sailorbenjamin

I don't have any real passion for these but there seems to be one at every yard sale. I've had at least a dozen, one followed me home last weekend. They've always got some obscure name brand which makes them sorta interesting I guess. I usually pay $25 for them, and put about 3 or 4 hours into cleaning them up, greasing them and tuning them. They usually need a fender or a chainguard and they always seem to need new front wheel bearing cones. I get a hundred bucks or so for them, usually college girls looking for some reliable campus transport. I feel like I'm giving them an honest deal. My wife defends me when people call me a hoarder. She says most of the bikes I bring home leave sooner or later. Can't imagine why you'd want to look at all of these but here they are...
The latest, a Ross Armstrong. Seems to have been built by Raleigh and then had a Ross sticker slapped on it.



This was definitely the prettiest, looked NOS but the front wheel bearings were worn out so it must have gotten ridden. Even the paint on the inside of the fenders was shiny and it had real Dunlop tires. A guy rented a Zip car to come up from the city to get this one. I should have raised the price when he got here;




Here's The James, James isn't the name, it's "The James" A neighbor was going to pitch it. I sold it to a Hasidic family. They came dressed to the nines like they always are. I had just cleaned the house really well when all of the neighbor kids came tearing through the house like a muddy whirlwind and destroyed the place and then these really formal people came in right after. They were really nice and laughed with me. They had a bunch of kids and I raised and lowered the seat a bunch of times so they could all try it out and then theytook it away.;

sailorbenjamin

This was my first, an AMF Herculese. I sold this to a friend's daughter. She's a redhead and looked really great on this bike. I've got a picture somewhere but I'm sorta between harddrives right now. She came back about a year later and said "this one's not fast enough." so I sold her a small Lotus 12 speed.;

And here we have a "Hector" I think made by Phillips in Birmingham. A flipper from The City came up and cleaned out my basement one day and gave me a bunch of money. I wish I'd saved his email;




These Terry seats are fascinating to me somehow, sort of a primitive vinyl;

There's more but how many can you really look at? You have any?

wahoonc

I am in the process of moving pictures from Webshots to Flicker so no pics at the moment. However I have a Raleigh Colt and a Giant built Schwinn Collegiate that fill the bill.

Aaron

gna

I bought an old Triumph for $5. It had a broken pedal, broken fender, and uncomfortable saddle:


I cleaned it up, rebuilt the hub, new grease in the bearings. A welder at work tacked the fender together again and I touched up the paint. I found pedals, pump, and grips used, and found a brooks and saddlebag:





I gave it to my sister-in-law. I found whitewall kendas and a matching chainguard later, too.

I found a blue lady's Essex one time, but I passed on it. Wish I had bought it, though--I liked the headbadge.

clubman 

'73 Triumph for $25 at local garage sale. Daughter Addy rides it everywhere.

wahoonc

Here is the 1971 Colt and as a bonus a 1967 Columbia Commuter II, it is blue, 3 speed and my lady rides it. Not a Sports Clone though

Aaron

jrecoi

Do you have a close up on the Sturmey Archer shifter? How is it mounted on the downtube?

wahoonc

I don't have a close up, however it is mounted to a nearly flat metal bracket with a machine screw, the bracket is mounted to the tube. I believe with sheet metal screws. The "tubes" on this bike are actually made out of sheetmetal that has been folded, hemmed and button welded.

Eventually I will dig it out from the back of my shop and do a blog post on the details. It is an interesting little bike. I have never seen another bike built like it. And I have never seen another one in the wild. I know of a couple that do exist from people contacting me looking for parts.

Aaron

67tony 

The chainring on that Ross Armstrong is way cool...men holding hands and running in a circle!

wahoonc

That was the Humber... The old chain rings were really neat, shame they have gone away over the years. BSA, Hercules, Humber, Norman and many others were very distinctive.

Aaron

sailorbenjamin

That's a success story and a great picture.

Those are really cool looking. I might have heard that they were made in Italy for Columbia, but I might be confusing my stories. I also like the Columbia parachute bikes. I don't know why, just really simple looking.

+1

wahoonc

Weesp, Holland by Magneet

Aaron

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, yeah, Holland. That's what I meant.