aftofu

awesome, thanks.

Bikedued

Oldroads.com has a serial number database too, if you want to be exact. Left rear dropout I believe?,,,,BD

Bikedued

I saw a C'dale with components that bad. It was stored in a shed/ with a slightly large bag of fertilizer. It was sad to look at.,,,,BD

wrk101

Well, it was mountain bike day at the garage sale today. Bought all four bikes at one sale. Pretty nice Gary Fisher and a couple of nice Treks (the 7000 might be my size, oops), and a nice Women's Specialized. Just sold my last women's bike yesterday, so I kind of needed a recharge. I wish the Gary Fisher was a little bigger, it looks to be a nice bike. FWIW: I bought a bike from this guy at his last garage sale (last year).

All four bikes were made in the USA. Can't remember the last time that happened.

On the various flip threads, I have stated that you should never buy a mtb. I need to amend that comment. At the right price, you can flip mtbs. You just have to be very careful about parts spending and pick them up pretty cheap. These bikes all need very little or nothing, just a good clean up and some adjustments. I already have the Specialized ready to go.

noglider 

Excellent! What did you pay for them?

Without even thinking about it, I notice I'm buying road bikes, not mountain bikes. Maybe it's my intuition. Why should we not be flipping mountain bikes? Are the resale values lower? Do you have a chart of values for mountain bikes? We recently discussed this with road bikes, i.e. with steel rims, $150, alloy rims, $200, chromoly frame, $300, etc.

redxj

Mountain bikes have always been harder to sell, and they sell for much less. I often have trouble selling decent bike shop big name (early Schwinn, Trek, GF, Jamis, Cannondale, etc.) for $100-150 where as most road bikes in the range fly out the door. MTBs tend to be used and abused more than road bikes so often they need much more work and/or parts than a road bike does. The older 7 speed trigger shifters most of these MTBs came with are notorious for getting gummed up and stop working. They are often easy to fix, but not everyone knows how to fix them. I have used that to my advantage at a garage sale saying the shifters don't work so would you take less.

noglider 

I totally believe you on the harder-to-sell and worth-less-than-road-bikes points. I'll take your word for it.

I'm pretty much just getting started in this endeavor and can use all the help I can get.

You're saying 7 speed triggers can be fixed? No way! My LBS said they're too complicated, so I took their word for it and replaced a pair. I also bought an extra pair, with integrated brake levers, and I keep them around, new, in the box, for an anticipated need. Maybe I wasted my money, but what the heck. So what should I know about fixing them?!

michael k

Sixty Fiver

Just finished up work on that Bauer and will have to take an after pic... I don't expect it to linger around here for long as a few people have already expressed an interest in it and it's a really nice bike.

Upgraded the drive to a 14 speed with a new 7 speed block (14-28) to give it a better / wider gear range and as always, the 6 speed Shimano indexed shifters work fine running 7 speeds... added a 1 mm spacer on each side as this was all the extra it needed for the 7 speed and in this way no re-dish is required.

Those red label Arayas are the nicest wheels... one could tour on them.

I love these old sport class bikes as they are racy enough for play but are also really versatile enough to serve a number of roles... I'd love to see it with fenders and a rack which would make it the nicest little commutourer.

fender1

Picked up this Raleigh International today off of Philly CL for $75.

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redxj

The pawl inside the shifter gets gummed up after years of use (and neglect) and will generally stop moving. That is what happens when you push the shift level and it doesn't catch. The fix is usually two fold. First is spray the crap out of it with a thin cleaner/lube (WD40, Finish Line 1 step, triflow, etc.) and repeatedly try and up and down shift while pedaling. Often that will get the pawl moving again. The usual sure fire cure is to take off the access cover to the shifter and find the pawl. Poke it with a pointy thin object to move it back and forth and get it freed up again. I use a sharpened old spoke, aka. Spokie Pokie. Then hit the pawl with a little bit of lube. Try shifting it up and down repeated while pedaling the bike. You will generally have the pawl start to engage in a few gears, then a few more, until it is completely working again. The other is if you own one remove the shifters and run them through an ultrasonic cleaner. I would say probably 95% of the trigger shifters can be fixed with this method. The other 5% are actually broken and need replacing.

r0ckh0und 

noglider........SCORE BIG!! we are still anticipating pics

divineAndbright

Looks to be a tremendous catch, good job! That one looks to be my size, what are the measurements?

fender1

It is a 22" frame. Top Tube is about 21 1/2 inches.

wrk101

+1 Super find on the International.

On MTBs, there just is not much interest in the older ones. Its a lot different market than road bikes. But as a buyer, they can represent tremendous value (until you want to sell).

bornhere

It strikes even on vacation. I was spending the week in a small town last week, and had a few minutes to kill, so I hit a few thrift stores. Two had nothing, when I pulled up to the third I could see bikes piled up along the fence in the back. I figured there were probably 50 or so. Can't all be Roadmasters huh ? I was traveling with the family, so I was with minivan and the rack was full already with the family bikes. My Dad was with us and he had his truck, but it was pretty full already too. The point is, I had to leave some stuff I never would have walked away from otherwise.
Left behind were a Raleigh sports missing wheels, a tall Raleigh frame that I could not make a model out on, a Nishiki rivera, and an un identified mixte.
What I grabbed was a Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. I was asking the guy prices as I dug through, the highest price I encountered was 15.00 on the Fisher. I told him I would take it, and he took it up front. Problem, they don't take debit or credit. I say " all I have is 12 bucks", they say "we'll take it".
I didn't have time to sift through the massive pile of wheels they had either. I have been trying to think of a way to get back there solo, but I really don't see that happening. Oh well, we do this vacation every year. Next year I will have more space/cash.

aftofu

w404076, but i cant really find any sites that can tell me what year exactly...

Bikedued

From old roads. Their site always has been a a little hard to navigate, and since it was updated, even harder.,,,,BD

1971 W-242733 through W-752146

rdjohannes

Bornhere,
My local thrift shops don't seem to be stocking bikes anymore. Used to be that when I stopped at the Salvation Army, they had two racks full of bikes to chose from, and there were always a handful at Goodwill and St. Vincent's. Now none!
I loved your description of the pile o' bikes and the full van on vacation. Years back we were on vacation when we happened upon a rummage sale run by a flea-marketer who was going out of the business. No bikes, but the prices were too good to pass up. My children have fond(?) memories of riding home in the car perched on top of boxes of old dishes, between some old chairs.
In our town that pile o' bikes shows up at the local junkyard, especially in the spring when people are moving or cleaning their garage. On another post I have a photo of the pile on the weekend after Memorial Day. That's been my go-to source this summer. Picked up an American Arrow 10-speed (well-made, but in Belgium), a Bottechia mixte, both from the 70's, and a 60's or earlier BSA 3-speed. Then in July I found a Panasonic DX-5000, like new, in the same junkyard. What people will throw away! The junkyard owner has become a friend, so we have this arrangement where he tells me to just take the bike, and then I give him $10 or $20, which is a lot more than he can get for the scrap.
I love the adventure and love everyone's posts about their latest finds.

chibi

Found this Peugeot Mixte on the street with other household junk.
Manufacturer tag on the chainstay said "P16S 53 5501368".

Barchettaman

Chibi, that Mixte looks a lovely find. Almost as if they cleaned the frame and crank before throwing it out! Bloody well done!

kingfish254

Picked up three bikes yesterday.
An almost new Schwinn Jaquar 7-speed cruiser.
A Raleigh Sprite 10 speed with wicker basket.
A Raleigh Super Deluxe 3 speed

chibi

It was already pretty clean when I found it but I did clean it up before I took the picture.

sonatageek

I did the Super Sport as its own thread. Here is the World Sport I picked up from the same seller.

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HSean

I found something strange today. I've actualy never seen this kind of bike before. A kid's 3 speed mountain bike. it's also in pretty good condition.