Miyata

History

Miyata was founded by Eisuke Miyata, a gunsmith and engineer from Tokyo. In 1881, Eisuke opened a gun shop and factory in Shiba which he called Miyata Manufacturing, producing arms for the Imperial Japanese Navy. In 1889, a foreigner visited Miyata to ask the gunmakers to repair his bicycle. The engineers repaired the bicycle, and the company began to repair bicycles as a side business. Eisuke's son, Eitarō, manufactured the first Miyata prototype bicycle in 1890, using rifle barrels produced at the family's factory. The early success of Miyata's bicycles was boosted by a request in 1892 from crown prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taishō) to build him a bicycle. Upon Eisuke's death on 6 June 1900 and with the market becoming flooded by foreign gun manufacturers, Eitarō converted the business entirely to bicycle manufacturing.

Many say Miyata pioneered triple butting, and revolutionized frame building techniques. The first Miyatas were bolt-upright town bikes. Over the decades, Miyata established a good foothold in the bicycle market, becoming contracted by multiple local brands to build their bicycles and ultimately attracting Panasonic Corporation to become a shareholder in 1959.

Panasonic Corporation, for a period the manufacturer of National and Panasonic brand bicycles, was Miyata's largest shareholder from 1959 until 2008, when it sold its remaining stake in Miyata.

Today

The Miyata brand still exists and, while it is no longer distributed in the United States, it remains popular in Europe under the Dutch "Koga-Miyata" brand. As of 2008, there is limited availability of Koga-Miyata bicycles in North America.

Koga Miyata was a joint project. By A. Gaastra (Koga) and Miyata. The bikes are built in the Netherlands.

Koga-Miyata is a Dutch bicycle manufacturer, established in Heerenveen. Koga Miyata is nowadays part of the Accell Group. The company was founded by Andries Gaastra in the early 1970s. The addition of 'Miyata' to the acronym 'Koga' acknowledged the importance of the Japanese frame builder, with whom Gaastra cooperated.

Miyata has since reworked and reopened the Japanese factory but on a much smaller scale. Using the frame that won the a L’Alpe-d’Huez stage in the 1981 Tour de France, one can now order hand-built steel frames.

Miyata in the U.S.

Throughout the U.S. bike boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Miyata competed with American companies including Schwinn, Huffy, and Murray; European companies including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane — as well as other nascent Japanese brands including Nishiki, Fuji, Bridgestone, Centurion, Lotus and Univega — whose bikes were manufactured by Miyata. Japanese-manufactured bikes succeeded in the U.S. market until currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made them less competitive, leading companies to source bicycles from Taiwan. Miyata halted production and importation of the Japanese framed bike in 1987 and moved away from the traditional rifled tubing.

Models

Late 1970s to mid-1980s Miyata bikes have high-quality Japanese lugged steel frames and Shimano or Suntour components.

Miyata models carried numeric names (e.g., Miyata 710). By the late 1970s Miyata began using the same names, writing out the numeric names (e.g., Miyata Seven Ten).

Generally, 90 and 100 series were sports/entry level bicycles. 200 and 600 series and the 1000 model were touring bicycles, with the level of bicycle increasing with first digit in the series. In general, a 200 series touring bicycle would be roughly equivalent to a 300 series competition/fitness bicycle in terms of component levels, frame materials and value. 300, 400, 500, 700, 900 series were mid-range competition/fitness bicycles — with the level of quality increasing with first digit in the series. The top line, pro series bicycles were named non-numerically (e.g., Team Miyata and Pro Miyata). 1000 series and X000 series bicycles, with the notable exception of the 1000 touring model, were competition/fitness models with non-ferrous frames.

Often (but not always) the last two digits of the model number indicated the number of available gears, e.g., 912 was a 9-series 12 speed and a 914 was a 9 series 14 speed.

Serial numbers

The serial numbers for Miyata Bicycles Made in Japan Since 1972, according with the first letter on the serial number:

A 1972 B 1973 C1974 D1975 E1976 F 1977 G 1978 H 1979 I 1980 J 1981 K 1982 L 1983 M 1984 N 1985 O 1986 P 1987

Q 1988 R 1989 S 1990 T 1991 U 1992 V 1993 W 1994 X 1995 Y 1996 Z 1997

Unicycles

Although demand for Miyata unicycles outside Japan has diminished in recent years due to a wider range of quality unicycles becoming available, Miyatas were once considered to be a highly desirable unicycle because of their quality of manufacturing and well designed saddle during times when choice was often limited to expensive custom-made unicycles or extremely poor quality products sold in department stores. Miyata unicycles are now uncommon among non-Japanese riders due to the surging popularity of riding styles such as Muni (Mountain Unicycling) and Street/Trials riding, which Miyatas are largely unsuitable for, however Miyata is still the unicycle of choice in Japan where riders tend to be more interested in Freestyle riding and Artistic Unicycling, this coupled with the fact that unicycling is taught in Japanese schools as part of physical education has secured Miyata a continuing place in today's unicycle market.

Miyata currently manufacture a range of unicycles with wheel sizes ranging from 14 to 24 inch, models are available for beginner and intermediate riders up to expensive high end cycles with carbon fibre frames. Miyata makes custom frames to order and also sells a five-foot Giraffe version of their popular Flamingo model.