# miyata ridge runner team



## kingkahuna (May 25, 2004)

anyone got some pictures of this bike? 
I had it bad for one of these from the LBS back in 88,89,90....never seen another one since...
loved the blue/white fade paint...


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Ive got an 88. I'll try and get a pic in the next couple days. Theyre nice bikes.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Not mine, but I found this one on the net. Nice example! Is this the bike you were looking for?

http://www.uzzah.com/miyata/index.html


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## kingkahuna (May 25, 2004)

yep. that would do nicely...I think I liked the 89 and 90 model decals a bit more...


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## mtnwing (Jan 13, 2004)

kingkahuna said:


> anyone got some pictures of this bike?
> I had it bad for one of these from the LBS back in 88,89,90....never seen another one since...
> loved the blue/white fade paint...


I believe this picture might be Greg Herbold's 1990 Worlds DH Championship winning bike.

https://www.mtb-classic.de/mtb/sonstige/miyata90.jpg

-mtnwing


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

mtnwing said:


> I believe this picture might be Greg Herbold's 1990 Worlds DH Championship winning bike.
> 
> https://www.mtb-classic.de/mtb/sonstige/miyata90.jpg
> 
> -mtnwing


Yeah...that's the bike I want...
On of my MBAction mags has ride reviews of all the 1990 World Champ bikes...I wanna say that picture is the same in the magazine.

Speaking of Miyatas...have we all seen the 3 carbon and one titanium Miyatas up on eBay at the moment?...hmmm Tucker?


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## mtnwing (Jan 13, 2004)

*Alotta Miyata's . . .*



Rumpfy said:


> Yeah...that's the bike I want...
> On of my MBAction mags has ride reviews of all the 1990 World Champ bikes...I wanna say that picture is the same in the magazine.
> 
> Speaking of Miyatas...have we all seen the 3 carbon and one titanium Miyatas up on eBay at the moment?...hmmm Tucker?


I've got two carbon one's and two steel miyata's sitting here already . . . 
Planning to sell one of the steel one's. If anyone is interested in a 21" NOS ridgerunner frame email me.

-mtnwing

PS - who's Tucker?


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## Michael Staab (Jan 13, 2004)

Hi,

this is what the Ridge Runner looked like in Europe. This is me on my 1989 Koga Miyata Ridge Runner:



















And the clothes are, errr 80's style .

Greetings,

Michael
wish I would own that bike again.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

This is my ValleyRunner of that era. Recently gave it a second live (picture is from before updates). I think it is from ´89, but I am not sure. Could somebody tell me? It has many Exage Mountain components and the frame is triplebutted Hardlite. Ofcourse no sloping tt, long chainstays, Ubrake behind bracket and many more funny eightees details. By the way: It is a really excellent performing bike!

Melvin


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## tl1 (Dec 21, 2003)

Elevation12 said:


> This is my ValleyRunner of that era. Recently gave it a second live (picture is from before updates). I think it is from ?89, but I am not sure. Could somebody tell me? It has many Exage Mountain components and the frame is triplebutted Hardlite. Ofcourse no sloping tt, long chainstays, Ubrake behind bracket and many more funny eightees details. By the way: It is a really excellent performing bike!
> 
> Melvin


I just bought a '91 Pathrunner that looks very much like that with identical appearing teal frame paint and matching stem paint.It looks very cool as does yours. I lucked into the original owner that was going to toss it out and offered next to nothing, which to my delight was accepted! It's 99% original and in good shape. The Pathrunner is a slightly lower end bike but it too is an excellent performer and I really enjoy riding it.

I also own a Forerunner, Elevation 5000 and Alfrex of early to mid nineties vintage but all were bought as NOS frames on eBay within the last few years.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Unfortunately I don´t know the PathRunner. Actually mine isn´t a Miyata, but a Koga Miyata. I am from Europe and Miyata´s always were a bit exotic to me. Of course I knew the ones of H-Ball. Awesome ! More multicolered as a cheap christmastree and they always looked quite heavy. A quite dramatic appearance, I guess that is what I want to say. 

You own a nice stable. What exactly is meant by Elevation 5,000. Alloy front and rear triangle bonded and bolted? In Europe those were known as TerraRunnerAlloy and Explosion. Besides the ValleyRunner I own:

´91 KM TrailRunner - welded alloy 7000, BigChamp fork, really heavy duty
´92 GentsRacerCarbolite - roadbike, fronttriangle with 4 carbon tubes, alloy rear, bonded
´93 ValleyRunnerAlloy - alloy front, hardlite rear, bonded and bolted construction
´93 TrailRunnerCarbolite(on eBay now) - carbon front, polished alloy rear, bolted and bonded 
´93 SkyRunnerCarbolite - carbon front and rear, bonded and bolted 
´95 SkyCarbolite (damaged) - carbon front, titanium(!) rear, bonded and bolted. Initialy Koga intended to market it with a small suspension unit in the rear (like HBall rode). They pictured it in the brochure (see picture below) and I ordered one. They later realized that is wasn´t such a good idea and they cancelled it, so in the more luxurious, glossy brochure which later came it wasn´t pictured with the suspension unit. Neverteless I bought it. 
´97 Suvivor - welded hardlite frame, good quality but I am not sure whether it is made by Miyata in Japan 

I will take some pictures of my bikes and post them in future. Maybe it also would be nice to start a thread concerning the US Miyata´s and their European Koga Miyata counterparts. Personally I am very interested in all the styles Miyata´s were made.

You bought those NOS frames on eBay. Probably you made a good deal, cause I sometimes see them go on eBay.com for very interesting prices. Those old (Koga) Miyata´s were quite valuable back then. In Europe they were only sold as complete bike, but once I crashed my ´95 SkyCarbolite and the insurancecompany refunded me $1000 dollars frame only! 

initial ´95 Koga SkyCarbolite


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## tl1 (Dec 21, 2003)

Rumpfy said:


> Speaking of Miyatas...have we all seen the 3 carbon and one titanium Miyatas up on eBay at the moment?...hmmm Tucker?


 Yup. I luckily got one of those beautiful blue Trail Runner Carbolites. Luckily I say both because it sold for a great buyer's price and at the last minute I accidentally put in a $6700 bid somehow in place of a $67 bid! Good thing bidding didn't get too high. ;^) I saw your bids too, btw (on a different one).


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

tl1 said:


> Yup. I luckily got one of those beautiful blue Trail Runner Carbolites. Luckily I say both because it sold for a great buyer's price and at the last minute I accidentally put in a $6700 bid somehow in place of a $67 bid! Good thing bidding didn't get too high. ;^) I saw your bids too, btw (on a different one).


Yeah...I was bummed I didn't end up with any of the three...
I thought I might have been able to sneek in with a $60 bid...lost all the above.
I've got plenty of projects, but the carbon would have been cool.

I'd still like to find the right Ridge Runner Team in my size (like the one's pictured above).
Time, patience, and money...all you need for this hobby!

Post pics of that Carbolite when you're done with it so I know what could have been!


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

The first is my 20.5¨ TrailRunnerCarbolite, the second a brochure pic of the bike featuring it´s original equipment.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Somewhat bigger:


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## tl1 (Dec 21, 2003)

Thanks for all the great Miyata pictures and info. Elevation12000! I'll post pics of my teal PathRunner when I get some taken.

I'm not much for restorations. I like to ride the heck out of all my bikes and thus like v-brakes and modern derailleurs, shifters etc. a little better than vintage stuff. I think I'm going to mostly transfer the parts from my Miyata Alfrex (minus the blue Schwalbe tires of course) to the Carbolite. THAT much blue on the Carbolite would be way over the top. ;^)


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Go ride the heck out all of your bikes - that´s were they are intended for !

I know that Alfrex. I bought one from a guy in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately it never arrived  

The funny thing about the recent auction is that the Alfrex closed higher then I suppose two of the three TrailRunners ! Probably cause most people in the states are not familiar with the Koga brandname. If you´d asked me; the paint scheme definately couldn´t be the reason.  Kidding, let´s say it´s a worthy representative of the early nineties era.

Melvin


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## banks (Feb 2, 2004)

I have 2: One is all stock and the other is my old race bike with full 6 speed XT, Biopace, Ubrake, RM-20, Specialized blue toe clips, Fisher Fattrax/Specialized Ground Control S rubber, white perforated Turbo saddle and ODI Attack grips.

Scoty


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

banks said:


> I have 2: One is all stock and the other is my old race bike with full 6 speed XT, Biopace, Ubrake, RM-20, Specialized blue toe clips, Fisher Fattrax/Specialized Ground Control S rubber, white perforated Turbo saddle and ODI Attack grips.
> 
> Scoty


Cool, can we see some pics. I love pictures of the old race bikes with the personalized setups...


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## tl1 (Dec 21, 2003)

Elevation12 said:


> This is my ValleyRunner of that era. Recently gave it a second live (picture is from before updates). I think it is from �89, but I am not sure. Could somebody tell me? It has many Exage Mountain components and the frame is triplebutted Hardlite. Ofcourse no sloping tt, long chainstays, Ubrake behind bracket and many more funny eightees details. By the way: It is a really excellent performing bike!
> 
> Melvin


 Here is my 1991 Path Runner. I finally took some pictures of it today in the middle of a great 2 hour ride on the thing. It came out looking more green than blue on the Teal paint somehow. In real life it looks more like yours does.

I really like this bike because it just rides and pedals great. The Biopace cranks must be the later generation variety because one doesn't really notice they're out of round as they don't feel odd. No problem spinning them fast at all and in fact I forgot they were BP until I stopped to take pictures. 6 speed Exage components as your has but you can see my frame isn't really as nice. Just plain vanilla doublebutted chromoly here without any fancy finishing.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

*Nice rig!*

Great to see something on Miyata again! 

That seems to be a quite nice example! Except for the decals it looks almost similar to my Valley Runner. I just made some pics from the bike with it´s current setup this week. I already posted them in ´Melvin´s stable´ on FatCogs.com (I am also the lucky owner of a Yo) Here is what I wrote about it on FatCogs:

My 1989 Koga Miyata ValleyRunner. Everytime I ride it I am wondering why men have put so much energy in developing newer stuff. OK shifting is not up to todays XTR, but the well preserved Exage Mountain groupo never constrained my performance.









I totally don´t miss the suspension on this rig. The frame is made out of Miyata HardLite FM-1 steel. It´s lugged, has quite long stays, angles not as steep as on todays bikes and together with the quite upright position it delivers a comfortable ride.









The U-brake is doing an excellent job!

I take this bike on many rides. It proved to be a good investment especially cause I bought it for only 50 euros. Since then I only replaced the original headset for a Campagnolo Centaur one. It doubled the bike´s price.
-----
TL1, I hope you will enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

I will come up with a thread called The Koga Miyata - Miyata connection, a thread that could inform both sides of the Atlantic on their Koga/Miyata countreparts.

Melvin


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Fillet-brazed said:


> Ive got an 88. I'll try and get a pic in the next couple days. Theyre nice bikes.


Here's mine. I could be talked into selling it.  PM me if interested. This bike came rolling down my street a year or two ago and I stopped him and asked if he'd sell it. He said he'd talk to his dad and let me know. It turns out I knew his dad as he rides with some friends of mine. It was given to him by a friend when he first started riding and he thought it was a piece of junk because of the U brake.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Anybody ever seen this one?


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## uphiller (Jan 13, 2004)

I can't help clear up the identity of that bike, in fact, I have a question to add about its fork:
The lowers are obviously those from the Manitou 2, but the M2 had chrome-plated chromoly stanchions, while the fork in the pic has the black ano aluminum M3 stanchions; the crown and preload adjusters are also M3 stuff. The upper legs from an M3 are much longer than those of an M2, and therefore shouldn't be able to fit in the M2 lowers properly. Weird.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

uphiller said:


> I can't help clear up the identity of that bike, in fact, I have a question to add about its fork:
> The lowers are obviously those from the Manitou 2, but the M2 had chrome-plated chromoly stanchions, while the fork in the pic has the black ano aluminum M3 stanchions; the crown and preload adjusters are also M3 stuff. The upper legs from an M3 are much longer than those of an M2, and therefore shouldn't be able to fit in the M2 lowers properly. Weird.


I cant help you there. Thats how I came across it. I have no experience with early Manitous. Rockshox I can tell you all about but Ive never even pulled one of these apart...

Speaking of that, I need one of those long allens for working on old Manitous. Are those still available anywhere??


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Haven´t seen before! I like seeing Miyata´s that are new to me. That´s why I initiated the The Koga Miyata - Miyata connection thread.

Are the tubes in the front triangle made out of Alloy or Carbolite? If they are Carbolite then the bike is similar to the first generation Koga Miyata SkyRunnerCarbolite. Heavy but sturdy bikes. Dutch Koga came with Tange Switchblade. Is it yours? It is an awesome bike, but to my honest opinion some components are not in the same leage as the frame.

Got a flashback! I remember my an old Ringlé ad probably featuring this bike.

(after some research) Found it!









Absolutely the right bike for me! 

Also have seen this bike beeing offered by a guy named eencore on eBay:









It is not similar, but it has a paintscheme with the same colors. I know it is has an Alloy front. Thought it was an Elevation 5,000, but I am not sure. Could somebody tell me? Also would like to know the year. BTW from which year is your Miyata Team, Fillet-Brazed?

Melvin


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Elevation12 said:


> Haven?t seen before! I like seeing Miyata?s that are new to me. That?s why I initiated the The Koga Miyata - Miyata connection thread.
> 
> Are the tubes in the front triangle made out of Alloy or Carbolite? If they are Carbolite then the bike is similar to the first generation Koga Miyata SkyRunnerCarbolite. Heavy but sturdy bikes. Dutch Koga came with Tange Switchblade. Is it yours? It is an awesome bike, but to my honest opinion some components are not in the same leage as the frame.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the pic! Ive never seen one of these besides mine. I dont know what year it is. It must be atleast a 91 because it says "1990 World DH Champion" on the top tube along with Herbold's signature at the other end. Im guessing 92 or 93 though. What year was that ad from?

The tubing is all aluminum. Not a weld on the bike. The rear triangle is bolted on. Its a stout bike and has a great feel to it. The parts I dont think are original. The brakes and cranks are Grafton, bars are Answer old school alumilites, XTR shifters, XT ders, Pulstar hubs. Its a fun bike. The Grafton cantilevers on this work super good. One finger nose wheelies are no problem.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

It also says "Elevation Plunge" on the seat tube rather than some number.


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## tl1 (Dec 21, 2003)

Fillet-brazed said:


> It also says "Elevation Plunge" on the seat tube rather than some number.


 It certainly is a very handsome Miyata with that paint! I really like these ones with the bonded construction and bolt on stays. They epitomize what I like in bikes: well-engineered, high quality, just ride great and are very durable even if a little weighty. The lugged steel ones are very cool for the same reasons in my eyes.

El. 12,000, the one you questioned as to being an Elevation 5000 or not is and actually looks quite similar in construction to Fillet's bike with the chunky alu headtube and lugs, all aluminum construction and similar looking bolt-on chainstays. I bought one of those from Eencore on ebay and it's got Elev. 5000 decals on it. When I bought that bike it was the third one from him and he threw in a bunch of new 80's Miyata jerseys with it. They're all too small for me (smalls and mediums) but if anyone would fit them and wants to trade anything let me know.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

@ Fillet Brazed
At the moment I can´t tell jou from which year the ad is. Somewhere else I have MBAs with similar ads still inside. I will check when I am there. 

You thought your bike could be ´92 or ´93? I should say that is a ´91, cause in ´92 and ´93 we already had the second generation of those glued frames in Holland/Europe.

Grafton parts, Pulstar hubs; Cool! Cool to me are also H-ball bikes, like the one in the ad. I like those colourfull wacky creations.

@TL1
You must be a lucky guy with acquiring all those (Koga) Miyata´s at a bargain. I also bought one frame of the eencore guy; the Alfrex one. Never received it. Emailed a dozen times and never got reaction. At the end I contacted American Express and they simply refunded the money. I know more on this side of the Atlantic who have similar experiences with him. When I saw his pages later on eBay he switched to the not shipping outside the US mode, so I am not saying he is a cheater. Maybe USPostal sucks and he is just a bad communicator. 

Would like to have one of those Miyata jerseys, but as I am in Holland it is a bit to complicated to acquire one.


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## Fillet-brazed (Jan 13, 2004)

Elevation12 said:


> @ Fillet Brazed
> At the moment I can?t tell jou from which year the ad is. Somewhere else I have MBAs with similar ads still inside. I will check when I am there.
> 
> You thought your bike could be ?92 or ?93? I should say that is a ?91, cause in ?92 and ?93 we already had the second generation of those glued frames in Holland/Europe.
> ...


Ya, I think youre right, it must be a 91. If you look at that brake arch of Herbold's bike in that ad you can see its an RS-1 with the paint removed off of the lowers. Didnt the Mag20 come out in 92?


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

*about Ronds and converted Judy´s*

I can´t tell you. I am not really into suspension. Only a few years ago I alowed myself a more positive attitude towards frontsuspension. In the early days I have broken to much and they always suffered from leakages.   

In 2000 reinstalled my ´95 Rond Hydro Pro2 in one of my Koga´s after I had it revised by Rond. The same year I also mounted a Manitou SX-LT into my nonsuspensioncorrected(!) ´93 SkyRunnerCarbolite. Fortunately it worked out great. More recently I bought a Yo with a ´95 Judy XC with Englund conversion and most recent is the addition of a Rafty with ´96 Manitou SX Mach5.

Of those the Rond is my favourite. It features only 57mm travel, but it does it work excellent and almost unnoticed. Furthermore: Awesome is that every bit is machined. No cheap plastics on this fork!  Close second is the Englund converted Judy. I hope I never need a sparepart for this thing cause servicing it in Holland wouldn´t be easy. Than there is a gap and the 2 last places for the Manitou´s.

With four suspensionforks I am a worthy representative of mtbiking the suspensionera I think.  Hard to imagine a few years ago.

Melvin


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## surfpnk (Sep 5, 2004)

Elevation12 said:


> Not mine, but I found this one on the net. Nice example! Is this the bike you were looking for?
> 
> http://www.uzzah.com/miyata/index.html


It's a pleasure to see that someone actually found that web page of mine! Unfortunately, my Miyata was stolen late last year and the pics are all that remain. Except for the tires, everything on the bike you see is original (I fixed the image links so the details should now be available). How you see it is how I bought it at my LBS. Wasn't until I stumbled across Rivendell Bicycle Works that I changed the saddle to a Brooks B17. Man, that saddle looked sweet on the RidgeRunnerTeam.

I really do miss that bike...


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Very bad that your bike is stolen. I understand that you consider it is a really great los, cause it is an awesome example. I hope you/they(the cops) will find it again. Another maybe satisfactory option is buy a similar one. I don´t think they are really expensive.

I really enjoyed the pics! Found them by using Google. Great that those high quality pics are on the net.

Melvin


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## TheRedMantra (Jan 12, 2004)

In Octobers MBA on page 49 there is a pic that looks just like the bike in Elevation 12000s Avatar. Anyone have a scanner? Its a pretty cool pic if anyone wants to post it.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

*avatar and Elevation10,000 article*

My avatar in a larger format.(second post) I also have a similar picture of the ´95 SkyExpension. That bike is red/blue instead of blue. I haven´t the brochure here, but I will post it in near future.

Unfortunately I don´t have the MBA pic.

I once saw on this board that there exists an article on the Miyata Elevation10,000 in the May 1993 issue of MBA. Are there people out there that already have this article on there computer and would be willing to post it? Or are there people who are willing to scan it and than post it? Sending it to http://www.mtb-kataloge.de/ is also a great option.

I would like to see it. If possible, thanks!

Melvin


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7134370885&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Stunning price!

Seems that I am a millionaire! Should I sell of my collection and retire?


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Elevation12 said:


> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7134370885&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
> 
> Stunning price!
> 
> Seems that I am a millionaire! Should I sell of my collection and retire?


Well...we could see it happen again!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98083&item=7136535041


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## banks (Feb 2, 2004)

I have 2 one all stock and the other my old race bike!! 

WOW I had no idea that money!!


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Rumpfy said:


> Well...we could see it happen again!
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98083&item=7136535041


It's flyingsuperititis' ! Also a pretty nice example.

@BANKS
You're on a goldmine!

If this is the future for Miyata's I don't lose money on MTBinking, instead I get a premium. I am sponsored by marketforces 

To be more serious: These bikes provide a very hassle free, enjoyable ride and have loads of character. That is remembered long after the price is forgotten. Money well spent eBaybuyer!


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Link to H-Ball's RidgeRunner: 1990 UCI World Champ's Bikes


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

$660 for a RidgeRunner, $575 for flyingsuperitis' RR, but only $15 for a TrailRunner of a few years earlier  $15: That is a few beers less when going out...


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