Bill,
Miele frames were made in Canada, as has already been mentioned. The frames were not made in Italy, but they were decorated with lots of red, white & green sticker in various places, maybe giving that impression. The company was run by Jim Miele and his wife, and the company employed primarily italian labor that had experience in the bike industry back in Italy, if I am not mistaken. At least for their framebuilders etc. For what it's worth, the Toronto, Canada area has the largest Italian community outside of Italy. I actually own a very nice Miele that is now relegated to being a beater bike, but it is quite nice. The demise of the company came about when Jim Miele took on a major partner and lost control of the company. The investor wanted to make the company grow, so pushed hard into the U.S. market etc. They never quite got their act together though. At one time, Sinclair in Reno was the distributor for west coast states. The last I heard, Jim Miele was running some sort of bike shop in the greater Toronto area and the rights to the name, as well as all leftover stock, was auctioned off in bankruptcy.
Dave Patrick Chelsea, Michigan
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-admin@bikelist.org]On Behalf Of Snyder, Bill Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 5:48 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Miele for Real?
I recently bought a mid- to late-80s Miele frame on eBay, built it up with early Chorus, and have been enjoying it. I know this is not a "big name," but it's also not bad.
The brand sticker advertises it as "Made in Canada," but I've seen notes on eBay that claim the frames were actually made in Italy.
Does anyone know the actual provenance of these frames?
Thanks,
Bill Snyder
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