I have a mid 80's Miele that I am restoring this winter. IMO it's a much better option than any $500. Sora bike because....

1) The lugged steel Ishiwata 022 racing frame was an excellent frame in it's day and is still so today. It weighs about 4.5 lbs, so although not "stupid light" is not all that heavy. A lugged steel frame of this quality would cost $$ today.

2) Rides like smooth butter compared to any aluminim frame.

3) Retro cool IMO.

4) Easy to upgrade. I've replaced the old Suntour friction gears with new Shimano 105 triple bought new but discounted on ebay. Took the Ultergra shifters off my TCR because they work with a triple and will upgrade the Giant to Dura-Ace. Upgraded with a carbon fork, carbon drop bars, titanium stem and titanium seat post which will make a steel frame ride even smoother. Picked up some Mavic wheels with GL330 TUBULAR rims and Dura Ace hubs off ebay for a hundred bucks. They GL330 rims were among the best tubular rims ever made. It's a shame Mavic stopped making them.

5) It's nothing to cold flair a steel frame to 130mm frm 126mm to accomodate a 9 sp.

6) Repainting the frame the brightest in your face yellow and adding a retro Miele decal set.

7) Steel is real. Steel is still the standard that other materials have to be compared to. I had to snicker noticing the advertisement of a high end titanium bike maker claiming their ti bikes ride "just like steel".

The whole thing will cost me about $500. and IMO I have a much better bike than anything new at that price. I'll keep my P2K for tris, TCR for fast group rides but the classic Miele is my "comfort bike" that I will use for centuries and long rides.

If your old bike fits, is a good quality steel frame, then don't even think about restoring it - just do it.

You will run into some problems with the rear wheel. It will be spaced for 126mm hubs rather than 130mm hubs and aluminum doesn't stretch like steel. You can have a shop switch out the axle and the spacers to get a 8/9 speed hub down to 126 mm. This really changes the dish (drive side spokes will be nearly vertical), so I don't recommend it if you're over 190 lbs.

I haven't used it, but by most accounts Sora is pretty poor quality. It's also 8 speed so there may be some future compatibility issues. I would recommend a 9 speed Shimano Tiagra or Campy Mirage grouppo instead. They should work better and cost only slightly more.

Restoring an "old bike" can be alot of fun or apain in the rear.If the componants work as good as you say than I would leave well enough alone.Make sure you don't try to cold set this bike to fit the wider spacing.My rule of thumb is to not put money into a frame that can't be repaired.that means no paint.

That said, what you have sounds better than any Sora bike.Find an old steel bike and have at it.

Cullen

Hi there

I have no idea how old this post is but I was googling 'restoring miele racing bikes' and came upon this. I am in the midst of restoring an old 1980's era miele beta with the idea of training on the roads again any possibly a few tri's or duathlons. I've had a few other road bikes over the years but have always loved the feel of my old miele. All the others have been sold (except my snazzy mountain bike) but my miele has been sitting in the garage for almost 20 years gathering dust and I've finally decided to restore it and get it out on the road again. Its been stripped and I'm in the final stages of repainting it. All the original components are in very good shape so I've been planning to just put all the old stuff back on again. Basically its Shimano 600 throughout and campy hubs (probably rear cluster as well). I know I can't upgrade to 2013 components due to the frame dimensions (and its totally cost-prohibitive) but I've been debating various upgrades like the front fork or upping the components to 1980's era campy or dura ace. I'm trying to keep costs down and considering what bits I aught to upgrade (if any). Sounds like you went through this same process so I thought I'd float the question out to you - before I slap it all back together :) Thanks kindly for any input you might have. Cheers!

You will have better luck here. http://www.bikeforums.net/...-Classic-amp-Vintage

It is more than possible to upgrade to modern components btw. Spreading the rear dropouts is no big deal.

Thanks I'll copy and repost over there.

I went through the same thought process when I decided to restore my '75 Raleigh Grand Prix. It looks great now but I neglected to take into consideration that cottered cranks are a b**** before I jumped into the work. If you have a strict budget, spec out the parts you need before you start because things like needing to find and buy special tools for non-standard bottom bracket work can add significant extra time and cost. The paint and components for the restore were relatively cheap but the tools I needed for the vintage Raleigh were not.

Yeah, BBs and rear hub spacing can be the biggies. Going from 7-speed vintage (126mm rear dropout wdth) to current 130mm is no biggie, but the older 120mmm can be depending on the frame details. And I've got one old frame w/ a French BB shell: same threading pitch as English, but 70mm width like Italian instead of 68mm, only I didn't realize it until I'd toasted a couple of cartridge BBs with that extra 2mm of play before I figured it out. The fix turned out to be a cartridge BB of the style that doesn't have a fixed drive side (which is marketed as being able to adjust the chainline more freely) such as Phil Wood or World Class (now out of biz I think).

I've got another older Bianchi that I semi-restored with older (but not original vintage) Campy 8-speed; basically the oldest stuff i could get that still has Ergo integrated brifters and Look Delta pedals (there's a line between a fully retro Luddite restoration and still being able to enjoy some modern riding conveniences). Nowadays threaded headsets are becoming a bit of a dinosaur too. Gotta spend more time on eBay to gather older parts since you usually can't just order them from a shop anymore.

This doesn't count as a restoration but I just finished it and took my first ride today. Ever since I built my rigid steel singlespeed 29er mountain bike, I've wanted to get a steel road bike. After the demise of my 13 year old Kestrel Talon, I had almost all the parts I needed and when I found this NOS frame on Ebay I was in business. So it's more like a restoration of my old components onto a new old frame. I rode it today and it's like all the roads have been repaved. Really nice, but I've got to cut some weight. It ways in at just over 22 lbs with a 1900g wheelset. I'm going to order a 1450g wheelset from Bicycle Wheel Warehouse and fool myself into thinking that the bike is lighter than it really is.

But, it really does ride like a dream.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law