Last week was a blast. I started my new job as an art director over at Milk. Very different from where I worked in the Netherlands before. First of all I don’t have to remember 75 names of my colleagues, 15 will do for now and I can finally ride my bike to work again! If that wasn’t enough I went for a nice 75 kilometer long ride last weekend as Sunday turned out to be dry ánd sunny. It was a bit cold and I got some comments on the fact that I was wearing shorts, but “they are just a bit cold the first 3 kilometers”. This time I didn’t forget my camera and took some nice pictures in Staatsforst Ville near Hackenbroich.
Everyone who owns (or thinks he owns) a Koga Miyata bike from 1978 will have run into the fact that the specifications sheet for that year isn’t online on the Koga website. All the other years are represented with a brochure showing all the different bikes and their spec sheets except 1978. For that year only the folder with the pictures of the bikes can be found.
Untill I received a comment from Mr. Dekker. He told me he was just starting to take his Gent’s Touring (GT) from 1978 apart and asked me if I was interested in the spec sheet. Of course I was! He mailed me some scans that I put together in 1 PDF-document. It can be downloaded below (and also shows the Road Mixed and the Silver Ace):
1978 Koga Miyata Gent’s Touring Specifications Sheet
I also asked him to mail me scans from the complete booklet so that it can be added to the Koga website, but I haven’t heard from him since. Mr. Dekker in case you read this would you be so kind to mail me those scans? Thanks a lot!
Well, after the first one I redid another one soon made it’s entrance and I am just talking about bicycles here. My father’s old Gent’s Touring is now all complete and in use. Last sunday I took it for a spin since it was such nice (and cold!) weather. The lighting was awesome and made for some very nice photo’s. Just look at her al shining in the cold freezing sun shine!
The second bike that showed up was the old Gent’s Luxe from my uncle. This used to be a more race specific bike. No lighting, no fenders, smaller cogs and such. Most interesting thing are the front chain rings and the brake levers. They are all drilled out to save some weight. I had to buy a new stem for it, because the one that came with it was just really ugly looking… So after a month of cleaning and polishing it all ended very nice and clean. Take a look!
This beauty is on eBay now, I’ll only ship it in Germany, but it can be picked up at the end of the auction. Happy bidding :)
In the last few days I have done a lot of research on this bike, but it isn’t always that easy. I found out that the Koga-website offers all the brochures in PDF (from 1976). Most of them also have a list of parts for every bike mentioned in the brochure. Except the one from 1978. With my Gents Touring in it. So, I just have to cross check the parts used in the ’77 and ’79 model and compare them with what is installed on my bike. (more…)
Time for a personal update. Last weekend my parents came over. Dad hadn’t seen my appartement as it looks now with all the furniture and after a few months of living in it. My girlfriend and I have a preference for old 50′s furniture so we got our hands on a nice Strinning wall shelf and some nice Danish design-ish couch with chairs. This taste for old things is something we share and the fact that my dad had is original 1978 Koga-Miyata Gent’s Touring standing in the garage for the last 25 years was itching. Being interested in technical stuff, bike, bycicles and cars I mentioned it a few months ago already. That the bike should be better off in my house. Warm, dry and getting some exercise… Nothing happened, but that was everything I expected. Not a word since then and this weekend my dad handed me an old envelope. On the outside the adress and name of an old bikeshop in Hengelo was printed (lead type, you can feel it!). Inside was the original bill for this vintage touring bike. He really brought it with him as a present!
I will make a more detailed post about the bike, it’s parts and the state of it all later on. For now I am just too excited about it! I want to make it shiny and polish the hell out of it. After that it will be taken for a spin once in a while, preferably with sunny and dry weather.