Road Bikes
1985 Miki Sakai
I was given this bike by a friend who was culling his bike collection and making room in his garage possibly for new purchases. The bike came with decals from a local bike shop named Action Cycles but I was able to trace the bike back to its original manufacturer, Miki, via the serial number. A little further investigation revealed that the bike might be the same as the Sakai model of the same period. Whether it is or isn't probably doesn't matter .. I am not pretending this bike is anything highly collectable but it is nice to be able to refer to a manufacturer and model when talking about the bike.
The Arabesque Shimano 600 brakes were NOS before fitting to this bike. The 600 cranks were well used but I spent a lot of time polishing them along with the original stem and seatpost on my polishing wheel. Though not perfect, these parts are probably sport a better finish now than they were when manufactured as they were never high-quality parts.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||||
When I got this bike it was a lovelly bronze colour and had a pooh-brown vinyl covered seat. I peeled the vinyl of the seat with the intention of recovering it in a more palatable colour - maybe black or white - but found that underneath there was a near mint black Kashimax seat. I have bought and applied some MX decals and this sear might one day get a guernsey on one of my BMX rebuilds.
I had the frame powdercoated in a vintage, satin white by Arvex Powder Coating Services in Oakleigh. The colour seemed like an inspired choice at the time but as you can see the inclusion of stark white tyres and seat makes me wish I had stuck with a shade of white that complemented the newer parts.
|
|
I bought a number of parts for this bike including the headset, bottom bracket, wheelset and small brake parts from Vintage Bicycle Rebuilds in Altona North. In addition to fully built bikes, these guys have all the parts you will ever need to complete an old single speed, fixie or racer.
 |
 |
 |
Since building the bike, I have fitted a set of custom made decals made by Bear Trap (Peter) from some artwork I prepared in Word (!). I wanted the decals to be pretty subtle - especially with the uncertainty around the model of the bike - while at the same time providing at least one point of interest. The 'rising sun' gives the bike a hint of colour and breaks up the black and white theme. Peter normally does billboard sized prints but did a great job with these little decals.
