braingel

What do you mean you've been riding it since November... not like that you haven't!

divineAndbright

Yes its an awesome bike actually, I just wish it was my size. I had to seriously 'downgrade' however. Use to have an alloy crank but the spindle was stripped on the drive side so I had to put a steel cottered crank on cause I had no cotterless spindles. The Mafac alloy racer brakes were seized and shot so they were replaced with no name steel ones. After the alloy front rim got smashed theres a steel one on there now, it used to be light now its heavy!

10speed

I have donated many bikes to others.I, being a christian,like to ,find bikes, fix them,paint them,paint christian messages on them and then give them away. Some of them now ride with me. I've went so far as to start a street ministry called Biking for Jesus. Folks riding and praying ,its way cool!

redneckwes

divineandbright.

Now for some reason I'm going to be looking for one of those in 21" lol, that thing is really kewl!

Did you toss the Mafacs?? I can un-stuck just about anything ever made. Bike parts ain't nothing compared to 40 year old tractor and truck parts.

raverson

My beater entry, a recent Catch of the Day. Ross 80's? cruiser, with red anodized components and gas pipe frame tubes.

East Hill

That's a fine cause, 10speed.

I just know that the day I strip everything off that perfectly good bike, someone is going to come up to me and ask if I've got one extra.

But I am planning on donating at least two, and perhaps three to a worthy charity for girls down in Eastern Oregon...

They aren't bad bikes, but they were early in my cycling days...and the youngsters will enjoy them, and perhaps be inspired to continue riding.

East Hill

chipcom 

Yeah, this one has become my favorite bike, use it for commuting and most beating around. Note the brand new compact crank...wtf puts a brand new crank on a beater with a crappy paint-job? (obviously I do )

East Hill

This isn't your sunday driver, is it chipcom?

East Hill

chipcom 

Only if I haven't had my fibre that day.

leftthread

The $5.99 thrift shop Super Le Tour II pos, polished. Never mind the bent chainstay; I'll just pretend there's a crosswind.

Mos6502

Let it be known that I am a sucker for columbias, and I like your Columbias.

All of my bikes are beaters at the moment.

redneckwes

We really do need a Columbia thread,


My '77 Centenial Roadster, my '7? Tourist 3

https://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...g?t=1172729294

mswantak

Mea culpa. My last beater was a '76 Continental I got for free a couple years ago and built up a couple months ago. It gradually got polished, touched up, added onto, and there I was -- too nice to ride in sloppy weather. Sold it for $110 a couple weeks ago, got a '83 World Tourist and immediately started unbeating it. Can't leave well enough alone.

Sigh... There's still a nasty old Motobecane, a gaspipe Puch, and a rusty Raleigh down in the storage shed...

nlerner

Here's my Columbia middleweight, the bike in my fleet that I've owned the longest (~20 years). Back when I was sane and had only three bikes, this is the one that I boxed up and shipped to be out with me when I spent a summer in California. I rode it everywhere. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the fork and headset got trashed, and the replacements don't quite fit (now that I know better I believe an LBS sold me a Raleigh fork with Raleigh threading). Getting it back on the road is a low priority project, but I gotta do it.

Neal

Mos6502

Might as well post my Columbias then too.


'63 five speed and '64 3 speed.

routergod

Well most of mine are beaters.
But I got a Shogun, straight guage cromo for 99cents plus shipping on ebay. All original suntour, sugino jap stuff. Chopped and flopped the bars and put a pair of crane levers in the ends. Its black with blue and red pinstriping around the lugs. Even has the original Shogun tires! It's ugly up close but fast and a good climber important in the rolling hills of Virginia.

Blue Order

All deserving of a loving restoration.

Blue Order

My first bike was a Columbia. I have a vague recollection of selling it at a flea market.... I wish I had it now.

grolby

My beater is a '78 Schwinn Le Tour III that I got for free from a BF member almost two years ago. For most of that time, it sat either in my dorm room at school or at my parents' house under the porch, before and after I built it up as an around campus bike for my brother. He ended up finding a much nicer Univega road bike, and the Schwinn came to me last summer. I rebuilt it as a flatbar 3-speed and rode it, first as a rain bike and then as my everyday commuter after I crashed my good bike. I stopped riding it when I put my new touring and commuting bike together and traded the 3-speed wheel to Little Darwin for a crank (which is now on the Schwinn). Later, I purchased a cheap rear wheel from Nashbar and built it into a single-chainring 6-speed beater, but rode it like that for less than a month before I decided to try it as a singlespeed. I re-spaced and re-dished the rear wheel, put a freewheel on it and replaced the handlebars with a set of 3-speed style Bontrager handlebars. At this point, the only original components remaining are the seatpost, headset and brakes - everything else is a replacement. It's a fun little bike, but pretty theft-proof. I think that I've finally managed to achieve beater Nirvana: a beater bike that is at no risk of being stolen and that I can abuse in nasty weather, but is still fun to ride and a reasonably attractive-looking machine. I just hope that I don't get the "upgrade bug" again any time soon!

Bikedued

My beater, and my old Columbia Tourist. I loved it, and it was as close to new as possible being a 71 model. It was too small though, so it had to go. My one and only real beater is my P8 Peugeot, rode it in the rain and all since I "fixed it up". Everything else is in the garage.,,,,BD

funrover 

Well...... My beater bike was beaten and currently being repaired.....



anyone wanna donate? LOL

diff_lock2

I like mine too much not to care, i care too much for my beaters (2). Because you can't find parts easily in Finland, and the green blue one, well i spent so much time with it, its perfect.

East Hill

If you let us know what you need, you'd be surprised at what people may offer you, especially if you've got trade bait...

East Hill

top506

Too right: I have a barnfull of ATB parts including several front wheels and rigid forks.
Top

McDave

Ha, I just did. Got out my beater to take some photos for this thread and noticed the bottom bracket felt rough and ended up being shot. Since the original was a 124mm and all I had handy was a 115mm, out came a cheap triple crankset to replace the single. Oh well, at least the left brifter is now fully operational.

'80 Schwinn Cruiser Supreme? As found in the scrap pile at work one day...


As of yesterday. Sure do have a lot invested in this old thing...