My bid for now, a 1980 Gazelle Sprinter Race, made from Reynolds 531 tubes.
The photo in the advertizement -- the seller did not give any details, beside the type name. It belonged to the first owner:
I had been looking for a frame like this for quite some time -- lightweight, but with a long wheelbase, and plenty of room to mount mudguards and 30 mm Marathon Racers or 36 mm Kojaks. To run it eventually as a single speed/fixie, or with a two speed Automatix/Duomatic, as an all weather long distance commuter.
The seller wanted 30 euro for it, if I collected it myself. So suddenly it was possible to take part in the C&V Clunker challenge.
Optimistically, I judged the saddle in the advertisement to be a Brooks Flyer -- one of my favourites -- so I hoped it might even have been possible to ride the bike home immediately, and get those 100 km out of the way in one go too. [The seller lived 84 km away, along the railway line. So I could have taken the train had the bike broken down completely on the way home].
The saddle turned out to be a Brooks Conquest, that was rockhard, and seemed a bit brittle. So I decided against riding it, and instead mounted a Brooks B17 I had brought along for the ride -- and still cycled the bike home; to get to know its character a bit.
Back there the old Conquest came back to life after several layers of Proofide.
And the rest of the bike turned out to be in suprising good nick as well. It clearly had not been used for several years. So, while the tyres are almost new, they are dried out a bit.
So, bringing the bike back to life, for now, was mostly a case of cleaning. Lots of cleaning.
The wheels demanded the most work. I broke a spoke in the rear, riding back home. And its hubs desperately needed new grease.
As it is now:
Which brings us to the bill:
[table="width: 500"][tr][td]the buy: [/td][td]
30.00 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]new chain: [/td][td]
8.00 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]new bar tape [/td][td]
4.95 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]brake cables & housing[/td][td]
3.95 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]a deraileur cable[/td][td]
0.85 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]XLC brake handles: [/td][td]
11.00 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]XLC mountain bike pedals: [/td][td]
13.95 euro
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]bell [/td][td]
0.00 (parts bin)
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]rear fender reflector [/td][td]
0.00 (parts bin)
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]shorter chainring fixing bolts [/td][td]
0.00 (parts bin)
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
total: [/td][td]
72.70 euro
[/td][/tr][/table]
When the challenge was started on 12 February 2014, $ 100 equalled € 73.62 [it is a bit less now].