20" Miyatas on EBay

Some guy is selling off 4 older 20" Miyatas on EBay, one by one.

The first one sold last night for $155.03, which I think is too high a
price. In my unsubstantiated opinion, a reasonable price for these is
about $130 if there is nothing that needs fixing (other than getting a
new tire).

Here is the second one, which he listed immediately after the first one
sold:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1846695361

It is a high-volume seller with good feedback. He has blocked me from
bidding on his auctions, I think due to the belligerent tone I adopted
after he failed to answer some specific questions about the uni. His
excuse for not answering the questions: “it is not in front of me”.
Anyway, during our correspondence he mentioned that he had 4 of them.

The saddles and seatposts on these older Miyata’s are not
interchangeable with the newer ones (different seatpost bracket). You
can’t get replacement seatposts. I haven’t figured out whether the
seatpost diameter is 22mm or 22.2 mm.

I believe these older saddles are just as comfortable as the newer ones.
The front bumper does not form an extended handle like on the newer
ones, and the bumper bolt pattern is different. The older pedals are
smaller and less grippy. Other than these things, I think the older
Miyatas are as good as the new ones.

The questions I asked him in my initial email:

> Any damage to it? E.g. bent seat post, wheel out-of-true, tears in seat, cracks in underside of seat, bent crank arms, rust.
> Do the main bearings and pedal bearings turn freely?
>
–Mark


Mark Newbold
Montpelier, Vermont USA


Alternate email: manx@sover.net

thanx for the ‘heads-up!’

I placed a bid on the 2nd one. We’ll see how high up it goes to.

Re: 20" Miyatas on EBay

The second one went for $113.25 last week. Was anyone here the lucky winner? If so, was the uni in good condition?

The 3rd one hasn’t popped up on EBay. Maybe the seller was disappointed that he didn’t get $155 the second time around.

–Mark


Mark Newbold
Montpelier, Vermont USA


Alternate email: manx@sover.net