Bicycle Addict

Hey all Paul here,
I was in my storage area the other day looking at what I needed to get rid of, disassemble parts off, restore etc, I dumped off the stuff I did not want got dumped with a mate.
I then went back to my storage and saw a couple of bikes that have been there for quite a while, bike I really want to be riding, yet always seemed to get aside to get flippers finished, building bikes for friends etc, so these bikes patiently wait.

These bikes are needing a day or 2 spanner time. . . my Gary Fisher beater/klunker for example, it was going and then I used the wheelset in place of the wheelset on a flipper, since then I used those wheels on a bike for a mate and it has not gone any further, another bike needing attention first.

I have had a Jamis Commuter 3(Not C & V I know) for all work/grocery related stuff and a Claude Butler Majestic for those enjoyable weekend rides, I guess this is part of it I have no actual need to have another bike going, (a million other reasons though )

I have finished quite a few bikes since getting back into bikes just over 3 years ago, I still have a lot to go which as you all know there will be a lot more, I personally have moved to love the all rounder type bike, sold the higher end stuff, meaning I can purchase more bikes

So I am wondering who else has a bike like My Gary Fisher beater or my Carlton Corsa 5, or my Klunker?

Feel free to post your low to mid end as well as your high end( I am a low to mid range guy, each to his own though) bikes.

Got a stalled much loved project?

Post it here.


P.S lets keep the snappiness to a minimum aye guys? There seem to be a few thread killers out there?

sailorbenjamin

I just let go of the Raleigh DL-1 that I've been piecing together for about 8 years. I've flipped about 5 of these things since I picked this one up and sort of decided that this was the one that I would keep for me. I picked the ugliest of them all cause I wanted to repaint it in my favorite shade of burgundy, and darn that old Raleigh pain, it shined up just fine. The saddle was torn so I just cut the ears off to make a B-73 lightweight saddle. The rims were all rusty so I painted them black and the contrast with the Schwalbe creams was really great looking. But the rust was bad enough that they wouldn't stay true so I bought a pair of Indian wheels from Kurt and then I bought a pair of alloy rims off another part time C+Ver and then it got stuck in the back of the basement. Well, I finally got the Indian wheelset on it and it rode like a pig and we just decided to move so I listed a bunch of my basement stuffers and this guy called me up all excited about it and just had to have it and all 3 wheelsets (ok, 2 1/2). I gave him an extra 36 hole hub to go with the allow rims.... Nuff drunken sailor talk, here she is with the Schwalbe Deltas and here's the saddle. I hope that guy likes it, I took a loss. Really cool idea, but I'm older now than I was then.

Bicycle Addict

Bikes like the DL-1 and most others of that era wear the Delta cruisers well. @sailorbenjamin that is a very nice bike, I have a 50's Phillips that I want to do a similar way but in a deep Royal blue, or deep Green.
Thanks for posting.

Bledfor Days

Edit

Bicycle Addict

??

Wildwood 

One of my projects for the winter is to finally move on a long planned modification.
It's more a case of -- never making the change because I like it the way it rides now.
But life did get in the way and the upgrade parts have been stored about 10 years, I think.


The front end is going from threaded to threadless. The new (old) fork has a carbon steerer, plus the new (old) headset is threadless; plus, lighter stem and bars. The fork will be black, not painted to match the frame, but I'm hoping for a new & lighter feel. Maybe I should upgrade wheels, too.

edit: not yet a C&V bike. Apologies. life got in the way

BluesDaddy

I have this:



...and this:



...and this:



...and a 1964 Raleigh Sports frame to hang it on. Newbaums in dove gray, CR-18s, Col de la Vies, Ideale 90, army-surplus canvas seat bag. Just need to put it together.

YouthxCrew

My Super Course. I got it in February this year as a frame+ some parts, cleaned up the frame, cleaned up most of the parts, and then found it had stripped bottom bracket threads. Then I found another (which was stolen) then 2 more bikes (1 crashed, 1 I still have) then a mixte I fixed up for my sister. Now I have a different Raleigh I'm working on. I've known about getting a threadless bottom bracket for a while, I've just been occupied.

Bicycle Addict

Some pretty sweet projects going on, some very nice bikes indeed, well I finished the first in line it is a commuter do it all type thing,

Marin Bolinas Ridge . . .nothing special, nice comp though I upgraded to XT.


Next older MTB in line is my Gary Fisher Beater, that has lost its parts time and time again.


Also need to finish this road bike for a friend of my step sons . . . single speed conversion I am afraid!?

jimmuller 

Ha! Ha! Ha! Life gets in the way??? When doesn't it?

Of course it gets in the way, always, always, always.

Projects? That all-original Le Champion still in the box. I'll post some pics.

Oh wait, hang on a minute...(What's that? You need what? Okay.) Ah, I'll have to get back to you.

Pompiere

I still have the Peugeot tandem to finish. I got new rims laced up and swapped over to flat bars, but there are still a few small things I want to do. Luckily, it hangs from the ceiling in my garage, so it isn't in the way. Tandems take a lot of space, more than a pair of single bikes.

bradtx

Bicycle Addict, If flipping bikes isn't part of one's financial portfolio, life takes priority.

I do have one stalled project, an '86 Cannondale SR. It's been bumped to the back burner by two other project bikes, a car, a motorcycle and of course, life moments. Maybe January will be kinder?

Brad

jpaschall

I thought this thread would get a lot more action. I guess everyone here is just highly dedicated! I'm only on my first project, so I have nothing to contribute as of yet.

The Golden Boy 

Speaking of "deep green"... I was looking through the 1899 Schwinn catalog- and the "Brewster Green" is THE color. Turns out THAT seems to be one of either the most popular colors for bikes and cars and farm machinery and whatever else. I have vague plans of redoing a bike- specifically a Schwinn- and I think I'd want it to be Brewster Green, just for the significance of the color.

jyl

Well, it is one thing to admit you're a C&V n+1 bike addict, it's another thing to come out as a futile starter of projects that never get finished off. We're all very accepting here and all that, but self identifying as an impotent is tough - the looks, the pity!

Here are two of my projects of shame. They hang in the garage, mocking me, whispering can't finish it off, eh, Mr Softy. I can hardly (sob) look at them.

nlerner

Well, I guess I do have a contribution to this thread: a Columbia middleweight that I rode the heck out of from the late 80s to the early 90s. It was actually my prime ride and do-everything bike, including lots of climbing in the foothills of Palo Alto, CA, and getting strapped with panniers and loaded up with groceries. All this on a single speed with only a coaster brake. By 1992, it was in storage after a cross-country move, and when I pulled it out, I discovered that the headset and fork steerer were both cracked. I'm not sure when that happened (while riding? while in storage?). My attempts to replace the fork weren't too successful because I wasn't sure what I was looking for, and I ended up with a Raleigh replacement fork with Raleigh threading, and wondered why it was so hard to thread on the ISO headset I was using! Still, I rode it that way as my commuter in Boston traffic, and then decided I had a death wish if I was going to rely on only a coaster-brake. I tried fitting it with a front brake, but eventually gave up and hung it up in the basement probably 10 years ago. And I haven't touched it since except to move it to a different hook and to take this photo some years back.

likebike23

I've really got to get moving on a 1970's Atala Gran Prix project I've been working on. With a 4 year old, I'm pretty much relegated to working on it after her bedtime. It doesn't help that she doesn't care if I've been burning the midnight oil, she's up at the crack of dawn and it's go time . I wish I had her energy, it's really incredible.

As for the bike, it was in really rough shape when I got it. I became so frustrated with a stuck cotter that I ended up cutting the crank off and vowing to never use a cottered crank again. One of the good things about the project dragging on is that the PB Blaster had a chance to really soak in. The fixed cup finally came out and the frozen spoke nipples are turning thank god. I'm slowly getting the severely under tensioned wheels back in shape, but am waiting on some replacement spokes to be cut by my LBS. The fork is going to need to be aligned as well.

I swear that this bike is going to kill me, it's one of those projects that just drains you. It's just another sad case of an interesting bike that's not been particularly well cared for or appreciated. It's like it got the bare minimum of maintenance necessary to slow down the inevitable trip to the dump that I surely saved it from, and not a bit more. The one thing I will say is that it better ride nice when I'm done because I sure won't make a dime on it if I sell it.

Now for an as found picture. Note: it won't do the rust and patina justice, it's ugly by my standards, but this bike is helping with turning me into a patina lover.

jimmuller 

You want to hear about life-got-in-the-way projects? I was hoping to spend some time today wrenching two bike projects. The fluorescent light over the kitchen sink stopped working. It's not the bulb, I check it with two others. They are self-starting utility bulbs. I checked the switch, that's ain't the problem. It must be a connection in the not-so-very-high-end sheet metal fixture. Then my sweetie bought some fabric soften on a grocery run and when I hit the brakes the jar tipped. But someone had loosened the cap so that it didn't just drip, the top came off and dumped the entire contents into the Caravan's carpet. I spent an hour shop-vac'ing the carpet and the hide-away seat wells, and now the car smells like a scent factory. I really should get in there with buckets of water, saturate, vacuum - rinse, lather, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. My day disappeared in two projects I have to deal with, fix, curse at.

Don't talk to me about life-got-in-the-way. Just go for a ride and be glad.

likebike23

Ugh, I feel your pain @jimmuller. I had to clean my wife's car after she spilled a large Latte on the passenger seat. It was starting to stink, so we paid for a detail. The seat got wet again and the stain came back up, they definitely didn't get anywhere near all of it. I had to spray with cleaner, saturate, vacuum, repeat, repeat, repeat for about an hour. I finally stopped at good enough, those cushions are like sponges for whatever you spill.

Bicycle Addict

Dog puked on the carpet today . . . . so I cleaned that up there goes the time I had this morning, my 6 year old son is about to go off to a birthday party soon so I will get an hour or so soon . . .that is if the dog decides to keep the contents of her stomach to herself!

Bicycle Addict

@jimmuller, family time comes first, ride time second, wrenching is something I get too if I can, they will get done, just not as fast as I would like.

bikemig 

I have two project bikes/frames sitting around that I'm not sure I'll ever get to fixing up: