Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Old Project road bike

This post might be more apt for classic and vintage but i figured i would post it here since i like you guys better. (and i dont really read classic and vintage, and i am a clyde)

Well last weekend i was riding with my friend and his girlfriend (shes new to riding), anyways i ended up breaking a spoke on the painfully slow ride (i was there once too so i was nice about it). Then before i could get that fixed i found a CL ad for a '78 schwinn traveler III for 30$ and a '80 varsity deluxe for $30. The guy said they were rideable, well i took the chance and drove quite a ways to pick them up, not in as good as condition as hoped but i was already commited by the length of the drive. Brakes didnt work, gears were a bit messed up, the varsity had a broken spoke and bent wheel, rideable my ass. Anyways i brought them home and i spent a good 2 1/2 days restoring the Traveler III. I have never so much as changed a chain on a bike before so it was quite an experince. I took EVERYTHING apart, wheel bearings, front fork assembly, freewheel bearings, re-did the breaks and derailuers, cleaning and waxing (this thing shines). Everything was 100% orginal, even the grip tape. I know it dosent have a good collectors value or wasn't a high end bike and it probably wasnt worth the overhual time i spent on it, it seemed to be very good quality components and the thirty years of neglect and dirt washed of pretty well. I can say it was a great project, i now can fully understand how a bike fully works (alot more complicated then one would think), plus if i did something that rendered it unusable i only had $30 wrapped up into it. Tomorrow will be the first time i have a chance to ride it (more then a block) and i cant wait to see how my work turns out. It is also my first road bike and even though it is a 32lb 1020 carbonsteel behemoth i cant wait to get out there and get into road cycling. Plus if anything at all goes wrong on it i know i can do the wrenching myself (since i rebuilt the entire thing once). And now i have a winter bike to get me through till i buy my first modern road bike next spring.

I would suggest that everyone should try a project bike it was a lot of fun, slightly frustrating, but quite rewarding. All i have left to do is get some money around for some new clipless pedals and shoes and some fancy grip tape and it will be complete, Sorry no pictures i dont own a camera.

[QUOTE=Fribley;7130338 Tomorrow will be the first time i have a chance to ride it (more then a block) and i cant wait to see how my work turns out. It is also my first road bike and even though it is a 32lb 1020 carbonsteel behemoth i cant wait to get out there and get into road cycling. Plus if anything at all goes wrong on it i know i can do the wrenching myself (since i rebuilt the entire thing once).QUOTE]

Not a bad deal at all plus you gained some knowledge as well! Enjoy the ride!

[QUOTE=Fribley;7130338 Tomorrow will be the first time i have a chance to ride it (more then a block) and i cant wait to see how my work turns out. It is also my first road bike and even though it is a 32lb 1020 carbonsteel behemoth i cant wait to get out there and get into road cycling. Plus if anything at all goes wrong on it i know i can do the wrenching myself (since i rebuilt the entire thing once).QUOTE]

Not a bad deal at all plus you gained some knowledge as well! Enjoy the ride!

+1.
I have several "free" bikes (will cost more money to fix than what they're worth) and am currently working on
a FreeSpirit (PUCH?) 10 speed. The hands on experience is invaluable, and I don't have to worry about ruining anything. So far I don't have any parts left over.....:D

I hadn't worked on a bike for over 30 years. The bike that got me back to riding last year:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/2251081726_4fa366271c_m.jpg
$40 on Craig's List - needed LOTS of labor plus tires, tubes and grips. Put over 1,000 miles on it before I found this:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2391/2250286523_a40289d88e_m.jpg
Dumpster find earlier this year - needed lots of labor plus tires, tubes, cables, brake pads and bar tape. Made me realize my next new bike would be a road bike. Needed something for my wife so:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/2343864268_537cf52b04_m.jpg
$50 Craig's List find a month later - Lots of work plus tires, tubes, brake pads and bar tape.

I've since bought new road bikes for my wife and I but these old ones still get use. The MTB goes camping with us, the first Schwinn is my commuter and the second one is my wife's grocery getter.

You need to be careful. Sure, it is just a bike or two now, just a taste of how fun it is to wrench on an old bike and ride it around, or make it ready for someone else to ride... The first few will feel nice, and you can stop any time you want... Sure go ahead and think that. ;)

I have around 20 bikes in various states of ridability at the moment. It all starts out innocently enough, then it just takes over... I have bikes for friends to ride when they come over. I have two bikes for a friend that has only been over once in three years, and he hasn't been on a bike in 20 years. I have three for a friend that I have been riding with a few times.

I have several bikes for myself as a reward for when I lose enough weight to ride them. One that I just bought last month. A Trek 560 racing bike. I have never raced, I am over 50, and have no desire to ever race, or even ride fast, but I have a nice racing bike now... Well, it isn't really my first racing bike, but it is my first Trek racing bike, I do have my Ross Signature 292S... after all, I did need a nice bike built in Pennsylvania.

Then there is my 1956 Schwinn Corvette built in late 1955... I have that because everyone needs at least one bike older than they are. It was manufactured when "Rock Around the Clock" was on the way up the charts. :)

I have two Schwinn LeTour IV's because my first road bike was a LeTour IV... and they came in two colors. :)

I have an early 70's Sears 10 speed that was my friends bike in high school, she recently gave it to me. So, it does have sentimental value. She is 5' 2", I am 6' tall, the bike is my size... I don't remember seeing her ride it in high school, but seeing her come to a stop must have been interesting.

I have a Motobecane just because I need a European bike in the stable...

I have a couple of bikes that I have simply because the deal was too good to pass up. I have enough parts from 70's and 80's era 10 speeds to keep my bikes going for the rest of my life, but I still look at Craigslist at least once a day.

It really is fun to keep bikes from the scrap yard... maybe some day mine will end up there, but for now, they have at least a chance of longer life fulfilling their purpose, as do yours.

i completely agree that a project bike is tons of fun. I generally have at least one project bike going at all times, sometimes for myslef, sometimes for a friends. The only thing i try not to do is ever rely on that project bike being done by a certain time. For instance I've got a long event coming up I may overhaul one of my fixed gears (since they won't let me ride them in events anyway due to only haveing a front brake), or i may build a road bike or something, but I won't take apart the roadies that I already have. Some people have asked me why i put so much time and effort and sometimes money into a bike that "isn't worth it," but for me it isn't about what the bike is worth when i'm done or even if i'll really use the bike. I just enjoy bulding them so for some of us it is worth it. Like they say, a lot of the time it isn't the destination but the journey getting there that's important.

I actually just finished about a couple weeks ago rebuilding an '86 Peugeot Tourmalet as well as converting it to fixed gear to use as my grocery getting/beer run/ rainy day bike. It ended up costing me around $100, not counting all the parts i already had. So the hours plus the money i guess weren't technically "worth it" but i had a blast building it and now i'm having a good time with it plus it's extremely functional (although it is probably one of the ugliest bikes i've ever owned :P). So in my mind it was worth the money and time. Not having to put fresh produce in a backpack and praying that it doesn't get messed up on the ride home, as well as not having to carry a 12 in the back pack is priceless (on the Peogeot i can fit a 30 pack or a 24 of bottles :D)
So basically it comes down to whether you enjoy riding, or working on bikes or both. I (and a lot of others) enjoy both.

kyle


edit: Little Darwin is spot on. If you enjoy it it is as addicting, if not more than actually riding is. I don't think i've got a collection quite as big as yours Little Darwin but i feel like for right now 7 bikes in my small 1 bedroom apartment is enough for now... till i see something else i want to build at least. haha. You begin to think you have too many bikes when you have to move a couple of them to be able to go to bed, then move them back in the morning to get to your closet and dresser, then i have to move one so the microwave door opens, another couple need to be moved in front of the couch to use the dining room table and then moved back when i want to sit on the couch. I think i spend a good 20 minutes a day at least just shuffling bikes around so i can accomplish various everyday tasks. :lol:

+1 Project bikes are fun.

I too try to keep at least one project bike active at all times. I just finished the Schwinn Supersport today. I am waiting for some parts to show up for the Giant Cadex. I will be hitting a bunch of garage sales tomorrow, hopefully I will pick up the next project. If not, I have a couple of projects to complete around the house.... And I do have the A08 to put back together, and some touch up on the U08. So I guess I am OK project wise if I don't find another one tomorrow.

Last week was a good week for finding projects, two thrift store finds and one C/L find.