Living Car Free - Bike checks

Always wondered why this forum didn't have a stickied bike check thread, like most others. It'd be nice to see everyone's different bikes. I'm expecting a lot of commuter bikes, but maybe some surprises too, eh?

Would a mod please sticky this, if people are agreeable?

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/kjohnnytarr/S5001256.jpg

Coaster-brake conversion on a Raleigh Grand prix. Townie as hell.

Coaster-brake conversion on a Raleigh Grand prix. Townie as hell.
I miss my Raleigh Grand Prix. I rode it for 19 years until it was finally stolen. Blue just like yours.

Great Idea, kjohnny.

Your bike also resembles my current bike in a way :D


I just got my fenders in the mail but havent installed them yet. I also added a handlebag bag since this pic was taken. New pics soon to come!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/dhampton82/bikepic004.jpg

Yes! got to love the milk crate. Say, do you know any good way to make it easy to relese from the rack?

I have a LOT of bikes, but here are my hauling rig, and my passenger carrying rig.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P4160011.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P4160012.jpg

I am with Sammyboy...I have lot's of bikes:D

Here is a picture of the "herd" I usually ride the Raleigh Superbe or the Staiger to the grocery store.

Aaron:)
http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/3001/2987525810066886751S500x500Q85.jpg

MyBikeGotStolen,

Do us all a favor and oil your chain. Poor thing.

Sammyboy, I can see the rest of your pile of bikes in the garage. How many do you have?

Ok, you asked for it! Some of these are projects in progress, and this includes my g/f and sons bikes:


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/DSC00054.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/DSC00183.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P1260004.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P1260005.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P1260006.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P1260009.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/Image110.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P3300006.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P3300008.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P4230008.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/P2120012.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/DSC00233.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/Image073.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/Image075.jpg

That's most of the interesting ones. Here is my back room and garage (though both are now a bit fuller, since these pics were taken)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/DSC00244.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Samuelw72/DSC00243.jpg

MyBikeGotStolen,

Do us all a favor and oil your chain. Poor thing.

Sammyboy, I can see the rest of your pile of bikes in the garage. How many do you have?


*cough*

I read this as "can I see the rest of your bikes"! Ah well. I personally have about 8 or 10 (might be more), my son has 4, and my g/f has 2, plus the back half of the tandem. I generally have 5-6 bikes on the way through for business purposes though, plus one or two that I'm building for friends.

Damn, sammyboy, save some bikes for the rest of us!

:)

Sammyboy is one of the founding members of the R.S.P.V.B. (Royal Society for the Protection of Vintage Bikes)!

East Hill

Geez, Sammy, how do you fit your car in the garage with all those bikes? ...hehe :)

The real trouble is getting any but the front row of bikes out. I need a bigger house.....

Okay, here is my beast:

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r269/wogsterphoto/Personal/R0090021.jpg

I moved the bar a little since the photo was taken, and moved the rear light to off the back of the rack, the permanent method of attachment I am still working on, but it's held on with some 14 guage wire for now... I want to change the fork for a rigid one, the stem and the bars, but those are next years projects, unless I decide to pick up an old road bike, and work on that instead. I need to change out the saddle bag for a smaller one, and that I will do, probably this week. Since I will be down near the bike store, and I need a spare tube anyway....

*edit* I forgot something when I posted this, I might need to replace the crank, since it's possible I may run out of gears by the end of the summer....

Sammyboy, I love that Gazelle. The yellow bar tape and bottle cage really make that bike look quite nice.
What do you use it for? Commuting? Fun rides? Tootling around the block?

That's my fast road bike. It's got Campagnolo Chorus clipless pedals on there now, and I did 34 miles on it this morning. I work from home, so when I do commute by bike, it's to the station (the office is 157 miles away). I do that on the Raleigh 20, or on a beater Falcon that I don't mind locking up all day. I haul stuff on the Raleigh Royal tourer, with or without trailer (want to put a front rack on that). Rides with my g/f or son are on the tandem. Everything else you see is just for giggles.

As a measure of investment in this, the Gazelle only cost me £20. It's not the top 80's model, but the second in the range, and would've been a club racers bike in it's day. I haven't really got any investment in these bikes, because they're just things I've kept in the course of my (profitable) bike trading, but many of them were very cheap in terms of purchase price.

The real trouble is getting any but the front row of bikes out. I need a bigger house.....

Could be worse, you could collect cars then you would need to live in an old Walmart:D :D :D

Sammy boy, how does the fixed front cargo rack compare to a handle bar rack. I see the fixed front rack in photo:P2120012.jpg. When I was a paper boy a full load in the handlebar mounted basket made steering through loose sand feel funny.
I was thinking a fixed rack up front might be better. Do you have experience riding with 30 lbs or so up there?

No - the BSA is my housemates bike, (I bought it for her - doing my bit for the Vintage Bike Revolution) and it's only a little tiny basket on there. I think it would be steadier, because whilst it can still affect the balance of the bike, it doesn't pull the steering around like a bar or fork mounted rack would. On the downside, you have to be careful that the bars can clear the basket, so you can't load it up the same.

One of my projects for the next year (if I can find space) is to get one of those old butchers bikes, with the really heeoowge baskets and the little front wheel, and build it up with good brakes, and a Nexus hub, make myself a cooler cargo bike.

MyBikeGotStolen,

Do us all a favor and oil your chain. Poor thing.

Sammyboy, I can see the rest of your pile of bikes in the garage. How many do you have?

Yea, I've been hearing that lately. I just got the bike 2 months ago (first bike) and havent really had time to do much as far as learning to replace/clean/fix stuff. Hopefully it will happen soon!

Yes! got to love the milk crate. Say, do you know any good way to make it easy to relese from the rack?


I have been thinking about some kinda quick release thing for it. haha right now its just tied on there with some rope. I did have it zip-tied on there but the zip-ties broke. I was thinking about just using a short piece of housing wire since it is my work/ grocery getting bike right now.

I have been thinking about some kinda quick release thing for it. haha right now its just tied on there with some rope. I did have it zip-tied on there but the zip-ties broke. I was thinking about just using a short piece of housing wire since it is my work/ grocery getting bike right now.

I'm thinking either a nylon strap with an adjustable buckle, or bungees. I'll let you know what works, when I get to it.

The real trouble is getting any but the front row of bikes out. I need a bigger house.....

Don't we all:roflmao:

Aaron:)

You could get three or four more in there, if you'd hang them from the ceiling......

You could get three or four more in there, if you'd hang them from the ceiling......

There are 6 around the corner hanging from the ceiling:D :p Biggest issue is I still have to get to the racks behind the scooter occasionally...I did clean it up quite a bit after these pictures were taken so it doesn't look quite so bad. I also have an entire interior of an 31' Airstream in there too:eek:

Aaron:)

I can't really play favorites with my bikes, they are all awesome in their own ways.

The commuter.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/commuter.jpg

The singletrack speeder.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/puss.jpg

The jumper.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/tp.jpg

I have a winter beater too, just no pics right now.

I can't really play favorites with my bikes, they are all awesome in their own ways.

The commuter.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/commuter.jpg

The singletrack speeder.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/puss.jpg

The jumper.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u77/5heba/tp.jpg

I have a winter beater too, just no pics right now.

Cool bikes!

It'd be nice to see everyone's different bikes. I'm expecting a lot of commuter bikes

Well, here is my commuter bike showing off its new parking space in my office. We just switched buildings yesterday, and tonight it got to see the place for the first time. It went from parked by the cubicle to parked in the corner office. Next it will want it's own network jack. ;)

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/BikeInNewOffice.jpg

And this was my commuter for several decades. An American Eagle/Nishiki one of the first Japanese bikes in America. But the hills of Arkansas were too much for its gears. I ride it to work when the Hard Rock is feeling ill.

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/AmEagleNishikism.jpg

I have several and they're all in my sig except an old Schwinn Sierra I have. However, this is the workhorse of the group:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/lamplightsg/IMG_9238crop_small.jpg

My first decent bike, a 1993 Mongoose Rockadile. It's built like a block of...well...something tough. And I haven't seen an obstacle yet that it couldn't go over or through. Mud is no problem even with slick tires because it's so heavy it just sinks through the mud to solid ground. :D

I have several and they're all in my sig except an old Schwinn Sierra I have.
Did someone say Sierra? This is my usual all purpose getaround bike. Well, the retroreflectively illuminated nocturnal version anyway; it gets a few lights in the dark to add to the general obviousness. Good for riding to class, groceries, coffee, or any other practical pedalling up and down hills day or night. Fast it isn't, but neither am I. I'll get there when I get there.
43743

Here's my one-and-only. Gets me pretty much everywhere.

http://i3.tinypic.com/2i8db0g.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l30/Andy319/Bikes/trek820.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l30/Andy319/Bikes/concours/current/100_0639.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l30/Andy319/Bikes/roadie.jpg

Schwinn Collegiate, shimano three speed hub gears.

My father pulled it out of the trash years ago. He stopped riding so now I use it for a change of pace or if I need to leave a bike locked on the street in a high theft area. Somewhere along the way it lost the front fender, I replaced the seat and pedals. The frame flexes when I mash the pedals going uphill, the right crank scrapes the chain guard with each left foot push. A woman in the neighborhood rides a blue step through version of this same bike. Should I fix it up with new fenders, rack, bell and lights or just leave it as my beater bike? I was also thinking going weird with bannana seat and ape hangers. The frame is a little small for me so I could sit back on the bannana seat to give myself some leg room, maybe pop a wheelie once in a while just for fun.

http://home.columbus.rr.com/pedex/trackbike_big.JPG

my workbike

grocery bike:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/jakbikesdc/My%20bike%20my%20bag/DSCF2606.jpg

commuter:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/jakbikesdc/My%20bike%20my%20bag/DSCF2587.jpg

the two:
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa244/jakbikesdc/My%20bike%20my%20bag/DSCF2614.jpg

I have several and they're all in my sig except an old Schwinn Sierra I have.

Correction: Now the Schwinn is in my sig. :D

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/kjohnnytarr/S5001256.jpg

Coaster-brake conversion on a Raleigh Grand prix. Townie as hell.

Didn't you have a horible crash with that? Chain came loose or something.

I have been thinking about some kinda quick release thing for it. haha right now its just tied on there with some rope. I did have it zip-tied on there but the zip-ties broke. I was thinking about just using a short piece of housing wire since it is my work/ grocery getting bike right now.

Two identically sized stretch rubber straps/bungee cords,one on each side; one end hooked near the bottom of the rack attachment under where the two legs are joined, the other end hooked into the side of the milk crate. If the straps are sized correctly the load should be secure and it should be easy to detach as desired.

Didn't you have a horible crash with that? Chain came loose or something.

Oh, yeah. It was terrible, and the bike was totaled. Here's what I'm riding now:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w142/kjohnnytarr/S5001843.jpg

I like the bikes in living room pictures.

Here's my new-ish Trek hybrid. I ride this one most of the time.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1189/1412833147_e45a05a62f.jpg

Sadly, I don't have a good picture of my other bike. It's a Giant Cypress. It was my grocery/rainy day/laundry day/beer run bike.
This:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1128/1384615434_6b6d32f20b.jpg
is why I'm replacing it

with this:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/1752081895_ed076621d3.jpg
Green bike!

My first post to bike check thread... I feel like I've forced my way into some kind of "cool kids" club or something.

Here's my bike, I was towing my wife's new bike home. Her bike has since had fenders and a rack installed, as well. Oh, and I put my fenders back on, as well.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c269/AzCowboy/Bike%20stuff/S7300146.jpg

Heres my new 'car replacement'. My first real bike too. I love it! Avanti Blade Sport

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/larry_emder/IMG_1588-1.jpg

Thanks to everyone for the help and advice on these forums. Has been invaluable!

My Commuter aka Ride THE Lightning. Note the sweet waterbottle rear fender and 'suicide' top tube mount shifter.
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v118/72/29/715735359/n715735359_941258_7109.jpg

My other 'fun' bikes - The General Lee (my last name is Lee, and no I'm not a racist) is having her fork ('00 Manitou Millenium) overhauled when the pic was taken.
http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v118/72/29/715735359/n715735359_941257_6670.jpg

I have been living car free for the past 15 years.I have amassed quite a collection of bikes.I am fond of the 3speed middleweights.I have 25 SturmeyArcher equipped bikes and ride one most of the time but the winter.I ride a 5speed CCM beater middleweight.I commute to work all year.(rain/snow/freezing rain)I feel that you don't need a fancy bike to be a serious cyclist.I can keep up with others on some really expensive bikes while riding one I pulled out of the garbage.I figured out that I ride almost 4500 miles/year just going to and from work.I ride everywhere.I HATE TAKING THE BUS!The main reason I started commuting is because I can usually get to where I'm going faster than on the bus.And I don't have to leave at a particular time.I can leave when I like.That and there's the health benefits.Since getting back into it my cardio-vascular system ROCKS.I'm 47 years old and in perfect health(according to my last check up).
I have a question for you fixie riders..What is the appeal?One gear and you can't coast.I've never tried one so I can't say I have an opinion one way or the other.I was just interested to hear why YOU ride one.
Well any way here's a pic of some of the bikes that I ride(except the 2 on this end.New arrivals).This represents not even half of the bikes available to me.Everything in this row was free.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s148/thebikeguyCCM/Someoftheherd3.jpg

I feel that you don't need a fancy bike to be a serious cyclist.
Word.

That's why this is my favorite place on BF.

I like tricycles. This was my first Mk I tricycle based on an old gents Raleigh frame.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/152/raleightrikext1.jpg

And this is its replacement built around an Indian built Hercules ladies roadster.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/2172/annieshercules01fm6.jpg