My Miyata 610 that I am so excited about now for sure has a year tied to it. It is a 1981. I thought it was an 80 but I found catalogs from 81 through 89. My bike is black and so it is limited to an 81, 82 or 83. Not sure if 83 is included but I know after that 610's did not come in black. The dead give away is the brakes. In 82 and on the brakes changed away from the center pull cantilever to the side pull. So it has to be an 81. I cannot find an american/english catalog from earlier than 81 but the Dutch versions from earlier catalogs do not even have the same numbering/name system. Not sure if a 1980 English Miyata cataloge exists online but would love to see it.
Now the final mystery that I can tell is the issue of the shifters. The 1981 610 came with Stem shifters while the 1000 model came with downtube shifters. My bike has downtube shifters. Everything else is the same exactly from the stickers to the brakes. I am thinking downtube shifters were considered higher end at the time and whoever purchased the bike or someone later modified the shifters.
I am not a purist although I am keeping the original equipment I have changed. I added a stem conversion to threadless, new stem to increase angle and I have added new drop handlebars that are wider and lighter than original. New bar tape and brake levers. I also added a Bontrager Saddle that I am very used to from my previous bike. I also changed out the pedals to a higher end/lighter pedal with toe clips. I hope I can post picture.
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