff]

yeah its gonna be great, i thought £140 frame set and full group with wheels was alright.but 38cm bars
wierd for a 56cm frame.why do you not like the arabesque g set.... too prissy ?

 

[Matisse]

Re: Re:

hi ,there.ive got a similar frame one 'roadracer ' '82.i was surprised to find a few of their old catologue
scans on wikepedia. it has durace hubs with a brass band in the middle.mavic clincher rims and the rest is arabesque . im not sure if the headset is arabesque? its got a transparent plastic top to it .
the part chroming on the rear stays is shot, ive been quoted £60 to rechrome.
look forward to seeing yours completed and your comments on the ride
[hopefully i will get mine done one day]

ooooohhh, a roadracer! i think thats the one step up from the roadspeed!

you can find all of the catalogs on the Koga website, which is really handy, even though they are in dutch.

as for the chroming, £60 sounds like a bargain!

 

[Matisse]

yeah its gonna be great, i thought £140 frame set and full group with wheels was alright.but 38cm bars
wierd for a 56cm frame.why do you not like the arabesque g set.... too prissy ?

Nice Frame! (good price too!) mine had the same distributor sticker on it, but in much worse condition.

That head set is definitley an arabesque, it'll be fine as long as it's not brinelled inside on the races.

Part of the arabesque thing is the looks, the cleaner the better in my view, and part of it is that i just preferred the Suntours of that era, better mechanically, better looking etc...

I should have it back from the Painters this week, a fresh set of decals are waiting for it.

Parts are pretty much collected, it's all refurbished, I don't like using NOS or fresh parts on an old frame, here's what it will end up with;

Wheels - First Gen Shimano 600 hubs with Mavic Module e2 rims
Drive train - Shimano 600ex mechs and shifters, 6speed 12-24t 600ex freewheel.
Brakes - 600ex calipers with 600 ax levers
headset - 600ex
Bottom bracket - Sugino ( only part not even close to original spec)
Bars/stem - SR quill with Road Champion Bars.

Can't wait to get it back from the paint shop and get building.

 

[oonaff]

yeah,and there are loads of these kogas for the 'standard' £300 tops.the arebesque patterns remind me of old country and western or victorian styling-no judgements really as long as it works ok. i like the pearl orange and black decals
i just want the feel of the ride ,but not content with short distances . .mine is
number 6 down from the top one, 'full pro' so im not expecting any thing great.and looking at the tube sets,the champion red tag is at the top with chromium and our ones have manganese. my one
has durace hubs with the brass collars also.
good luck with the build and i will bet you £100 yours gets done 1st[ stuff about koga in wikipedia.[ rechroming bit of the stays.'silver bronze' alton.]

hello don! oo eh brookybrooky,please send us pics of your bikes

kevin

 

[Matisse]

Re:

Back from the painters and all decalled up, time to start building.....

 

[oonaff]

good as new,i must pop down to' super drug' and hang out round the nail varnish section for mine ! :|
there s a lora manga's going on with them koga's!